Thursday, August 28, 2014
Parshas Shoftim: Take Precaution in Guarding our Precous Souls
10:16 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"Judges and officers shall you make in all your gates which the L-rd your G-d gives you throughout your tribes and you shall judge the people with righteous judgement" (Deuteronomy 16:18).
Rav Moshe Feinstein in Derash Moshe asks why does it say for you, it would seem superfluous here. Rav Moshe learns that a person has to be a judge over himself to see if his actions are good and fitting in this world, He also has to "police" himself to see if he is doing what the "judge" wants him to!
This is how a Jew is supposed to look at the world. How can I better serve my creator? How can I guard myself against transgression? How can I better defend myself against the evil inclination and succeed against it?
Although this is how we should live everyday, we take more stock of our actions during the month of Elul as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah. We are preparing ourselves for the ultimate judgement which will effect our lives!
During this time, we examine and reexamine what we have been doing and what we could possibly do better. We will take on extra stringencies to show G-d we want to reach higher spiritual levels as we prepare for these awesome days.
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah (laws of repentance) tells us that we have to look at our everyday life as if the scale is hanging in the balance between good and evil and my action right now will determine if the scale goes to one side or the other. We may think that our actions don't matter or are insignificant but in reality they have the ability to change the world!
G-d gave us a pure soul and we have to do our best to guard it against the impurity of the physical world! We have to tune into our spiritual selves keeping and guarding the Torah to the best of our ability. We are human and make mistakes but even so, we have to brush ourselves off, get up and continue again in our quest for spiritual potential!
We are guarding our precious soul for the "judge" who has given it to us. May we use these precious days to give our judge the proper respect and love He deserves!
Shabbat Shalom
Rav Moshe Feinstein in Derash Moshe asks why does it say for you, it would seem superfluous here. Rav Moshe learns that a person has to be a judge over himself to see if his actions are good and fitting in this world, He also has to "police" himself to see if he is doing what the "judge" wants him to!
This is how a Jew is supposed to look at the world. How can I better serve my creator? How can I guard myself against transgression? How can I better defend myself against the evil inclination and succeed against it?
Although this is how we should live everyday, we take more stock of our actions during the month of Elul as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah. We are preparing ourselves for the ultimate judgement which will effect our lives!
During this time, we examine and reexamine what we have been doing and what we could possibly do better. We will take on extra stringencies to show G-d we want to reach higher spiritual levels as we prepare for these awesome days.
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah (laws of repentance) tells us that we have to look at our everyday life as if the scale is hanging in the balance between good and evil and my action right now will determine if the scale goes to one side or the other. We may think that our actions don't matter or are insignificant but in reality they have the ability to change the world!
G-d gave us a pure soul and we have to do our best to guard it against the impurity of the physical world! We have to tune into our spiritual selves keeping and guarding the Torah to the best of our ability. We are human and make mistakes but even so, we have to brush ourselves off, get up and continue again in our quest for spiritual potential!
We are guarding our precious soul for the "judge" who has given it to us. May we use these precious days to give our judge the proper respect and love He deserves!
Shabbat Shalom
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