Weekly Parsha

Mazal Tov to: Rabbi William Ovadiah & Esther Tank's for their 16th wedding anniversary on Rosh Chodesh Elul. May you fulfill all your dreams together and always with Bracha, Parnasa & Hatzlacha (“blessing, wealth and success”) and May today’s joy continue to fill your life forever!

Pray for Refuah Sheimah: Yossefa bat Sharon and Rafael ben Gladis.

Continue Praying for: Mariana bat Zulay, Heidi bat Sarah and Yosefa bat Sharon.

Shoftim

Deuteronomy 16:18 -- 21:9

Topics in this week's portion include: Judges and Justice, "Forbidden Trees and Pillars" worshiped as idols, Blemished Sacrifice, Penalties for Idolatry, The Supreme Court, The King, Levitical Priests, Priestly Portions, Special Service, Divination and Prophecy, Cities of Refuge, Murder, Preserving Boundaries, Conspiring Witnesses, Preparing for War, Taking Captives, Conducting a Siege and the Case of the Unsolved Murder.

This week we have the famous admonition: "Righteousness, Righteousness shall you pursue, so that you will live and possess the Land that the Almighty your G-d, gives you" (Deut. 16:20).

* * *

"Judges and police you shall place for yourself" (Deut. 16:18).

What homiletic lesson can we learn from this verse to improve our own character?

Make for yourself judges and police, that is, before you go and make judgments about other people, judge yourself first. As the Sages said, "First correct yourself and only then correct others" (Bava Basra 60b).

It is very easy to find fault with others. However, this can easily lead to becoming arrogant and retaining all of your faults. While we have an obligation to help others grow, keep reviewing your own behavior to see what you can improve. The purpose of police is to make certain that the laws are enforced. Similarly, when you find a fault in yourself, take action to fix it!

Don't expect more from someone else than you expect from yourself!

The difficulties of life are to make us better, not bitter!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rav Tank

Online Learning

Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College of New York where he teaches classes on Talmud, Chassidism, Jewish History, Contemporary Jewish Law and Jewish Music. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern usefulness and meaning in ancient wisdom texts, providing spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming for communities around the world.

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