Parshat Shoftim
Just at the one-year mark in my current home, and still unpacking boxes – mostly sefarim, books, CDs, and games – I found Sefer Gematriot, which lists all the unique words in Tanach in their gematria order. So, I thought I’d share a few “G-facts” (gematria facts) with you.
The words in Tanach with the smallest gematria are Av and Ba, weighing in at 3.
The Torah word with the largest gematria is Tistareir (tav-sin-tav-reish-reish). It’s found in Bamidbar 16:13, in Parshat Korach, spoken by Datan and Aviram in a tirade against Moshe Rabbeinu.
Only three other words in Tanach – all in the Book of Ezra – have larger gematrias, and all have the same name: Ar-tach-shas-ta, a Persian Emperor, the third son of Xerxes (Achashverosh) who was raised to the throne by Artabanus, the murderer of Xerxes. Shortly after his accession, Artaxerxes put his older brother Darius to death, and a little later, Artabanus, who perhaps aimed to make himself king, was killed. Not a nice person. “L’Ar-tach-shas-ta” has the largest gematria of any word in Tanach – 1,640.
I then went page by page to find the smallest number (besides 1 and 2) that is not the gematria of any word in the Tanach. It is 969! Every number from 3 to 968 is the gematria of a word or words in Tanach. The other numbers until 1,000 that are not the gematrias of any word are 979, 983, 987, 989, and 993. Some numbers are the gematria for over 40 unique words in Tanach.
In the time of the Sanhedrin, when the calendar was set each month by a proclamation of the head of Sanhedrin based on the testimony of witnesses to the first visibility of the lunar crescent – halavana b’chidusha – each month could have either 29 or 30 days. Communities in Eretz Yisrael were usually notified with enough time to know when Pesach, Yom Kippur, or Sukkot would be. Hence, one day of Yom Tov was observed in Israel. Communities outside of Israel often did not receive notification about exactly when Rosh Chodesh was within enough time to fix the Yom Tov. They most often had to observe two days of Yom Tov based on safeik (doubt) as to which day was supposed to be Yom Tov. Shavuot was not a problem, because it is observed on the 50th day following the counting of the Omer.
In our fixed calendar of today, there is no doubt as to which day Yom Tov is. Yet the practice of one day in Israel and two days outside still applies. We will not, at this moment, discuss the issue of who keeps one day and who keeps two. But all of this is just introductory to the issue of Elul. The problem in the past (and future), when the Sanhedrin sanctifies a specific day as Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, is there would be no time to inform communities in or out of Israel. Rosh Hashana would already have begun.
Imagine that it is the 29th of Elul at a time when the Sanhedrin calls the shots monthly. If witnesses see the New Moon on the evening following 29 Elul, and they go to the Sanhedrin headquarters to testify and their testimony is accepted, then in the morning (or sometimes later in the day), the day will be sanctified as Rosh Chodesh and the previous night will have been the start of the Yom Tov of Rosh Hashana.
So, what were people supposed to do on that previous night? Light candles because it might turn out to be Rosh Hashana? Daven for Yom Tov? Make kiddush? And then in the morning, daven and blow shofar – all the time not knowing if the day is actually Rosh Hashana or not?
And if witnesses don’t show up – maybe because the moon wasn’t visible or because it was cloudy all over Israel, then the day that might have been Rosh Hashana would actually be the 30th of Elul and the following night and day would be Rosh Hashana.
A messy situation. Therefore, long, long ago, the Sages declared that Elul would have 29 days. And the two days that followed would be Rosh Hashana – even in Israel. One of the days would be the Torah day of Rosh Hashana and the other would be Rosh Hashana by Rabbinic decree. This way, people can put their heart into observing Yom HaDin without having to wonder if it is even the correct day.
In our fixed calendar, we consider the first of Tishrei to be the Torah day of Rosh Hashana and the second of Tishrei to be the d’Rabbanan observance. But both days have kedushat Yom Tov, with full davening and shofar-blowing both days.
(Believe it or not, as confusing as the above might have been, the full details are even more complicated than I’ve presented.)
Before we get into the numbers for this week’s sedra, let’s take a look at the correct pronunciation of its name. Most people (especially, native English-speakers) will say Shoftim, separating the syllables as Shof and and Tim and accenting the first syllable, as in SHOF-tim. Wrong on two counts. First of all, the first syllable is Sho, with the sh’va under the fei being na, not nach. That means that instead of closing the first syllable (making it Shof), it is attached to the second syllable, which becomes f’tim. With a sh’va nach (which it isn’t here), the fei would only have the consonant sound (like an F in English) and no vowel sound at all. But as it is a sh’va na, there is a very slight vowel sound to the fei, which is more than the English “f’tim” would indicate and less than “fetim” would sound like. The apostrophe (affectionately referred to by some as a “shmichik”) works best in transliteration. Furthermore, the accent is on the second (last) syllable, making the correct sounding of the name of the sedra sho–F’TIM.
That opening word of the Sedra (meaning judges) is followed by the rhyming word v’sho-T’RIM (deputies), with the pronunciation requiring the same fine-tuning as above. The vav/sh’va is not strong enough to stand alone as a syllable, but it is joined to the sho as “v’sho.” Again, the tet does not close the first syllable but rather is attached to the “rim.” So the words together are correctly read “sho–F’TIM v’sho–T’RIM.” (Another sedra name that is like this one is to–L’DOT.)
The stats for Shoftim are interesting. Let’s start with lines in a Sefer Torah. The most common Sefer Torah contains 245 columns with 42 lines per column. Four lines are left blank between Chumashim, and a blank line precedes and follows the Song of the Sea (Az Yashir) and the Ha’azinu song. There are 10,274 lines in a Sefer Torah. Divide that by 54 sedras and each sedra averages a bit more than 190 lines. Shoftim is written on 191.6 lines and ranks 27th in length (based on lines). Note that 27th is the bottom of the first half.
The sedra only has 97 (relatively long) pesukim, tied with Tzav and ranked 36th – a significant drop from the line ranking. Word-wise, it rises again to 28th (the first of the second half of the list). And letter-wise, it drops to 31st place.
Shoftim contains 41 of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, with only five sedras having more mitzvot (Kedoshim – 51, Mishpatim – 53, Re’ei – 55, Emor – 63, Ki Teitzei – 74).
The sedra deals (in part) with different types of authority – Judges, Sanhedrin, Kings, Prophets. And many different topics. But let me focus on a pair of mitzvot which are a window to a whole category of mitzvah and halacha.
Devarim 17:11: “According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they tell you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, neither right nor left.” This mitzvah pair is the Torah’s command that requires us to follow Rabbinic law. Specifically, there are seven Mitzvot d’Rabbanan plus countless Rabbinic laws and details, which are all part of the “package deal” of Torah – the Written Word, the Oral Law, Rabbinic halacha, Tradition, and Custom.
The seven Rabbinic mitzvot are: Shabbat and Yom Tov candles; Chanuka candles; Megillat Esther (and the other Megillot); netilat yadayim; Hallel; Eiruv (the three kinds – Techum, Chatzeirot, Tavshilin); and berachot (all types – food, fragrance, sight, sound, mitzvot, prayer, etc.).
The first six of the above seven each get a bracha identical to the brachot for Torah mitzvot. This demonstrates the Torah’s authority for Rabbinic legislation. For example, when we are about to eat matzah at the Seder, we say a bracha that acknowledges G-d’s command to us to eat matza (on the eve of the 15th of Nissan). Where does the Torah command that? Shemot 12:18. And when we are about to light Chanuka candles and we make a bracha acknowledging G-d’s command to us to light candles on each night of Chanuka. Where does the Torah command that? Devarim 17:11 (In case you forgot, that’s the above pasuk from our sedra commanding us to follow Rabbinic law.)
And that’s the point. The Torah authorizes Rabbinic law. Our Sages were careful not to violate the Torah’s prohibition against adding to the Torah, while still legislating within proper guidelines.
Shabbat Shalom and Tizkeh l’mitzvot – all of them!
