Shoftim-2015

· Tzedek, Tzedek tirdof – The mephorshim ask, why Tzedek is mentioned twice.

· It could have said, Tzedek Tirduf, pursue Righteousness – why the second Tzedek.

· There are many answers given.

· One answer is that not only your goals have to be Tzedek, but also the way you achieve those goals have to be Tzedek.

· In other words, the ends DON’T justify the means.

· Having a righteous goal doesn’t give you permission to do anything you want in the pursuit of that goal.

· The first step is to set exemplary goals, the second step is to make sure you don’t compromise what is right in order to reach those goals.

· This is a favorite trick of the Yetzer Hara.

· The first strategy of the Yetzer Hara is to seduce us into not having a good goal. It says be out for yourself, maximize your pleasure and money, etc.

· If it fails at that, and we manage to focus on worthy and praiseworthy goals, and even Holy goals,

· The second strategy of the Yetzer Hara is to convince us to have a crooked way to achieve our goals.

· That the ends justify the means.

· The Marxian revolutionaries shamelessly admitted to this.

· They said that history is inevitably moving to Communism, and therefore blowing people up in the pursuit of that goal “just speeds up the process of history”.

· Everything is justified, because you ‘know’ that your goal is right and just.

· The big problem with this is that The road the hell is paved with good intentions.

· Tzedek, Tzedek cries out against this.

· The path that you use to try to reach your goals also have to be correct, righteous, and Tzedek.

· Sigmud Freud said – Man has an enormous capacity for self-deception.

· The word rationalize is made of 2 words – Rational Lies.

· Robespierre said he had to favor killing the king, otherwise the revolutionary ideal of liberty would not succeed.

· A Rosh Yeshivah told Rav Yaakov Kaminesky “If I can’t do this financial harama, then I’ll have to close my Yeshiva”.  Rav Yaakov replied, “Then close your Yeshiva.”

· When you ask directions in the US they say ‘go straight’ until such and such

· In Israel, they always say, Yashar, Yashar, Yashar –

· In going through Shas, when one  switches over to the Baba’s – Nezikin – after spending a long time on Nashim – Kedushin, Sotah, Gittin, Kesubos –

· Seder Nashim is followed by Seder Nezikin, one coming after the other, makes clear that the two greatest Taivas are Arayos and Money.

· If we are under the spell of the Yetzer Hara for either of these, it’s a great trick of the Yetzer Hara to say, it’s OK – it’s getting me closer to the goal, even though it’s bad

· There’s another Taiva that we have that can trick us – after Nezikim is Kodshim - the Taiva to get close to Hashem, to be an evid Hashem.

· Religious people can fall into this trap – saying that since I know that the Torah is true, therefore I have a right, even an obligation, to treat non-religious people as second class citizens

· To look down on people who not have exactly the same religious type that I am .

· This attitude of I am right, and they are wrong, can easily lead to Sinas Chinum, and Holy Wars.

· That is why our Parsha says: 18:13 – Walk in perfect trust with Hashem.

· We need a strong dose of humility, to realize that we all nogeah bedaver, we’re all myopic.

· That’s why Gedolim always write, In my humble opinion, לעניות דעתי

· (Micah 6: 8), “what does Hashem require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your G-d."

· Humility is a good way to protect ourselves from thinking that we can do anything we want to pursue lofty goals.

· This is in part why our Parshah says that a King has many restrictions.

· Even if he has his goals correct, it’s the day-to-day task of building a road to those goals that are very tricky.

· 17:17: “He is not to acquire an abundance of wives for himself, so that his heart will not go astray;  and silver and gold he may not accumulate for himself in great abundance.  …He must write for himself a duplicate of this Torah ..  It is to accompany him and he is to read in it all the days of his life, in order that he learn to fear Hashem, to guard every word of this Torah and these statutes to fulfill them;  That his pride not increase over his brothers and he does not stray from the commandment right or left.”

· The Judges are also warned to have an Observing Eye, to watch out for Negias, because everyone can easily mislead themselves.

· “Judge the people with Mishpat Tzedek – righteous justice.  …do not accept bribery, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts words that are just.”

· Radical Islam seems to have an occupational hazard not following the principal of  Tzedek, Tzedek Tirduf

· Many of them believe that killing, stealing, lying, and rape are mitzvahs if done for the Almighty

· Many believe that the ends justify the means, no matter how cruel, violent, and debased

· As Torah Jews we know we have holy goals, that Yiddishkeit is the Truth

· However we also know that Tzedek, Tzedek Tirduf - that every step along the way towards our lofty and holy goals must also be Tzedek