Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Shoftim 5764

You Can Make A Difference

Rabbi Aharon Liberman

The end of this week’s parshah discusses the mitzvah of eglah arufah, the atonement ceremony conducted over an unidentified murder victim. In the case of a dead body found outside city limits, members of the Sanhedrin would perform this ritual and declare that they were not involved in the murder and pray that Hashem atone for the community. At first glance, this mitzvah does not seem so important because it is not practiced nowadays. Additionally, why is such a big deal being made over this one person, who was likely a vagabond? Indeed, perhaps we think this way because modern day media has desensitized us. How often do we hear about a death or a murder in the news, but because it’s so commonplace we remain unimpressed, unless it is a huge catastrophe. The mitzvah of eglah arufah, however, reminds us of the value of human life and of our responsibility to preserve it. Obviously, the Sanhedrin did not murder this unfortunate victim, but they are called upon to confirm that they didn’t fail to offer him help when he needed it. Had the community and its leadership made stronger efforts to care for this unidentified victim, perhaps they could have prevented his murder.

This mitzvah is actually alluded to much earlier in the Torah, way back in Sefer Bereisheit. Chazal teach us that the laws of eglah arufah were the very last topic that Yosef had learned with Ya’akov before being sent away. At this point in his life, Yosef was an extremely charismatic young man. He was receiving prophecies telling him that he was destined to be a king and that his older brothers would bow down to him. He was extremely handsome, and he knew it too. Unfortunately, because he was still a youth, these qualities caused him to be somewhat conceited. The Midrash tells us that he was constantly in front of the mirror styling his hair, and he also tattle-taled frequently on his brothers. On the fateful day of his disappearance, Ya'akov was escorting him towards his brothers. Yosef, however, beseeched his aging father not to bother accompanying him. It was at that moment that Ya'akov taught Yosef about the mitzvah of eglah arufah. It is not right to send someone out on his own, Ya'akov explained, because untold dangers could befall him. We learn this from the mitzvah of eglah arufah, where the Sanhedrin assumes moral accountability for the murder victim because they may not have provided adequate protection. Perhaps Ya'akov was implicitly giving Yosef a deeper message: You’re going to be a leader one day, Yosef. Gain control over yourself, and begin to assume some responsibility for others. How can you expect to be an effective leader if you are lacking humanity? Ya’akov’s words were prophetically accurate. Yosef was not humbled even by the experience of being overpowered by what he thought of as his inferior brothers, and being sold twice as a slave. All the Egyptians thought that he was handsome and charming, which only increased Yosef’s conceit. Potifar even placed him in charge of his affairs but Yosef got so out of control that he almost made an affair of his own with Potifar’s wife. The only thing that stopped Yosef at the last minute from going though with sinning was that the image of his father Ya'akov flashed into his mind. Perhaps this reminded him of the meaning behind the mitzvah of egla arufah. Yosef had finally learned his lesson. Once he was in prison, Yosef began to channel his leadership qualities to service the public. He took interest in the prisoners’ plights and tried to help them, as we see in his conversations with the butler and the baker. Eventually, Yosef was promoted to second in power to the king, and used his position to bring Egypt to economic superiority. Ultimately, he was able to sustain his whole family, enabling them to study Torah.

There is yet another reference to egla arufah in Tanach. Chazal tell us that King Shaul also studied this mitzvah. Hashem had ordered Shaul to exterminate the entire race of Amalek: men, women, children, and animals. Shaul, however, argued that if the Torah demands the egla arufah ceremony over just one dead body, how can it be moral to annihilate an entire nation? Granted, the Amalekite adults were sinners, but how were the children and animals guilty? In response, a Heavenly Voice told Shaul that he should not be more righteous than his Creator. Shaul ignored this pronouncement and went on to spare the King of Amalek (the ancestor of Haman) as well as the animals. How ironic that this same Shaul ultimately slaughtered an entire city of Kohanim, and he drew a sword on his own son. In a fundamental way, Shaul was the mirror image of Yosef. Yosef was replete with charisma, but lacking in humanity, while Shaul was replete with humanity, but lacking in charisma. Because his sense of compassion was misguided and his level of self-esteem was insufficient for a leader, Shaul caved in when his soldiers demanded to spare the animals of Amalek. Because Shaul was controlled by his low self-image, his false sense of compassion deserted him when he felt threatened by the Kohanim in Nov and by his son Yonatan, who had both protected his nemesis, King David. Also unlike Yosef, King Shaul had learned the wrong lesson from the mitzvah of egla arufah.

Because of this sin, Shaul lost everything: his kingship, his relationship with G-d, his sanity, his son, and ultimately his life. But we can learn from the mistake of Shaul. Even if we may not believe it ourselves, each one of us has the potential to be great! All of us have a special area where we shine. If one unidentified dead body is so important, how much more so is every living person! Everyone can bring something special and unique to the community. The community as a whole also has unbelievable potential to create and nurture individuals. As we plunge into Elul and prepare for the High Holidays, let us focus on doing small acts of kindness for others. And the biggest chesed of all is to enable people to see and reach their own potential greatness.