Last week’s parsha describes the Torah construct of government in Am Yisrael. At the head of the hierarchy is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. All the lower constructs are subservient to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
The liaison between HaKadosh Baruch Hu and all the other lower constructs is the prophet. HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not communicate directly with the entire Am Yisrael (except on Har Sinai, when Am Yisrael heard the first two commandments directly from HaKadosh Baruch Hu).
HaKadosh Baruch Hu does communicate “indirectly” with Am Yisrael, showing His pleasure/displeasure with us, by heaping abundance on us or withholding abundance/rain. The prophet is the messenger of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and authentically relates His message verbatim to Am Yisrael.
The prophet is selected by HaKadosh Baruch Hu, not by democratic election and is not self- appointed. The Torah gives a system of checks and balances how Am Yisrael can ascertain if he/she (prophecy is given both to men and women – Miriam, Devorah, Chulda, etc.) is a true prophet or not. If the prophet incites Am Yisrael to worship idols or if something he/she says does not come to pass, then he/she is a false prophet and is put to death.
The next construct is the Kohanim and the Levi’im. They are the “civil servants” of HaKadosh Baruch Hu in this world. Unlike the other Twelve Tribes, they have no inheritance in Eretz Yisrael. Their inheritance is to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the Beit HaMikdash, the Kohanim offering Korbanot and the Levi’im opening and guarding the gates, singing Shira, baking the Menachot, preparing the Ketoret, etc.
Each Kohen/Levi worked a total of two weeks a year in the Beit HaMikdash and also on the festivals, when all the shifts worked at the same time and all together in the Mikdash. The remainder of the year these Kohanim and Levi’im taught Torah and gave halachic rulings.
The Kohanim and Levi’im lived spread out all over Eretz Yisrael, in the Levite cities. They did not possess farming land to grow their own food, instead their sustenance was provided by Am Yisrael via the Trumot and Ma’asrot.
The Levite cities were interspersed throughout Eretz Yisrael to provide easy access for Am Yisrael to give these tithes. Another function of the Kohanim and Levi’im was to foster peace within Am Yisrael (they are students of Aharon) and to rehabilitate sinners (like accidental murderers).
The next construct of government are the judges and the policemen. If the Kohanim/Levi’im were teaching Torah and giving halachic rulings, why do you also need judges? Rabbeinu Bachyei (Devarim 16:18) says that the reason that the pasuk of appointing judges and police immediately follows the previous parsha of the festivals is to teach us that even though Am Yisrael go to Jerusalem on Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot and can ask the Kohanim and Levi’im any halachic question that they need, there is an additional mitzvah to appoint judges and policemen in every city in Eretz Yisrael, that are not Kohanim/Levi’im, but rather Talmidei Chachamim, to provide an “on the spot” halachic authority for matters requiring an urgent halachic ruling that cannot wait to travel to the city of the Levi’im for an answer.
The judges give the ruling and the policemen enforce it. The job of the policemen is to make sure that the people are abiding by the rulings given by the judges and punish anyone who does not. The job of the policemen is also to make sure that regulations are being upheld, that weights and measures are accurate etc.
Although the Torah gives one judge the authority to make a ruling, it is a Rabbinic decree that a court of a minimum of three judges is required to give a ruling in monetary disputes. If it is a capital case, a court of a minimum of twenty-three judges is required to adjudicate. This is called a “small” Sanhedrin and the judges sit at the gates of the city.
The “large” Sanhedrin, comprising seventy-one judges, was situated in the Beit HaMikdash (in Lishkat Hagazit) and their primary purpose was to give halachic rulings pertaining to the Kohanim and their service/lineage etc. All the courts had an odd number of judges so that in every case there would be a majority ruling.
The next construct is the king. The king is also a “civil servant” of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the head of the other “civil servants” and his function is to ensure the smooth running of the entire nation and its infrastructure – to build roads, to wage wars, to ensure law and order, to ensure smooth running of the Beit HaMikdash (access roads for pilgrims, sufficient Mikvahs, availability of raw materials etc.), national building projects (like Shlomo building the Mikdash).
The king is not democratically elected or self-appointed, he is appointed by HaKadosh Baruch Hu and is answerable to the prophet, who is liaison with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The king cannot perform any major undertaking without the authorization of HaKadosh Baruch Hu (via the prophet).
The above structure is in fact comprised of three circles, crowns – the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of monarchy. There was only one person who could have filled all three roles simultaneously and that was Moshe Rabbeinu.
Moshe was both a prophet and a king, but not a Kohen. If, however, he would not have repeatedly objected to accepting the role of savior of Am Yisrael, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu commanded him to, he would have also been a Kohen. Since he objected, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave the role of Kohen to Aharon. The question is how Moshe could have been a king if he was not from the Tribe of Yehuda?
The answer is that the Mishna does not say that monarchy is for Yehuda and his descendants, but for David and his descendants. Prior to King David it was possible to be a king even if you were from another tribe (Yosef was a king, Moshe was a king, Shmuel was a king, Shaul was a king), but from David onwards, only David’s descendants are entitled to monarchy.
The subsequent allocation was split – Priesthood to Aharon and his descendants, Monarchy to King David and his descendants and Torah/prophecy to anyone in Am Yisrael who is worthy of it. It is a kind of a “separation of entities” of government. Instead of being concentric circles, they are intersecting circles that allow for division of power on the one hand, and also for checks and balances and symbiosis on the other.
The only concentricity that exists is with the circle of the Torah. This circle may be concentric with monarchy or priesthood. It is possible for one person to be both a king and a prophet, or a Kohen and a prophet, but it is impossible to be a Kohen and a king.
Whenever there was an illegitimate seizure of power by one circle from another, it led to disaster, like when Alexander Yannai (a Kohen from the Chashmonaim family) appointed himself king. Whenever there was a disproportionate abuse of power by one circle, it led to disaster, like the Kohanim Tzedukkim.
The three-ring model is built on each circle performing its allotted role without interfering with the functioning of the other circles, but at the same time intersecting, working in sync, with a focused, singular purpose, keeping each other in check and maintaining balance.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What “accessory” was a king required to have in close proximity at all times?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What is the Hebrew word in the parsha for giraffe? Zamer (Devarim 14:5).
No comments:
Post a Comment