כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣א אֶל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה
אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֔ךְ וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֣בְתָּה בָּ֑הּ וְאָמַרְתָּ֗
אָשִׂ֤ימָה עָלַי֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר סְבִיבֹתָֽי׃
If, after you have
entered the land that the LORD your God has assigned to you, and taken
possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as
do all the nations about me,”
שׂ֣וֹם תָּשִׂ֤ים עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֥ר
יִבְחַ֛ר יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ בּ֑וֹ מִקֶּ֣רֶב אַחֶ֗יךָ תָּשִׂ֤ים עָלֶ֙יךָ֙
מֶ֔לֶךְ לֹ֣א תוּכַ֗ל לָתֵ֤ת עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אִ֣ישׁ נָכְרִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־אָחִ֖יךָ
הֽוּא׃
you shall be free to set
a king over yourself, one chosen by the LORD your God. Be sure to set as king
over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you,
one who is not your kinsman.
רַק֮ לֹא־יַרְבֶּה־לּ֣וֹ סוּסִים֒
וְלֹֽא־יָשִׁ֤יב אֶת־הָעָם֙ מִצְרַ֔יְמָה לְמַ֖עַן הַרְבּ֣וֹת ס֑וּס וַֽיהוָה֙
אָמַ֣ר לָכֶ֔ם לֹ֣א תֹסִפ֗וּן לָשׁ֛וּב בַּדֶּ֥רֶךְ הַזֶּ֖ה עֽוֹד׃
Moreover, he shall not
keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since the
LORD has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.”
וְלֹ֤א יַרְבֶּה־לּוֹ֙ נָשִׁ֔ים וְלֹ֥א יָס֖וּר
לְבָב֑וֹ וְכֶ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֔ב לֹ֥א יַרְבֶּה־לּ֖וֹ מְאֹֽד׃
And he shall not have
many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to
excess.
וְהָיָ֣ה כְשִׁבְתּ֔וֹ עַ֖ל כִּסֵּ֣א
מַמְלַכְתּ֑וֹ וְכָ֨תַב ל֜וֹ אֶת־מִשְׁנֵ֨ה הַתּוֹרָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ עַל־סֵ֔פֶר
מִלִּפְנֵ֥י הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים הַלְוִיִּֽם׃
When he is seated on his
royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll
by the levitical priests.
וְהָיְתָ֣ה עִמּ֔וֹ וְקָ֥רָא ב֖וֹ כָּל־יְמֵ֣י
חַיָּ֑יו לְמַ֣עַן יִלְמַ֗ד לְיִרְאָה֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֔יו לִ֠שְׁמֹר
אֶֽת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֞י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֛את וְאֶת־הַחֻקִּ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לַעֲשֹׂתָֽם׃
Let it remain with him
and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere the LORD
his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these
laws.
לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו
וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י ס֥וּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול לְמַעַן֩ יַאֲרִ֨יךְ
יָמִ֧ים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֛וֹ ה֥וּא וּבָנָ֖יו בְּקֶ֥רֶב יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (ס)
Thus he will not act
haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to
the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of
Israel.
Although we are
not in a period of time that we are being ruled by kings, I do believe the
Torah’s statements about kings found in this week’s parasha can be instructive
even in this day and age.
Rabbi Jack Riemer wrote about the difference found in
ancient civilizations who were ruled by kings versus the Israelites. “Notice when the people are
permitted to choose a king. Only after they have entered the land, and only
after they have conquered it, and only after they have settled down in it –
only then may they choose a king.
How
does that differ from the way that the nations around Israel describe when the
king was chosen?
In
the rest of the ancient world, the king appears at the very beginning of the
story. He leads them in entering the land. He leads them in conquering it, and
he leads them in settling it. In the rest of the ancient world, the city is
named for the king who established it. Rome, for example, is named for Romulus,
the one who established it, and made it the capital of his country,
In
the rest of the ancient world, the king is the conqueror, and the king is the
lawgiver. He sets forth the rules, and the people obey them. But that is not
the way it is in Israel. In Israel the king is not your father. He is not your
founder. And he is not your law giver. He is your brother!” Notice the word used in the first statement,
refers to the King as your brother, achicha.
There
are four rules a King must follow:
1)
He cannot amass horses, meaning a calvary. Why?
Perhaps there is more to the Torah’s reasoning than just not having the
people return to Egypt. Perhaps the
Torah is letting the King know that he can have horses enough to protect the
people and the land, but extravagant amounts of money cannot be spent on horses
because if too much is spent on military budgets, money might not be available
for other needs of the society. Another
aspect to this is that the society might not be able to wage a war, merely
protect itself from its enemies.
2)
The King cannot have many wives. Wives were often the by-products of
diplomatic relationships between countries.
When Kings in the ancient world married into the ruling families of
other countries that often ensured peace between the peoples. So why the prohibition against having many
wives? Was it merely so his heart
wouldn’t go astray or was it to limit him diplomatically?
3)
The king could not amass silver or gold to
excess. In the ancient world, the King
gained wealth by taxing his people. He
did not care if they lived in poverty while he lived in luxury. A King over the Israelites was not allowed to
benefit from his position while others lived in squalor.
So
now we have a king who is limited militarily, diplomatically, and
financially. The last rule governing a
King is indeed one that sets the Kings of Israel apart from all other kings.
4)
The king had to have a copy of the Torah in his
possession and read from it every day of his life. Rabbi Reimer offers a wonderful explanation
for this rule. He writes:
The reason the Torah gives is: “Livilti rom livavo meyachiv”…so that he will not
become arrogant towards his brothers. If he studies the book of Bereshit,
he will learn from it that all men are made in the Image of God, and therefore
that all men are equal. And therefore, he is not made of different stuff than
they are. If he studies the book of Shemot, he will learn from it that God
wants all men to be free, and not to be slaves. If he studies the book of
Vayikra, he will learn that all men are fallible and that no one -no one – not
the kohen gadol,
and not the nasi,
and not he himself, is free of sin. If he studies the book of Bamidbar, he will
learn that even Moses had to appoint assistants because no one can carry the
burden of ruling over all the people by himself. And if he studies the book of
Devarim, he will learn that the king is under the law, and that he must obey
the three special laws that apply to the king. He can only be a limited ruler
if there are limits on what he can do – militarily, diplomatically and
economically.”
Isn’t this what we would hope for the rulers of countries in
our modern day world? That they would be aware that all human beings are made
in the image of G-d. That they would
recognize that all human beings need to be free. That they would know that even they are under
the law and not above it?
The great paradox is that the feelings of the people toward a
king according to Deuteronomy are enhanced when his power is limited. If he acts above the law, amasses great
wealth while the others in society suffer, and is concerned about his military
might and personal diplomatic relationships as a sign of his power, then the
people will not respond to him in a positive way.
How
do these principles of justice and morality surrounding leadership remain
relevant today?
Do
you believe this statement: “All
power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
To what extent can a society be organized not on the basis of
power?
Rabbi Sacks: Judaism is an argument for the limitation, secularisation and
transformation of power.
Limitation: Israel’s kings were the only rulers in the ancient world without
the power to legislate.[5] For
us, the laws that matter come from God, not from human beings. To be sure, in
Jewish law, kings may issue temporary regulations for the better ordering of
society, but so may rabbis, courts, or local councils (the shiva tuvei ha-ir).
Secularisation: in Judaism, kings were not high priests and high priests were not
kings. Jews were the first people to create a “separation of powers,” a
doctrine normally attributed to Montesquieu in the eighteenth century. When
some of the Hasmonean rulers sought to combine the two offices, the Talmud
records the objection of the sages: “Let the royal crown be sufficient for you;
leave the priestly crown to the descendants of Aaron.”[6]
Transformation: fundamental to Judaism is the idea of servant leadership. There
is a wonderful statement of it in our parsha. The king must have his own sefer
Torah, “and he shall read from it all the days of his life … not
considering himself superior to his kinsfolk,
or straying from the commandments to the right or to the left” (Deut. 17:19-20). Humility is the essence of royalty, because to lead is to serve.
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