Shoftim: The King Is Commanded to Write a Sefer Torah
When the Temple stood, once every seven years, at the festival of Hakhel, the gathering of the men, women and children of Israel, the king would read the Torah aloud to the assembled nation from a wooden platform in the Temple courtyard. The Sages of the Mishnah (Sotah 7:8) preserve the choreography of this mitzvah: the scroll passes through four pairs of hands until it reaches the king, who is praised for standing to receive it and standing to read.
Reading on into the law of a Jewish king, Agrippa — a descendant of Edomite converts — reaches the verse of our parashah: לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא־אָחִיךָ הוּא, “you may not set over yourself a foreigner, who is not your brother” (Deut. 17:15). How could an Edomite be king?! His eyes fill with tears. But the open hearts of the Jewish crowd call up to the platform: אָחִינוּ אַתָּה, “You are our brother!”
This asserts: We are open to those who convert and accept upon themselves the responsibilities of the Jewish People, to fulfill the covenant we established with God.
Agrippa was both a Roman citizen and a respected leader of the Jews. He was a leading political figure of his time who helped Claudius ascend to lead the Roman Empire in the First Century CE. While at first the new emperor revoked Jews’ rights to follow their laws, Agrippa interceded and helped return the Jewish community’s rights to practice and run their own affairs.
The king was fighting for more than just himself. Am Yisrael’s destiny was in the balance. Here he lifted the spirit of our Torah’s laws about being a Jewish leader. The right approach turns on one small word in our Torah portion, in the section regarding the laws of kings. That word is — לוֹ, “for himself” — which appears four times.
Three times the word is used for forbidding materialistic acquisitions and power grabbing. He may not acquire too many horses for himself, wives for himself, or silver and gold for himself, to fill the king’s coffers. The fourth time it is commanded: he shall write a copy of this Torah for himself. The nations’ kings accumulate; this king copies from the official Torah and creates a constant guidebook and reminder for how to fulfill his mission.
While the king may not wantonly accumulate wealth and power, the Jewish People may choose to appoint a king who protects their holy land and who intercedes on their behalf with kings of flesh and blood. The Torah demands statecraft be approached with a mix of servitude and courage, power and pursuing righteous ends.
Kings of Israel and leaders of our people today must navigate the shifting landscape of empires and Jewish interests just like Agrippa did years ago. Our leaders are asked to humble themselves before the Lord and exercise their power carefully. This blend of autonomy and service of God is not necessarily a democratic ideal, because of the way we understand the strong separation between church and state. However, Jewishly, whether we are speaking about Jewish kings or current leaders or nation-builders in the various states around the world, I think the world would do well to introduce the idea that God expects of us all to pursue peace, to dignify humanity and to create a universalism that contains space enough for every family of the earth to fulfill its unique destiny.
Shabbat Shalom and Hodesh tov,
Rabbi Bolton