Sedra of the week: Shof’tim
Rabbi Alex Chapper looks ahead to this week's Torah portion
“Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” is perhaps one of the great political sound bites of our generation.
It was a pronouncement that has lead to significant new investment in police, courts and prisons.
In reality we got ASBOs, speed cameras, community support officers and knife amnesties.
The Torah says there can be and has to be another way. With the injunction, “You shall make judges and officers for yourselves in all your gates” the Jewish people are required to establish a judiciary and police force upon their entry into the Land of Israel.
However, this demand implies so much more than just law enforcement in the Promised Land, because careful reading reveals that it is addressing the individual rather than the nation.
It is as if it is saying, each and every one of us has a responsibility to appoint for ourselves a judge and officer to control our actions, discern what is just and police our behaviour.
The rule of law is not external, not a societal invention, but a personal obligation and its effectiveness is far greater when it comes from within rather than imposed by force and by an outside authority.
Before there can be law and order in a country there has to be self-regulation and discipline in an individual and that is something for which no chancellor can budget and no government or political party can possibly pledge.
There is a lovely Jewish children’s song (it just so happens also to be a Gemara) that explains why, as part of our anatomy, we have eyelids, earlobes and lips.
The eyelids allow us to close our eyes and avoid seeing what we should not, the earlobes could theoretically prevent us listening to what we should not hear and the lips control what goes in and come out of our mouths.
These are the ‘gates’ to which the verse refers and the key to crime prevention is for each of us to keep a check on what we see, hear and say.
We have to be judicious and know when to open the gates and when to close them and enforce the rules over our senses.
It was Ben Zoma who so wisely asserted that true power is willpower. A person of strength is not one with exceptional physical capacities, nor is it those who wield the ‘strong arm of the law’ with legislation, new initiatives and tougher sentencing.
Only someone empowered to subdue their personal inclination is truly strong and only a society populated with such strong people has the potential to be free from crime.
Rabbi Alex Chapper is community rabbi of Elstree & Borehamwood Synagogue and the Children’s Rabbi www.childrensrabbi.com
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
