Parshat Sho'f'tim

U'S'FUNEI T'MUNEI CHOL

Beachcombing the G'matriya Beach with the help of "Otzrot  Yisrael", one of the CDs of the "Responsa Project" of Bar Ilan University.

The opening pasuk in this week's sedra commands us to appoint judges and policemen in all our com munities that G-d has given to us, and they shall judge the people fairly (D'varim 16:18 paraphrased). The G'matriya of this pasuk is 5610.

In searching for a G-match, Dvarim 30:10 came up. The pasuk is from Nitzavim in the portion that deals with T'SHUVA. Backing up to the beginning of the perek - If the bad things prophesied come to pass and we get scattered
among the nations... we shall return to G-d (for many mitzva-counters, this is the source of the mitzva of Repentance)... He will bring us back to Eretz Yisrael from our places of dispersion... He will circumcise our hearts... We must obey G-d's voice and keep the mitzvot... We will prosper... G-d will rejoice in us... And here is the pasuk in question: If you shall listen to the voice of HaShem your G-d, to keep his commandments and statutes which are written in the Sefer Torah and if you return to G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. The formula for success of our society, with its Sho'f'tim and Sho't'rim is justice in particular and social behavior in general that is firmly based on following G-d's word, in keeping mitzvot, and in repenting when we stray from the proper path.

TZEDEK TZEDEK TIRDOF... Justice you shall surely pursue, that you may live and inherit the Land that G-d is giving you (D'varim 16:20). The GM this time is a pasuk which shows us the frightful alternative to the proper pursuit
of justice (and the keeping of mitzvot in general). It is from the Tochacha in Ki Tavo, D'varim 28:25. G- d shall cause you to be defeated by your enemies, you shall go out one way to encounter them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be removed (from the Land) into all the kingdoms on earth. Notice how inheriting Eretz Yisrael is the result in the first case, and losing it is the result in the other.

Equal g'matriya
- opposite behavior & consequences.

And here is another example of a G'matriya-match that points to opposite sides of the same coin. The last pasuk in the sedra (D'varim 21:9) concludes the portion of EGLA ARUFA (which deals with a dead body that is found between two towns, etc.) And you will get rid of (the spilling of) innocent blood when you will do that which is right in G-d's eyes. T'hilim 106:38 talks about the generations that turned away from G-d and worshiped idols: And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted by their blood. Again, notice two p'sukim with the same g'matriya (3148), both of which refer to DAM NAKI, innocent blood. How very different the p'sukim are.

Comment: Again I say that these G'matriya matches merely
highlight two or more p'sukim with a connection to comment about. Think of the GMs in this weekly column as a fluorescent yellow highlight marker that says: Hey, look here! Or imagine yourself strolling along the beach and all of a sudden you find a beautiful TREASURE IN THE SAND.

A word of caution when it comes to G'matriya, specifically the homemade variety that appear in this Treasures in the Sand column. Don't read too much into them. They are not meant to say something new. They are meant to be a nice "numerical confirmation" of existing ideas. They point to ideas to be explored.

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