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At the start of this week’s parshah, the Torah informs us of the rules and regulations involved in setting up a proper judicial system. The first verse of the portion writes: “Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities…” [Deuteronomy: 16:18] Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, 1040 - 1105, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) distinguishes between “Judges” and “Officers“. “Judges” are the ones who perform the proper judgements and decide the various outcomes in court. “Officers” are the ones who enforce the law (even if physical force is necessary), ensuring that the guilty litigant fulfills the judgement that has been declared upon him. 

The rest of the parshah deals with a lot of different laws and cases, which seem to fit in with the appointing of judges and how they are to rule in different cases. But the parshah barely returns to the duty of the officers. Only near the end of the parshah do we again read about the officers, but in a seemingly strange way. The Torah tells us the following: 

“When you go out to the battle against your enemy…you shall not fear them, for Hashem your God is with you…let your heart not be faint, don’t be afraid, do not panic…Then the officers shall speak to the people saying ‘…Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house…’ ” [Deuteronomy: 20: 1 - 8 ] 

This seems to be contradicting the very nature of the officers! Above, we stated that the officers were in charge of enforcing the law and coercing individuals from the nation to follow whatever is told to them. In the verse we just quoted, we are told not to be fainthearted or afraid to go out to battle. Of course, there will always be individuals who can’t control their emotions and are scared to engage in battle. So shouldn’t the officers be the ones who encourage them and persuade them to go to war, just like they (at first) encourage and even force people to obey the law!? Why all of a sudden do the officers go against their task and do the exact opposite of what their job entails of them, presenting a leeway for the faint of heart to escape battle? 

The answer lies in the conclusion of the verse we just quoted: “Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, and let him not melt the heart of his brethren, like his heart” The idea is that the officers are in fact not going against their nature; they are still ensuring that the nation will go out to war efficiently. Since there will inevitably be soldiers who are fear-struck and petrified to fight in a war, there exists a great danger that they will negatively influence their confident comrades to have second thoughts about fighting. So in order to ensure that the nation will remain steadfast and unwavering in their battle duties, it is the officers, as expected, who are in charge of picking out the few soldiers who will spoil the rest of the bunch. 

I believe this idea relates to everyone on the individual level as well. The Sfat Emet (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, Poland, 1847-1905) expresses how every individual has to take upon himself the roles of both a “Judge” and “Officer”. Every person needs to judge for themselves what is right and wrong, and needs to make the right decisions on what actions need to be taken in his/her life. Only then must they act as an officer and make sure that those actions and decisions are executed within their lives as well.

In light of what we’ve discussed, we can learn a lesson of what it means to behave as an officer. Just like the enforcing officers must remove the weak-hearted and fearful soldiers from the rest of the nation in times of war; so too when we execute our own personal decisions in the battles of our lives, we must understand that there are certain people who we can no longer be around. There will always be a group of individuals or an environment that clearly has a negative influence upon you, that will only prevent you from being who you’re meant to be.  Of course, to seek out these negative influences and find the strength to rid ourselves of them is an extremely difficult task, but this is what’s expected of an officer. 

Good Shabbos, 

NZL