“You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people [with] righteous judgment.” (Deut. 16:18)
In this week’s Torah portion Shoftim (lit. Judges), Moses instructs the Israelites to appoint judges and law enforcement officers in every city. One word in this verse seems redundant: yourself. Why doesn’t it just say “You shall set up judges… in all your cities”? Every single word and even letter in the Torah has deep significance, so what is the meaning of yourself in this verse?
Rabbi Moshe Kormornick explains that “the Jewish people not only had to set up physical protection around their cities, but each individual must place personal safeguards upon himself.” Every orifice in the body can be used by our yetzer hara (evil inclination) to commit transgressions. For example, we can use our eyes to view inappropriate material, our ears to hear malicious gossip, our mouth to speak angrily to others. Just as we physically guard our cities with strong gates, so we must spiritually guard our bodies with self-control and proper intentionality in everything we do.
Image: Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, c. 1900
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