I learned something very interesting yesterday at synagogue about the origins of the police.
I was reading a commentary on the weekly Torah portion, which I had written about (drawing attention to the theme of "justice" in the text). The commentary pointed out that while the emphasis in the Torah is on judges, it also mentions the importance of "law enforcement officials" in Deuteronomy 16:18: "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."
The commentary noted that while in the Messianic age, people would not need police officers to enforce the law, in todays age we do. (My rabbi noted that the Biblical ideal was to have "counselors," not police, to assist in the administration of justice, in the perfect world in which human beings never sought to flout the law.)
The relevance of Deuteronomy 16:18 was not lost on the congregants. We have been told for more than a year by the luminaries of Black Lives Matter -- in the streets, on cable news, and in the editorial pages -- that modern-day policing is a legacy of slavery, somehow tracing its origins to the officers who were dispatched to catch slaves that had escaped. It always came across as complete garbage, but it was spoken with great confidence and with an air of high dudgeon.
The reality: anyone who has a Bible can learn that police have existed for thousands of years. Moreover, the people Moses were addressing (or their parents) had just emerged from slavery themselves. The Bible recognizes that police are essential to the protection of freedom.
Think of Deuteronomy 16:18 the next time you encounter BLM.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
