Shoftim - Keeping Bias in Check

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never running assistance in bishop mitch israel 57 82 2022. this week's parashah is parshas shoftim and at the beginning of our parsha the torah exhorts us to appoint over ourselves judges police officers to make sure that we do what's right which in and of itself is a very powerful and interesting idea because we see that when it comes to being in control of ourselves when it comes to doing what's right it's not enough to have a good feeling to have an intellectual understanding of what's right but we need to make sure we need to do those things that ensure that we will indeed do what's right because i don't feel like it right now is we appoint judges we appoint leaders we we appoint those who will make sure that we're going to do what's right because we recognize our human frailty we recognize or hashem helps us recognize the importance of having something outside of ourselves to keep us on the straight and narrow path to keep us on the proper path i'd like to read to you from the first two majorashim in our parsha and i'd like to take a lesson because although hashem we live in a time when there are batidin where we have jewish courts courts but there's a personal message that each and every one of us can take when it comes to how do we regulate ourselves how do we make sure that we're doing what we want to be doing what we know inside of our hearts is correct and we are aligning ourselves with indeed that which is going to be productive and successful in life which is the torah which is the path of hashem so let's see what the measure says and perhaps we can we can apply it to ourselves as well says the magis like this this is can i have a relative of mine be my judge be the judge in the court maybe there's gonna be a problem maybe there'll be a conflict of interest if he's my judge and he's also my relative this is what i say who's considered a relative in regards to this issue this question of person's father person's brother aviv his uncle whether it's from his father's side or his mother's side et cetera there are a number of craving a person's son llama king so what is this what is the idea here you know think about it we have something called a bias you know if i'm going to go to my family members to be the judges on my court case they'll be biased towards me and i might win the case as opposed to somebody else or maybe they don't like me not i'll lose the case whatever it is says the magis that just like we find that a person who is a relative is not allowed to be a witness can't testify on my behalf so too when it comes to being a judge they can't judge you can't be the judge says that a person comes to the quran to the priests they're the ones who are the judges they're the ones who serve the jewish people their they're mashari they serve hashem inside of the temple inside the base of inside the mishkan a tabernacle and they're the ones who judge between people they're the ones who who judge between the people and who decide if there's a nega right if a person has saras if a person has spiritual leprosy as a result of certain affairs certain sins so they're the ones who pronounce it lepros pronounce it as saras says the madras come and see he questioned the governor even for even we see that we have a concept here that the the priest is the one who's appointed for arrive which means for any fights and he's appointed for any nega to decide if the negative is something which warrants being placed in quarantine so we see that these two concepts are connected when the plastic puts two concepts together it's saying that there's a connection and there's something about them that we can learn one from the other [Music] money going i'm after you first of all we see that when it comes to a negative when it comes to determining if something is leprosy spiritual leprosy so it has to be done in the daytime must be something that you can look at properly look at the color look at the sizes look at the shape etc so too just like that has to be done in the daytime so two judgments when it comes to a best in when you come into a court it has to be done during the day so that's the first connection uma riven proliferative pratt liquor ever just like when it comes to disputes between people it needs to be that there's somebody the person who's saying testimony has to be somebody who's not a relative so too when it comes to the cohen judging when it comes to the cohen judging it can't be that he's judging for his relative okay so we see from here that when it comes to judgment when it comes to not only when it comes to the testimony itself but when it comes to a judgment as well it can't be a relative a relative cannot be a judge and that's the first concept that we see when it comes to the concept of judging and i'd like to point out i'd like to point out that what we see from this you know on a personal level what we can take from this is that there's something called a nagia and it could be that it's learned out from this very language here the word nigiya is used in muslim literature the word negea means literally it means a blemish or something that that's touching means touching negia and the nigiya in english is a bias okay i'm biased about myself i want to paint myself to into a rosy picture i want everyone should think that i'm great i want everyone to believe that i'm doing good things and i want to believe myself that i'm doing good things and i rationalize and i paint a picture which that's called a bias right i see my child doing something wrong another child's parent is saying that my my child has shown he's gonna fight with them i'm gonna paint my child because of my bias into the tsadik into the righteous one of course in the situation and what we see from the sukkah we see from this concept is that i need to watch out for my bias i need to appoint judges i need to appoint uh shaytrim policemen's call them to make sure that i'm gonna do what's right and i also need to be aware that those judges if they're not if they're if they're related to me if they're not removed enough from the situation there can easily be a bias we want the truth that's what we're after if i want to accomplish and do what's right and be aligned with goodness and whenever i'm aligned with the terror i'm going to ultimately be aligned with a great future if i want to have a future so i need to make sure i watch out for a bias personal bias that's going to lead me in the wrong direction i need to make sure that i have people around me we're not yes men we're not going to say that whatever i say is right but rather we're going to help me be honest with myself and watch out for the biases that's what the lesson is in my understanding from this piece in the measures let's go on and see some more i'm sure the concept of judgment the concept of having people overseeing and making sure that we're doing what's right that is not something that's not a laughing matter it's one of the three pillars that holds up the world lama how do you know this is us that the world stands upon three things the three pillars of the world din judgment ms truth and shalom peace and if you think about it these three concepts are very much related they're very much intertwined because judgment really means that we're looking for the truth right and we're where we're going for the truth and peace if a person really submits himself surrenders himself to the truth and to enter the judgment right when the when the defendant and the when everyone comes to the courts this one is defending his opinion this one's defending his opinion but they're really looking for the truth like let's let's say that there are people who are the shame shamayim are doing things right doing things for the sake of heaven so money that i have i don't want money that's not mine right so i come to the court and i say well i'm not sure whose money this is i think it's mine he thinks it's his please judge for us so if you're coming with the right attitude so you're going to end up with peace why because i want the truth i don't want money that's not mine i want i want to make sure this money really does belong to me i'm looking for the truth so when you have these three things they come together and that's something that upholds the world that the world cannot exist if i'm always looking for what's mine and i'm trying to and i'm trying to force my will upon others maybe even upon the judges maybe i'm going to give a bribe to make sure i end up winning could be talking about very large amounts of money i'm going to end up in trouble i'm going to end up breaking breaking myself really against be very careful when it comes to judgment because if you push the judgment in the wrong direction it can cause the whole world to shake the foundations of the world shake when there's a lack of proper judgment when things when the judges are not looking for the truth when the judges are allowing themselves to be pushed to one side by bribes or whatever it is or by the fact that they're biased in one direction our sages say a similar idea that the power of din is very great it's very strong it's one of this it's one of the legs of the kiser covered of god's throne first we spoke about it as one of the pillars of the world but it's also a pillar of god's throne which means the throne is where god sits as it were it's where he is the king it's where he directs the entire world from and there's a it's wobbly so to speak if we don't have din if we don't have proper judgment says righteousness and judgment are the foundation of your seat the foundation of ki sayakaw the throne of god's glory kindness and truth are com they come in front of you they come in front of the judge as it were hashem you know where we're in el now that's why it's important to think about these types of ideas when it comes to judgment we don't just see hashem as an angry judge who hates us and wants to destroy us because we've done wrong we see hashem as a father of course one who loves us but we also need to see ourselves we need to think about ourselves in terms of are we righteous are we doing what's right are we aligned with hashem's will are we doing that which is correct and we need to know the importance of doing that which is correct we need to know the importance of having outside awareness you know awareness from people who are outside of ourselves the importance of it is because it upholds the throne of god's glory which means that having that willingness to be honest and truthful and unbiased and listen to others that's what keeps god's throne in the world generally but more specifically upon ourselves we we're going to talk about as we we get closer to rosh hashanah we're going to talk about making god our king which means letting hashem into our lives trying our best to do the will of hashem but a prerequisite for that is a hashivus it's a proper understanding and and a recognition of the importance of din of judgment of honesty of peace the punishment for a lack of proper judgment is very powerful very difficult heavens the hearing you need to be very careful about this remember and insure themselves that's why we need judges that's why we need policemen to to keep us in line because if things are not proper if we lose the judgment look all it takes is a little look around in the world of the west what happens when the police are defunded what happens when a person can walk into jail the next day be out without without having having to to be called to task for his crimes it's pandemonium it's chaos so again that's true on a personal level we need to have people outside of ourselves that we can look to to help us grow and be honest with us we need to have people who will not have bias we need to have the kashivo sadhin need to understand the importance and the significance of these ideas and finally i'd like to show you a very beautiful and sweet major the second section here in particular the measure says like the americas the concept of judgment the concept of having shifted insurance from people outside of ourselves who guides in the right direction is related to apostate initially that talks about the ant the little ant if you are lazy says the prophet king solomon exhorts us if you are lazy all you need to do is look at an ant look at the waves of the ant and you'll become wise sure enough he has no uh army sergeant looking over him he has no policeman he has no king ruling over him nevertheless he prepares this ant is collecting and collecting and collecting food all summer long all of the time of the autumn so that it will have all of its needs in the winter measure says like this it's a beautiful passage with the king solomon see from the aunt that he wanted to teach the lazy person what is the lesson for all of us rabban and like this first thing that we learn is that an ant has three sections in his ant hill on the inside the inner canisters he doesn't put all of the grains that he collects into the top section because water drips down there when it rains he doesn't have it in the lowest section because of the mud alabama so he puts it in the middle section that's where it will be the safest an ant only lives for 6 months there's a general principle an animal that doesn't have any bones doesn't have any sinews can't live for more than six months each ant the amount that an ant eats in its lifetime is one grain of sand and a half one and a half grains of sand i'm sorry i want to have grains of wheat but this ant gathers in the summer and in the in the autumn all that it needs [Music] so so many pieces of grain so many pieces of of wheat barley lentils so what's the idea this is a lesson for us what's it collecting so much for it only needs one and a half grains in order to survive for its entire lifetime why does it do this because of course this is a mushroom it's an analogy it's not literal but the ant thinks to itself maybe hashem will let me live longer and i'll still have food to eat i'll still have food to eat if i live longer than six months that's so much so what does this teach us this teaches us that we need to be concerned oh let me read it inside it's going to be the next piece the next words in the image [Music] one time they opened up one of these antels and they found a tremendous amount of wheat 300 core it's a measurement the amount that it would it collected from the whole uh summer and and the winter was enough for the winter as well video we also need to do some collecting in our lifetime says the major and we need to collect for the time after we're going to pass away we need to do collecting we collect mitzvos collect commandments we collect fulfillments of god's word we can collect kindness each and everything that we do you know when you give your money to tsudaka when you give your money to charity it feels like you're giving away your money but actually it's the best investment what who what money can you invest what money where can you put your money that you know you're going to have it forever right a person only lives 70 80 90 100 years alive 120. what guarantees that i'm gonna have that money forever the money doesn't last forever but the mitzvah does the good deed lasts forever just like an ant recognizes that i need to collect i need to collect i need to collect i can't be lazy why maybe i'll live a little longer maybe hashem will grant me more life than my six the six months i'm supposed to live [Music] so too we need to think about the future but we're not talking about my pension time we're not talking about you know when i retire we're talking about the future the world to come a person lives and a person dies as part of life what will we have to take with us to the next world what will we come there with what will be in that in that place what will we hold in our hands when we come in front of the kisa covered we come in front of the throne of god's glory we need to think about it and let's connect it back to what we're talking about with shavushaitrim having the judges and the outside positive influences upon ourselves who can keep us on a straight and narrow make sure we're doing what's right make sure we don't forget we don't forget what's coming don't forget where we're headed dami ayan bosa remember where am i going where is my where is what's the end of life look like make sure i have what to bring with me to the world to come okay rabban and amri rabon say there's another thing that we can learn from the aunt [Music] look at the ants and you can learn how the ants are careful not to steal anything what does that mean they don't take anything that's not theirs says there was a story in particular anshi pilakita it dropped a grain of wheat but you couldn't buy them the ant was the ants all came they were smelling it they could tell that it was the one that was carried by that particular ant none of the other ants wanted to touch it the ant that had originally been carrying it came back and carried it further picked it up we see an incredible thing what is the idea of the ant carrying a particular grain it represents its purpose in life so to speak it's a muscle again it's an analogy but it represents its purpose in life i'm doing something i have certain a certain wherewithal in order to fulfill my purpose in life in order for me to accomplish the things that i need to accomplish in life hashem supports me with all of the objects that are that are in my life you know i'm saying i have a i have a nice microphone i have a camera we're using here these are all objects that i need in order to do the things that are my purpose in life so if someone heaven forbid would steal one of these objects that would be taking something which is a tool that belongs to somebody else that they need we see from the ants that they don't touch something that's connected to somebody to a particular ant that ant already carried this thing it shows that this is its purpose this is it's tafka this is what it needs to accomplish the other ants don't touch it we'd learn from that no gazelle no stealing and i would add not only no stealing but no jealousy right this is a challenging one right you see somebody else is successful in a certain area obviously that's their tough good in life it's their purpose in life to be successful in that area i need to look at my own personal successes without comparing myself to anyone else i need to watch out for that i need to know i can't take somebody else's success exactly who i am exactly who i'm supposed to be it's exactly where i am it's exactly what hashem where hashem has placed me [Music] but see the wisdom of the ant the holy sh look you see the ant everything that we see it's it's not also it's not lazy it knows where to place the different items within the ground to make sure that they don't get destroyed it they accumulate in order to have for a later time so to we need to accumulate mitzvahs commandments fulfillment kindness aligning ourselves with hashem's will [Music] the ant doesn't take that which is not his these are things that they do intrinsically they know it intrinsically it's their it's their instinct it's their nature they don't need any judges and and policemen in order to keep them on the correct path and my ship says the ant does all of these things without anyone making sure that it does it doesn't have any leader doesn't have any policeman attempting hashem i have appointed for you and i've asked you to appoint for yourselves shaykh tim and schedule judges and policemen certainly certainly make sure that you're doing things right make sure that you're not stealing from anybody make sure you're not jealous of anybody make sure that you are preparing for yourself gathering for yourself now mitzvahs mice and closeness to hashem closeness to others around us make sure you're gathering all these things so you have something to show for your life [Music] have you showed them how do you do it you do it by appointing judges we know what to do instinctually but sometimes we need outside help and not only is that okay it's recommended so the torah is commanding upon us the importance of having those outside of ourselves who will indeed make sure because we're going to listen to them because we appoint to them that make sure that we're going to stay on the correct path make sure we stay attached to our make sure we don't take something that's not ours because i don't want the money that belongs to the other person that money is theirs that money is that which they need to accomplish their purpose in life whatever i have is what i need to accomplish my purpose in life never the twin shall meet hashem should help us hashem should bless us i want to bless you i ask you to bless me hashem should help us that we should indeed be able to have this co this consciousness this awareness we should be able to find people who are not biased who can help us be who we're supposed to be who can help us be on the path of avada's hashem of serving hashem of kindness of goodness of good deeds so that we will have that which we wish to show that we wish we would hope to show for an amazing life filled with so much good and life in the world to come thank you so much for listening have a wonderful show miss this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ariegoldwag.com or search on itunes ari goldwag [Music]