By Joseph Shulam.
Written from Mevasseret Zion near Jerusalem, where travelers once arrived after ascending from Mediterranean coastal cities like Jaffa and Tel-Aviv.
The reading in all the synagogues of God’s people on this next Shabbat is from the following texts:
The Torah portion of Shoftim: “Judges” Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9.
The reading from the prophets is from Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12.
From the New Testament, John 14:9-20.
Dear brothers and sisters, for many years, I have noticed that the readings from the Torah every week relate to the current affairs in the land of Israel and also the relevant issues in the Jewish community worldwide. Here are the first lines of our Torah part from Deuteronomy 16:18 to 21:9.
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20 NKJV)
The judicial system of every country is the root and the branch of democracy, justice, and civil freedom for humanity since the dawn of history. The government of Israel has been struggling for the last few years against the desire of a small group of political manipulators to destroy the judicial system of the only true democracy in the whole Middle East, i.e., the small state of Israel, the only homeland and shelter for the Jewish population worldwide. Our Torah text is making it clear that Moses and the leadership of the nation that was delivered from a long period of slavery in Egypt, marched 40 years in the Sinai desert to cleanse themselves from the web of slavery. Israel acclimated to a system of law and order, care for the poor, and justice for all according to God’s law, the Torah instruction for an orderly, just, and free state on the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting inheritance.
Damaging or controlling the legal judicial system of any country is the end of democracy, and the law that will treat every citizen with equality and justice for all.
History is full of examples of empires that had an excellent judicial system, and a minority (oligarchy) took control of the system, emptied it of the principles of freedom for all to establish their identity and future based on their ideals. Before the children of Israel enter the land of Israel, the land promised to Abraham and his seed as an inheritance, God makes sure that Moses will establish a system of justice and law and courts based on God’s law and justice for all!
Notice the order of God’s commands in Deuteronomy 16 comes after the commands to celebrate the biblical holidays, a fascinating divine order of things. It is the way God works with us humans. First comes the honey and candy of life, the celebration of the beauty and joy of living, working, and eating the fruits of the land. Second comes the equality of all men and women in the face of the law and justice, and the insurance for the masses of population – the equality and justice of the legal system to protect all the population of Israel and all those non-Israelites who have joined the nation of Israel in the exodus from Egypt. From that wild freedom of the desert, and before entering the land of Israel, the land of God’s promises, the legal system is defined, governed, and enforced by equality in the face of God’s laws for the poor and the rich equally.
The second thing that our Torah reading brings to the forefront is that injustice in the community is supported and based on idolatry, a fundamental principle that must be taken into consideration even today. The spiritual purity and commitment to God and His commandments don’t leave room for idols and idolatry to co-exist with our faith in ONE God and Father of all His children. Equality in the face of the law of the land is the very basis of our relationship with the Creator of all men from the seed of one man and one woman.
Idolatry is the foundation and the father and mother of dictatorship, discrimination, and oppression of the weak in society by the strong and established. The wealthy and satisfied with full stomachs can never understand the hungry and poor and suffering. The Torah makes clear, and on more than one occasion, that God created all of the human mammal creatures that walk on two legs erect and standing with their head high to be full of gratitude to our God. The Father who made us in His own image and so loved the world that he allowed his firstborn before creation to suffer to save us from our own weaknesses.
It ought to be clear to all that racism of any kind is equal to the sin of idolatry and a denial of God’s creation and authority for all humanity.
Idolatry and worshiping the creature in place of worshiping the Creator of all is the essence of injustice, dictatorship, and racism. Today in the world that produced the most incredible art and music and the roots of western culture, the only things that are growing are hate and antisemitism from those who bow down every Sunday to a Jew hanging on a wooden cross and hate his living brothers and sisters.
The Torah, already in the days of Moses, understood that idolatry is the basis of racism and inequality toward the human race and nature. I can reverse the formula that the book of Deuteronomy presents and say that people who are racists are automatically idolatrous because they deny the universal truth that One God and One Father is the Creator of all man and nature on the face of this world. A rejection of the ONE creator of all is an automatic decision to attribute the existence of our world to the forces of idolatry and graded value of humans according to their color, height, and the type of hair they have, and the power to oppress and rule over the weaker elements of society.
The next thing that is interesting for me and reflects on the separation of the state (the local government and the religious leadership) is brought here by Moses just before his departure to climb the mountain and die up there to be buried in an unknown place by God.
While camped on the shores of the river Jordan, just before crossing the river and entering the promised land, Moses presents to the children of Israel the following commands:
“The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. Therefore, they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them. “And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. The first fruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever.
“So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses, then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD. They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 18:1-8 NKJV)
Notice that God is separating the religious institutions of the nation of Israel from the political and judicial forces of the country. I do not know of any other ancient institution or code of law that makes it so clear not to mix these two different spheres and powerful forces in any ancient or modern societies, religion, and politics. The mixture of these two significant entities is always a disaster for all of society. One of the most critical elements that reflects today’s mixture of politics and religion is the need to keep the affairs of God separated from the affairs of government and the military. The most significant cases of misuse of power, influence, and money in the recent history of the West are the mixture of faith and religion with political interests that are laced with the mighty dollar. The worship of the God Mamman by kings and rulers has always been a tool for corruption, immorality, and unrighteous domination of one side over the other and vice versa. God, through Moses, condemns this union between politics and political and financial powers. History has proven this separation as an essential antidote for the corruption of both of these institutions of an enlightened society.
“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations, the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations, which you will dispossess, listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.“
(Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NKJV)
The last thing that I would like to bring to you is the following instructions of God through Moses for all societies. God divided humanity into nations and nations into tribal groups, either based on race or guild of profession—a division of society based on occupation and social status or even education. Every society has to have protection from the invasion of foreign culture and social status. God divided humanity in the fall of the Tower of Babel. God divided the nations as a result of those who wanted to unite all of humanity into one solid body of unity, with the desire for everyone to be the same. Individualism and differences in culture and color, holidays, celebrations, and language are wonderful things that need to be celebrated and not homogenized into one clump of smelly chestnut brown. Our differences in culture, holidays, and food are a celebration.
The joy of difference between races and cultures and politics is a joy of God’s choice and celebration of humanity’s rainbow and spectrum. God divided society in the Tower of Babel in order to preserve the joys and traditions of each group of humanity, to enrich and preserve the joy and beauty of our differences and cultures.
The truth in our Torah reading on this last Shabbat of August 2025 is that God himself didn’t like the artificial and forced uniformity and unity that the men of Babel wanted to achieve by building a tall tower in Babel to unite humans and form them into a monolithic sameness that would be simply dull and boring. Let us celebrate our differences and the divine rainbows of rich color and diverse dietary styles and customs, and rejoice in the unity and diversity of God’s creation.
I believe that even in heaven, King David will be a fiery redhead, and King Solomon will need to cover his head with a hat or scarves( in my opinion, it will be necessary because having so many wives, Solomon must pull his hair very often). In fact, reading the texts in the book of Kings about Solomon is a kind of oxymoron in the face of the report of his wisdom and the advice that Solomon gave in the book of Proverbs. From my experience, it is easier to write books than to follow what you read and write. So, dear King Solomon, your greatness was at the end of the story, the downfall of your kingdom. By the way, yes, all the great kings of Israel brought disaster to the kingdom. And finally, the exile to Babylon, and then the return to the land of God’s promises, and then again, family scandals that brought the Romans to the land of promise, the land of Israel became Palestine. Again the cycle started over, and again exile and slavery in the Roman period, and the wheels keep on turning.
God have mercy on us in the land of Israel today because the chances that our country will return to not only read the Torah but live the Torah are on a very low probability of being able to become a reality. The legal system will be destroyed first, and then the military will be emasculated. Finally, as our lawyer of 50 years has repeatedly said, we will all stand on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea waiting for the 6th fleet of the USA to rescue us from our own selves! I pray daily for Marcel’s prediction not to happen and for our nation to wake up and smell the roses and run away from the ambitious politicians who are so short-sighted that instead of needing reading glasses, they need a microscope to read the Declaration of Independence that was composed in 1948 on the establishment of the State of Israel. Israel should be a country for all its citizens with equality and freedom of expression for all its citizens.
The Torah is a mirror put in front of our faces so that we can see ourselves as we really are and as the Creator God has designed us to be a rainbow of colors that unites into one bright white and divine light – the ultimate jew in history, Yeshua the Messiah, the force of heaven expressed in human flesh.
We used to sing in church, “Where He leads me, I will follow!” It is interesting that in the last 10 years, I have not heard this song sung in any church that I have visited, and I have visited churches in the previous 10 years on four continents on the face of God’s world.
Yeshua invited us to follow him 15 times in the gospels. Here is the list:
Luke 5:27 After these things, He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luke 9:59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Luke 18:22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
John 1:43 The following day, Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 12:26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, My Father will honor him.
John 13:36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”
John 21:19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”