The word Shoftim means “judges.” And that is precisely what this week’s portion is all about. Both the Torah and the Zohar discuss the subject of judges at length, in what seems to be very different ways. In the Biblical story, we find Moses instructing the Israelites on how to nominate and identify judges amongst themselves. In the Zohar, there is a lengthy discussion of the spiritual process after death and the gates of heaven. When the soul leaves the body, it goes through different gates, and before each one there stands a judge. The Zohar reveals that these spiritual gates correspond to our own physical gates – our eyes, our nose, our mouth… all the senses we use to judge others.
The problem with judging is that things are rarely as they seem. We see someone hurting others, but we don’t see how badly they were once hurt. We see those who act like fools, and don’t stop to think how the very definition of a fool is one who knows no better. We see those who behave like clowns, but we are not aware that their motivation is simply to make someone smile.