Portion of the Portion

Portion from the Portion- Parshat sho-f'tim

Needless Tragedy

The nation was shocked last week by the horrible crash between a minibus and a train where three generations met their death. We make a big fuss about terrorists and Iran but unfortunately, in reality, we may be our worst enemy. It seems that a Jewish driver that was not as careful as he should have been wiped out a whole family of good and kind people - instantaneously. As we all walk around trying to comprehend such a loss, we ask ourselves if there isn’t anything we can do to prevent such incidences of useless loss of life from happening again in the future?
Maybe verses from this week’s portion can give us some guidance. The portion begins “SHOFTIM V’SHOTRIM TITEN LECHA” - we are instructed to appoint Judges to enact the law and Shotrim, officers - to enforce the laws of the Torah. The laws of the Torah are not sufficient; we need a system of law enforcement as well.
There are many Torah laws related to not causing damages to other people including not causing bodily harm and death.  People might know the laws but how many of us follow them meticulously - as our G-d given obligations to our fellow Jews? How many of us drive way over the speed limit, talk on our cell phones when driving and don’t slow down at crosswalks? We don’t seem to take road safety laws seriously enough. We must need a stronger system of SHOTRIM to enforce these laws and make sure we abide by them. How could it be that a person who has had numerous serious driving offences against them still be allowed the responsibility for driving others? Something must be done about this phenomenon.
People might not like me saying so, but maybe the punishment for these offences is not harsh enough to act as a deterrent for irresponsible behavior. If I knew that I would sit in jail if I was caught talking on my cell phone while driving, would I do such a thing?
When we had a true Jewish legal system, a murderer was executed for his crime. A verse in our portion explains why this is so important - “LO TACHOS EIN’CHA ALAV, UVIARTA DAM HANAKI MIYISRAEL, V’TOV LACH - Do not have pity on the killer. If you rid Israel of those who have shed innocent blood, things will go well for you” (19:13). The Sforno explains that it is important to punish the murderer - so he won’t continue to harm any one else and L’MAAN YISHMA’U V’YIRA’U - as an educational device so others will know better how to behave. So it helps society both by prevention and by being a deterrent. This is the TOV LACH of the verse.
But there is also the beginning of the verse. There it states “L’VA-EIR DAM NAKI MIYISRAEL - innocent blood”. This seems to be saying that the reason a person who kills someone else should be punished appropriately is for justice - ZEDEK - the death of the murderer acts as a KAPARA for the murdered person’s spilt blood. 
We must try to run our society in a just way; ZEDEK ZEDEK TIRDOF - pursue justice with all your might. We must have laws taught by the SHOFTIM and enforced by the SHOTRIM, but the true justice - though we might not always understand it, comes from The One Above as we will be saying numerous times in about a month on Rosh Hashana - VAYIGBAH HASHEM TZ’VAKOT BAMISHPAT, V’HAKEL HAKADOSH NIKDASH BITZDAKA…
May the Torah learned from this column be a zechut for the neshamot who were killed in the crash and may we all drive just a bit more carefully.

JUDGES CHOICE PEACH PIE
For the filling:
5-7 peaches, (or other fruit of your choice)
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp lemon juice plus a pinch of lemon zest. (depends on sweetness of fruit)
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp butter (or substitute) for dotting on the pie
Optional : whipped cream

Directions:
Peel and chop peaches into 1.5” pieces. Mix the peaches, cinnamon, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh rosemary, sugar and flour in a bowl. Slowly roll out half of the pie crust dough, sprinkling 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary in the last few rolls. Place the bottom crust in a 9” pie plate with the rosemary side up.
Spoon the filling into the pie crust. Dot the pie with 2 Tbsp butter.
Roll top pie crust and sprinkle rosemary again. Place this on top of the pie, rosemary side up. Trim the dough with kitchen shears, roll up the edges so that the filling won’t escape, and cut 5 slits in the top.
Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, and at 375F for 35-40 minutes more. Bake until crust is a deep golden brown. Seeing the filling bubbling is another sign that it’s done. It’s a good idea to place tin foil sheets at the bottom of the oven to catch any juices that spill over.
Let cool on wire racks before cutting.
PATE BRISE CRUST RECIPE
2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 pound unsalted butter, very cold and cut into pieces
3 tsps kosher salt
3 ounces cold (iced) water
1 Tbsp sugar

Combine flour, salt, and sugar. (This can be done in a processor.) Add butter and mix or (pulse) until ingredients look and feel like coarse meal. Now add water and mix until a ball of dough is formed. Do not over mix. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling out.
Top with whipped cream or ice cream.

• Other Portion of the Portion
• The Hide & Seek of Purim
• SHOV'VIM TAT
• The Women in Sh'mot