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Shoftim 2004
Our first thoughts are holy. Inscribe them on your heart.
I spent this past weekend in the city of London.
The Talmud advises us, that if the opportunity arises we should expend effort to observe the royalty of the world. Seeing the operations of the kings and queens of the world will help us visualize what Jerusalem might look like when the Moshiach is anointed as the King of Israel.
Sunday morning at 11:45 I was just on time at Buckingham Palace to watch the �Changing of the Guard�. Although I have heard about this ritual since my earliest childhood I didn�t know exactly what takes place at the �changing of the Guard�. (The answer is, not too much). The music began and out from the Queens palace marched out 50 or so beautifully trained horses in perfect formation. A minute or so later a different set of beautiful horses and riders marched into the gateway of the palace. The guard had changed. Apparently this multitude of perfect English horses and horsemen represent an ancient symbol of royalty. The Queen of England is surrounded by the majestic grandeur of a collection of some of the finest horses to walk the Earth.
As I contemplated this very majestic sight I realized that this scene will actually never take place at the palace of the Jewish King in Jerusalem. The Torah forbids the King of Israel to obtain show horses.
The King of Israel must portray a very different sort of image. He is told that wherever he travels, whenever he enters or exits the gates of his palace, even when he sits upon a throne, he must carry a Torah scroll with him. The national leader can never be seen without the Torah close to his heart. When the King of Israel convenes his ministry and meets with his officers he must have his Sefer Torah with him. As he walks the battlefield he should carry his Torah, even as he strolls in the marketplace - the King of Israel should never be seen without his Torah.
But that�s not all.
Besides for the Torah that the King must carry with him, he must also write a second Sefer Torah that he must keep locked in his treasury. This second Torah Scroll, never saw the streets of his kingdom and was never carried on his rounds among his people.
Why the second Torah scroll? A practical solution to a practical problem.
The problem was that as the King of Israel carries his Torah, as he walks through the marketplace or through the battlefield the elements take their toll. Very gradually letters fade, crack or even fall off. So slow is the process that the King may not even realize that the Torah he is carrying is not the same as the Torah he set out with. Therefore the King is told; don�t rely on that Torah alone. Keep a pristine copy of your Torah in the treasury. Let it never be exposed to the winds of wars and the corrosive elements of life. Let its character remain perfect and absolute. While your cradled Torah fades and cracks your treasured Torah will remain sharp and flawless.
�From time to time bring your public Torah into your inner chambers�, the King is told, �open both Torahs, put them on the table side by side, compare them and correct them. Review and renew your standards once again. Do not allow the faded Torah to become the standard for you and your people to follow.�
All of us have stood at the threshold of a great endeavor. Perhaps we were about to get married, or start a new career or enter into the lifetime commitment of parenthood. At these times we become very thoughtful. We talk about the kind of home we always dreamt of, plenty of guests and full of peace. At the start of a career we resolve to make our jobs a way of fulfilling a meaningful purpose and a means of accomplishing our function in life. And when children are born, the decision is clear, �I�ll always be there for them�.
Then something happens. Reality sets in. The demands of the moment often cloud the view of the big picture. The nitty gritty of life takes over. We find ourselves saying, what happened to this marriage? Where did I go wrong with my children? What happened?
The process is the same for us. We fashion for our lives our own set of �principles of faith� which represents our thinking at its best, unbiased and untainted by the winds and wars of life. We should take that Torah and place it in the treasury of our heart. As we go around carrying our principles they begin to fade, crack, and even fall apart. The elements of life take their toll.
The Torah gives us some good advice. Go back into your own inner chambers � compare and correct. This is the essence of Teshuvah.
Life is full of challenges and pitfalls. We do not always have the opportunity to conduct ourselves exactly according to the book. The original standards we set for ourselves begin to fade. By going into the treasury of our soul we can once again obtain the clarity we began with.
The Kabbalists teach that our first thoughts are holy. Inscribe them, if not on parchment on your heart. Treasure them and refer back to them, for in them lies the secret to G-dliness and growth.
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