Skip to main content

Practice, Practice, Practice - Parashat Shoftim 5779, September 6, 2019


This week’s parasha, Parashat Shoftim, opens with the mitzvah to appoint judges and officers upon the entry of the Jewish People into the Land of Israel. The Torah instructs us to institute courts of varying sizes in different locales. In Yerushalayim, we are to appoint a Sanhedrin – a court of seventy judges and a head of the court – the av beit din. In big cities, we are to appoint courts of twenty-three judges; in smaller cities, courts of three.

The author of the
Sefer HaChinuch discusses the root or benefit of this commandment. He explains that these courts, and the officers who support the courts, help acclimate the people to follow the law by instilling a fear of punishment or consequences. Building on this foundation of being accustomed to do that which is good, the people will “teach their natures to do justice and righteousness out of love and out of recognition of the true path”. In other words, promoting society to keep the law is a two-step process: first, the people must adhere to the law, by force if necessary; then the people will learn to do that which is correct out of their own commitment to doing what is just and right.

Building on this idea, the Sefer HaChinuch quotes a statement from our 
chachamim: rav hahergel hu mah sheachar hateva – a lot of habituation is what lies behind nature.
The author explains this statement to mean that just like nature constrains a man to what it wants, so does a strong habit repeat itself, like a persistent nature that constrains a person to always go in the way of the habit.

Habituation is an extremely important tool in education. There is a famous study cited by Malcolm Gladwell that claims that expertise in any area requires 10,000 hours of practice.



Practice is critical in every area of a student’s life: mathematics, reading, athletics, kindness and in Torah learning and observance. Practice instills patterns of thought. Practice helps a student develop problem-solving skills. Practice instills in a student the confidence to try again even after failure. As we are in the month of Elul, let us ourselves practice and teach our children to practice learning and doing mitzvot and build the habits of growth and improvement.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Meaning of the Shofar - Parashat Netzavim 5776 - September 30, 2016

In allusion to George Orwell: all of the passages in the Rambam’s magnum opus – the Mishne Torah – are meaningful; but some are more meaningful than others. One such passage in The Laws of Repentance (3:4) fits this description. Maimonides writes: Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah is a decree, it contains an allusion. It is as if [the call of the shofar ] is saying: Wake up you sleepy ones from your sleep and you who slumber, arise. Inspect your deeds, repent, remember your Creator. Those who forget the truth in the vanities of time and throughout the entire year, devote their energies to vanity and emptiness which will not benefit or save: Look to your souls. Improve your ways and your deeds and let every one of you abandon his evil path and thoughts. Accordingly, throughout the entire year, a person should always look at himself as equally balanced between merit and sin and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin. If he performs one sin, he tips his...

Honor and Glory - Parashat Termuah 5780, February 28, 2020

This week’s  parasha , Termuah, and next week’s parasha , Tetzave, introduce Hashem’s command regarding the plans for the  mishkan  and its vessels – including the clothing worn by the  kohanim . One of the vessels that Hashem commands to be built is the  menorah  – the candelabra. The description of the plans for the menorah are described in Parashat Terumah and the description of its service is described in Parashat Tetzave. In Parashat Tetzave, the Torah says, “and they will take for you pure olive oil pressed to be lit to raise an everlasting candle.” Each evening the  kohanim  were obligated to light the candelabra with enough oil to last the night. In the morning, the  kohanim  were obligated to fix and relight the  menorah , as necessary, thus ensuring that the candelabra would constantly be lit. The Rambam – Maimonides – explains, based on a later verse, that the  mitzvah  to light the candelabra in the mishk...

Teaching Empathy - Parashat Ki Tetze - September 1, 2017

This week’s parasha , Ki Tetze, presents a summary of many of the mitzvot . In the last section of the parasha , the Torah recounts two sets of commandments. The first set discusses the just treatment of the downtrodden. The Torah writes, “You shall not pervert the judgment of a convert or orphan and you shall not take the garment of a widow as a pledge. You will remember that you were a slave in Egypt and Hashem, your G-d, redeemed you from there; therefore, I command you to do this thing.” The second set discusses the obligations of a harvester to the downtrodden. The Torah writes, “When you reap your harvest in your field, and you forget a bundle in the field, you shall not turn back to take it; it will be for the convert, the orphan and the widow, so that Hashem, your G-d, will bless you in all that you do. When you beat the olive tree, do not remove all the splendor behind you; it will be for the convert, the orphan and the widow. When you harvest your vineyard, you will not...