skip code, if we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells

Psalms was the work of King David. It is a work of praise of G-d written by a man who

was under constant threat and pressure . Nonetheless, King David always praised Hashem

for giving him the gift of the Torah that was his light in his days of darkness. Even

though the nations of the world rejected the Torah as too burdensome, the Children of

Israel accepted the Torah by saying

listen.” The Torah is a precious gift which is our source of life and it is our guide in

living a just and righteous life. The “18

the rules based on case scenarios as outlined by the Torah, it is a true guide of life.

The root word of

letter, we can get an understanding what it means. Remember, unlike other languages,

each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has meaning. The first letter of shofet is a

According to Rabbi Munk, in his book, The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet, “the shin

is related to shein, tooth.. As the tooth grinds food to make it digestible for the body, so

shall teaching , transmit the Torah in such a well analyzed manner that it can be absorbed

by the brain.” Same by a judge. A judge must patiently and carefully absorb of all of the

testimony of the witnesses. Then he uses his

1

2

3

and pray that it is a

judge has meaning directly related to his function. Another way of looking at the word

shofet alludes to judgment day which we associate with someone who just died. The

letters of shofet allude to it as the

mouth and the letter

of man’s body that is created from mud. In fact, the teeth in our mouths and the bones of

a body are all that are left after our soul leaves the body.

As noted previously, the Parsha of the week influences current events. In this week’s

Torah reading, it focuses on the relations between man and man. It specifically warns us

not to take a bribe. We learn of two bribe stories this week (2/16/07) with the

investigation of the governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons, where emails that were intercepted

said, “please don’t forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn” and the guilty

plea of Jim Black the House Speaker of North Carolina, who admitted receiving cash

payments from chiropractors. This week we endured a lot of wicked weather including

freezing cold and much snow. We can deduce from the Torah’s laws of property to keep

our sidewalks clean and free from snow and ice so that we don’t hurt ourselves and others.

Let’s follow the dictates of the

we can merit our redemption.

A refuah shlaima to my father, Jack David, who is recovering from stroke at Vanderbilt

Nursing Home, SI, NY