Date: September 1st 2022

Parshas Shoftim contains laws pertaining to those who served in the Jewish Army during biblical times.

As a rule, all males (except for members of the Tribe of Levi) were required to serve in the army. The Torah, however, lists four types of people who were exempted from service.
Those who were in the midst of building a new home,
Those who were in the midst of planting a new vineyard,
Newlyweds, and
Those who were afraid to be in the army.

The Torah indicates that the first three were considered unfit for battle, for they were distracted by what they were then undertaking –creating a new home, a new vineyard, or a new marriage.

Regarding those who feared being in the army, the Talmud (Sotah 44a) records a difference of interpretation. Rabbi Akiva held that the Torah is referring to one who was simply terrified of participating in a military battle. He was exempted from military service because his attitude could demoralize other Jewish soldiers.

Rabbi Yosi Hagalili held the Torah is discussing a person who was frightened to enter battlespecifically due to the fact that he was a sinner. He feared that because of his sins, the full measure of Heavenly Protection might therefore not be extended on his behalf, and for him, warfare was thus especially perilous.

Rabbi Yosi Hagalili continues to explain that the first three categories in and of themselves would not provide adequate justification for leaving the army. However, those excuses became Torah Law in order to save the fourth person from shame and embarrassment. If there was only one type of exemption from military duty, namely the fear of battle due to sins transgressed, leaving the army would be most embarrassing. All would know that the person evidently committed at least one grievous sin and that is why he is departing. However, with the other three reasons being also acceptable, people observing someone departing from the army might assume that it was due to one of those other three reasons, not personal sin.

(The Commentary of Siftei Chachamim [Parshat Shoftim 20. 8] more fully explains the opinions of both Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yosi Hagalili and why they interpret the same text so differently. This Dvar, however, focuses exclusively on the view of Rabbi Yosi Hagalili.)

One might question why the Torah went to such lengths to save the sinner from embarrassment. First and foremost, mature people understand that they must live with the consequences of their own actions. A person with a job who often misses work without adequate reason knows that as a result of his absences, he might not be given raises. The choice to miss work was thus in essence, a decision to possibly forego job advancement.

A soldier who was familiar with this section of the Torah has the capacity to know that he will possibly face situations of physical danger in the army, at which time, past sins might jeopardize his life. Hence, in succumbing to the urge to sin, on some level, he was knowingly subjecting himself to heightened battle time peril – or personal shame if he leaves the army because of his transgressions. Why should the Torah institute laws to make his departure from the army less shameful if he willingly brought it upon himself?

It is also true that the Torah evidently desires that all people should serve in the army. This can be seen from the fact that only those with the four excuses enumerated above are exempted from military service. Yet, because these three conditions became law, many who are actually in those very situations will be allowed to absolve themselves from military service. This means that the Torah is defying its own overarching principle – that all people should serve in the army – in order to save that sinner from the shame he will experience when and if he leaves the army. Again, why go so far to spare the person from the shame that he brought upon himself when he sinned?


This text is teaching that the embarrassment of an individual is different from many other forms of human setbacks and suffering. It is a tragic event, one that must be averted at all costs. Humans are created B’tzelem Elokim, in Hashem’s form, and shaming the essence of a person’s character is in fact the shaming of his or her Tzelem Elokim.

When a person acts at work in a manner that precludes job advancement, others may not be required to interfere on his behalf; it is only money that is mainly being lost. Wen a person sins and as a result may later face a situation that will prove personally embarrassing, it is treated as a cosmic emergency. The laws of the Torah Itself - Hashem’s Ultimate Truth - are altered so that if the man resigns from the army, others will not necessarily assume that it was because he sinned, and he will thereby be spared disgrace. The Torah takes these most extreme measures to prevent a person from experiencing dishonor that he basically inflicted upon himself by committing a sin.

One can therefore surmise that it is infinitely all the more true that the Torah requires all Jews to be vigilant not to willfully and overtly embarrass a fellow human. This insight has many applications. When a teacher wants to reprimand a student or a parent a child he must take the utmost care to do it in a way that is not public and is not shame the child. If in casual discussions with friends someone tells a story or a `good humored `joke that may cause shame and embarrassment to one of the participants he is violating this serious prohibition. This dvar illustrates the extent to which we are obligated to go to prevent a potential embarrassment from happening when we have the ability to prevent it.


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