Shoftim

The Torah commands us to appoint judges in all our cities to lead the people and settle disputes. Then it tells us that if the lower courts don't know the answer or there is disagreement, they should take the case to the high court to decide. The Torah continues and says, “you shall do what they tell you; don't deviate to the right or left.”  לא תסור מן הדבר אשר יגידו לך ימין לשמאל. Rashi explains, even if they tell you that right is left and that left is right, you still have to listen to them. The פני משה explains a little differently and says that the Torah is telling us to listen to the chachamim when they expound the pesukim. 

For example, the Torah states: עשר תעשר, which is pronounced, aser tiaser, which means to give a tenth of your money to charity. The chachamim expound and say pronounce it "tiasher" with the dot on the right side of the shin instead of the left, making it mean, "give the tenth so that you will become wealthy." There are numerous other instances where the chachamim change the dot on the shin from right to left or visa versa to teach us something, so, in this posuk, the Torah is telling us that all those teachings are straight from the Torah. When one listens to the chachamim, it strengthens one’s trust in Hashem, too. If we trust them and listen to what they tell us, then it makes it easier to follow a later posuk in the parsha that says, תמים תהיה עם ה, that we should be complete with Hashem, which, says the חרדים , is the mitzvah of bitachon, to have complete trust in Hashem. 

There's a story told that exemplifies this point. There was a respectable woman who was married to a wealthy man who was not too smart and didn't know much. She would encourage him to go out to the Shir of Reb Moshe Alshich. As the wheel of fortune turned, the man became poor. To support his family, he would take his wagon and go dig up lime and take it to the market to sell. One day, he was at the Shir and the rabbi was telling them about bitachon and said that if a person really believes, then Hashem will give him his sustenance without him doing anything. The man went home and sat in his house and didn't go out to work. When his wife asked him why he's not going, he said that the rabbi said that if you really believe that Hashem will give you what you need, it will happen without you doing anything, so I'm waiting for Hashem to take care of me! Nothing she said to him helped. He was steadfast in his belief. 

Left with no choice, she hired an Arab to go dig up the lime to bring her and she was going to sell it. While the Arab was digging, he found a treasure, put it on the wagon and planned on bringing it home before he went to give the woman her wagon of lime. As he was about to go back, he realizes he forgot his shovel, went back to the pit to get it, when all the dirt that was dug up fell back on him and he was buried alive. The donkey, once no one was there to lead him, goes back the way he was accustomed to. The woman saw the wagon, went out to it and found the treasure. She went in to her husband and told him, “go take what Hashem brought you.”

The woman went to the Alshich and told him what happened and asked, “how does that work?  I believe, you believe and this doesn't happen to us. Why did it work for him?" The Alshich answered her, “your husband is a very simple person with no knowledge, so when you tell him something, he accepts it completely with no questions. However, we who are intelligent, search to understand why and how, so our bitachon is not as complete."

Perhaps what the Torah is trying to teach us is how strong our trust in the chachamim must be, that we believe without a doubt that this is what Hashem really wants. Even if it's against our limited understanding, we have to follow what the chachamim tell us and that will insure that we are complete with Hashem!