In this week’s Parashah “Shoftim” (Judges), the opening verse says: “You shall appoint for YOURSELVES judges and policeman..”(Devarim 16:18)
the wording of this pasuk tells us that we ourselves have to have judges and policeman (judge ourselves) to keep away from trouble. Human nature is destructive and we sometimes do things that harm us terribly. Then the verse continues by saying: “in all your city gates, that G-d your G-d is giving you.” A city gate is its opening, so the Torah is advising us that even the incomprehensible rulings of the law should penetrate “your gates,” in other words, when a person learns a new halacha (Jewish law) he must internalize it until it penetrates all his faculties.
“You should appoint judges… in your gates,” also means that our senses( two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and one mouth) are seven gates to our intellect and they should be protected. They are there so we choose wisely what we see, smell, listen to, say and eat. All these sensory organs are the gates to our mind and we should be very careful who and what we let in.
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