In this week’s Parashah “Shoftim” (Judges), Moses instructed the Jewish people: “You must appoint judges and sheriffs for yourself in all your cities.”
The Hebrew word for cities (she’arecha) literally means “gates.” The “gates” of our bodies are our eyes,ears,nose, and mouth. Through them the stimulus of the external world can enter our bodies and our minds.
Just as any civilized society needs law and order, we ourselves also need law and order. We need to create boundaries within us and decide what we let in and what we don’t.
The “judges and sheriffs” within us are our conscience and the knowledge of what is good and what is bad. Through studying Torah we come to learn which influences are beneficial and therefore permitted and which are harmful and therefore should be a no no in our lives.
The job of the “sheriff” is to enforce the decisions rendered by the “judge.”Our inner sheriffs are the techniques that each of us need to cultivate in order to combat the voices within us that oppose the decisions of our inner “judges.”
Learn to say NO to what can cause you damage, remember to be very selective with who and what you let in through your gates, in this way you will always be protected from the negative influences that plague our world.
Some excerpts from “Daily Wisdom” inspiration from the Lubavitcher Rebbe
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