(2007/5767)
The various requirements and guidelines for dealing with legal matters are the prevalent topics within Parashat Shoftim. However, even the greatest of law officials cannot come up with the proper solution for every case, and the Torah offers a solution for such a problem, stating, “Ki Yipalei MiMecha Davar LaMishpat…VeKamta VeAlita El HaMakom Asher Yivchar Hashem Elokecha Bo,” “If a matter of judgment is hidden from you…you shall rise up and ascend to the place that Hashem, your God, shall choose” (Devarim 17:8). But how can a mere trip to Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash provide the solution to every ambiguous case that a judge may encounter? If the answers become so clear only in Yerushalayim, why are there Batei Din elsewhere?
The Mishnah remarks, “Ein Lecha Davar SheEin Lo Makom,” “There is no matter that does not have a place” (Avot 4:3). The Chesed LeAvraham explains that the world was created through and operates along the lines of the concepts in the Torah. The fact that the world is split up into different parts with varying boundaries echoes the patterns of the Torah and its assorted divisions into Parshiyot and subsections. The Chesed LeAvraham continues to elucidate that Torah and the physical world become intertwined even closer if one considers the fact that every item from the Torah is relevant to a certain scenario or place. Therefore, it is possible that someone may stumble across a section of the Torah that he may never fully understand until he reaches a specific physical place, whereupon the matter will suddenly become perfectly clear to him. Apparently, that issue must have had some sort of relevance or connection to that exact place and no other, which is precisely the intention of the vague Pasuk in Parashat Shoftim. “When a matter of judgment is hidden from you” and one does not quite know as to which place he must venture to locate the solution, “You shall rise up and ascend to the place that Hashem, your God, shall choose,” namely, Yerushalayim. The center of the entire world, Yerushalayim, and specifically the Beit HaMikdash which is located within it, contains an unparalleled amount of Kedushah and uniqueness that, if harnessed properly, can supply the answer to any sort of query. The overwhelming strength of the presence of Hashem in the holy city serves as a virtual panacea for unresolved matters, despite the fact that the answer may in fact be located elsewhere as well.
The Chesed LeAvraham’s approach to this idea in the Parasha reminds us once again of the awe-inspiring greatness of Yerushalayim, the holiest city in the world. The notion of finding the answers to one’s problems in Yerushalayim is prevalent in the mindset of millions of Jews, and many indeed travel there in pursuit of truth. Jews turn towards Yerushalayim three times a day in prayer. It is this unparalleled holiness which makes Yerushalayim the eternal epicenter of Judaism.