Judges and Festivals

Ba’al haTurim notes the juxtaposition of the opening verse of our parasha with the end of the previous parasha, which deals with the holidays, and comments that it is the judges who determine the holidays (since the months must be declared by the Sanhedrin).

My father added an additional insight: judges in Israel combine the three spheres of sanctity, man, time and place: when they judge justly, they affirm the sanctity of man, attesting to the fact that man is created in God’s image and that justice emanates from Him [“judgment belongs to God,” Deuteronomy 1:17]. The Torah also gave judges dominion over the sanctity of time by empowering them to fix the months and holidays. Finally, since the Sanhedrin was headquartered on the Temple Mount, it also had the sanctity of place.

An additional lesson is: notwithstanding the obligation of all Israel to ascend thrice yearly to Jerusalem, the seat of the Sanhedrin, we must still establish local courts.