A system of checks and balances is not a constraint on freedom. It is essential to a healthy conversation and the flourishing of life. View the study sheet here. Watch the recording here.
Torah portion Shoftim describes a social governance structure in which power is to be divided and distributed, not concentrated in a single person or office. There were to be three bodies: the king, priests and prophets.
This system of checks and balances becomes replicated through kabbalah and Hasidism in the individual’s internal governance system. We are driven by contending and often conflicting forces: emotion and intellect, generosity and self-preservation, realism and dream.
A healthy body, both individual and social, recognizes that each of the contending forces has something to offer. They are not to be suppressed but regulated. The month of Elul is a heightened time to become aware of the contending forces within us. Our goal is to conclude the Yamim Noraim with greater clarity about ourselves and with a sense of a new wholeness. Join us here at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) Thursday, August 12 as we explore checks and balances.
