BAIS HAVAAD ON THE PARSHA 5773 Parshas Shoftim- Democracy

In this week's parsha we are told "u'vishmo tishave'ah" - and in His name you shall swear. The Ramban (6:13) explains this to mean that we are commanded to only swear in His name and not in the name of idols. According to this approach, even swearing truthfully in Hashem's name isn't a fulfillment of a command, but, rather, the inhibition of a violation.This week's parsha contains many mitzvos. One of these mitzvos is the mitzvah of appointing a king. As the Torah states: "when you will say I will appoint upon myself (singular tense) a king.you shall appoint upon yourself a king." One might wonder why the Torah mentions this mitzvah in singular tense when appointing a king always involves the population at large. In fact, in the times of Shmuel Hanavi, when the Jews said that they wanted a king, the passuk says "Let us appoint upon ourselves (in plural tense!) a king." (Shmuel 8:5) R' Levy Yitzchak Greenwald Zt"l (son of the "Arugas Habosem") explains that the public must be united as one when it comes to bringing honor to Hashem. This is why the Torah lists the mitzvah of appointing a king in the singular- because the nation must be united as one in order to fulfill this mitzvah. In the days of Shmuel Hanavi, however, the nation wasn't united in their request and therefore they were reprimanded for asking for a king. FOR PRINT VERSION CLICK HERE.