Let's dive in.

The verse we're looking at is from Deuteronomy 1:11: "May the Lord, God of your fathers, add to you one thousand times as you are, and He will bless you, as He spoke to you." Sounds great, right? But it leads to a crucial question: Is it okay for a single judge to preside over the community?

Our Rabbis teach us: Absolutely not. "Do not judge alone," they said, "as there is only One who judges alone." And who is that One? As Job 23:13 puts it, "He is One, who can respond to Him?” Reish Lakish explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, judges and issues rulings all by Himself.

So, what’s the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He? Rabbi Reuven tells us it's emet, truth. Why emet? Because the Hebrew word emet (אמת) is spelled with an alef, the first letter; a mem, the middle letter; and a tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It's a subtle hint to Isaiah 44:6: "I am first and I am last and besides Me there is no God."

Okay, so we need more than one judge. Moses himself recognized this. He tells the people in Deuteronomy 1:13, "Provide for yourselves men who are wise, understanding, and known to your tribes, and I will place them at your head." He's saying, "I can't handle this alone. You need to find judges."

Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi Ḥanina, spells out the ideal qualities for a judge. Seven, to be exact. We need people who are "wise, understanding, and known to your tribes." And as Exodus 18:21 adds, they should also be "accomplished men, fearers of God, men of truth, haters of ill-gotten gain." That's a tall order.

But what if you can't find people with all seven qualities? The Rabbis have an answer for that too. If you can't find seven, find four. If you can't find four, find three. And if you can't find three, find one. As Proverbs 31:10 asks, "An accomplished woman who can find?" Even finding one person with just one of these key characteristics is a challenge, so if you find them, appoint them!

Now, here's a fascinating twist. The verse says, "And I will place them [vaasimem] at your head." But vaasimem is written without a yod, a Hebrew letter. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi points out that this allows us to read it as vaashamam, meaning "their guilt." Moses is essentially saying, "If you don't listen to these judges, the guilt will be on your own heads!"

He illustrates this with a striking parable: Imagine a serpent whose tail demands to lead. The head reluctantly agrees. What happens? The tail leads the serpent into a water hole, a fire, and a thicket of thorns. Ouch! The moral? When the lowly lead the great, disaster follows. But when the great lead the lowly, they can even influence God's decrees! They can pray and abolish negative outcomes.

Rabbi Hoshaya offers another powerful analogy. A bride standing under her wedding canopy gets her hands dirty. If she wipes them on the wall or the floor mosaic, she'll just make those dirty too. But if she wipes them on her hair, her hair will be beautified, and her hands will be cleaned. Similarly, when Israel listens to its leaders, but those leaders fail to attend to their needs, the leaders bear the guilt.

Rabbi Yitzḥak adds that when leaders fail their people, "The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and its princes" (Isaiah 3:14). It all comes back to the overwhelming burden of leadership. No single person can carry it alone. Even Moses, the greatest of prophets, couldn't do it!

Moses himself says, "I am unable to bear you alone" (Deuteronomy 1:9). Rabbi Yoḥanan connects this to the time of Yitro's visit, when Yitro observed Moses exhausting himself by judging every case (Exodus 18:18). Rabbi Ḥiyya, however, links it to the time the people complained (Numbers 11:14).

Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi Levi, imagines Moses saying to God, "Master of the universe, You said, 'Who have been borne [by Me] from birth, [who are carried from the womb]' (Isaiah 46:3) – it is appropriate for You to bear them."

Moses even declares that he could handle ten times the population of Israel. So why couldn't he handle them? Because, as Deuteronomy 1:10 says, "The Lord your God has multiplied you." They had become too numerous, too blessed, and perhaps too entitled for one person to manage fairly.

So, what's the takeaway? Leadership is a shared responsibility. No one person, no matter how wise or powerful, can bear the burden alone. We need a community of leaders, each with their own strengths, working together to guide and serve the people. And we, as the people, have a responsibility to choose those leaders wisely and to hold them accountable. It's a delicate balance, but one that's essential for a just and thriving society.