page_title: Shofetim (parsha)
section_title: Deuteronomy chapter 17
hierarchical_section_title: Shofetim (parsha) / In modern interpretation / Deuteronomy chapter 17
caption_attribution_description: English: "Reverend John Davenport, (1597-1669/70)", oil on canvas, by the 'Davenport limner' (unknown artist). 27 1/4 in. x 23 in. Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
context_page_description: Shofetim or Shoftim is the 48th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9. The parashah provides a constitution — a basic societal structure — for the Israelites. The parashah sets out rules for judges, kings, Levites, prophets, cities of refuge, witnesses, war, and unsolved murders.
  This parashah has 5590 letters, 1523 words, 97 verses, and 192 lines in a sefer Torah. Jews generally read it in August or September.
context_section_description: In an echo of the requirements for two witnesses in Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15, Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution provides that the government may convict a person of treason only with the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or a confession in open court. A then-recent precursor of the Constitution’s provision appeared in 1776 in the Laws of Virginia, which provided that defendants be "convicted of open deed by the evidence of two sufficient and lawful witnesses, or their own voluntary confession." At the Constitutional Convention, the requirement for two witnesses first appeared in the first draft of the Constitution presented on August 6, 1787. During debate on August 20, 1787, John Dickinson of Delaware questioned what was meant by the "testimony of two witnesses" and whether they were to be witnesses to the same overt act or to different overt acts. The Convention consequently voted to insert the words "to the same overt act" after "two witnesses." Benjamin Franklin supported the amendment, arguing that prosecutions for treason were virulent and perjury too easily made use of against innocent defendants. In The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton cited the requirement for two witnesses to establish treason as one of several provisions in the Constitution that enumerate rights that, taken together, amounted to a bill of rights.
  Noting numerous connotations of the word “Torah” (תּוֹרָה‎) in the Pentateuch, Professor Ephraim Speiser of the University of Pennsylvania in the mid 20th century wrote that the word is based on a verbal stem signifying “to teach, guide,” and the like, and thus in Deuteronomy 17:18, refers to general instructions and provisions, and in context cannot be mistaken for the title of the Pentateuch as a whole.
caption: John Davenport (1670 painting in the Yale University Art Gallery)
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