page_title: Shofetim (parsha)
section_title: Modern
hierarchical_section_title: Shofetim (parsha) / Further reading / Modern
caption_attribution_description: Thomas Mann, 20 April 1937
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: Isaac Abravanel. Commentary on the Torah. Italy, between 1492–1509. In, e.g., Abarbanel: Selected Commentaries on the Torah: Volume 5: Devarim/Deuteronomy. Translated and annotated by Israel Lazar, pages 80–106. Brooklyn: CreateSpace, 2015. ISBN 978-1508721659. And excerpted in, e.g., Abarbanel on the Torah: Selected Themes. Translated by Avner Tomaschoff, pages 421–40. Jerusalem: Jewish Agency for Israel, 2007. ISBN 965-7118-05-0.
  Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno. Commentary on the Torah. Venice, 1567. In, e.g., Sforno: Commentary on the Torah. Translation and explanatory notes by Raphael Pelcovitz, pages 916–33. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-89906-268-7.
  Moshe Alshich. Commentary on the Torah. Safed, circa 1593. In, e.g., Moshe Alshich. Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Alshich on the Torah. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 1043–62. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2000. ISBN 965-7108-13-6.
  Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. Commentaries on the Torah. Cracow, Poland, mid 17th century. Compiled as Chanukat HaTorah. Edited by Chanoch Henoch Erzohn. Piotrkow, Poland, 1900. In Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. Chanukas HaTorah: Mystical Insights of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel on Chumash. Translated by Avraham Peretz Friedman, pages 306–07. Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press/Feldheim Publishers, 2004. ISBN 1-56871-303-7.
  Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 3:37, 40, 41, 42; Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, pages 476–77, 506, 518, 543, 548, 586–87, 724. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0-14-043195-0.
  Chaim ibn Attar. Ohr ha-Chaim. Venice, 1742. In Chayim ben Attar. Or Hachayim: Commentary on the Torah. Translated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 5, pages 1882–904. Brooklyn: Lambda Publishers, 1999. ISBN 965-7108-12-8.
  Moses Mendelssohn. Sefer Netivot Hashalom (The “Bi’ur,” The Explanation). Berlin, 1780–1783. In Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible. Edited Michah Gottlieb, pages 228–29. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-58465-684-5.
  Moses Mendelssohn. Jerusalem, § 2. Berlin, 1783. In Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism. Translated by Allan Arkush; introduction and commentary by Alexander Altmann, page 129. Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis Univ. Press, 1983. ISBN 0-87451-264-6.
  United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5. Philadelphia, 1787. (prohibition on foreign rulers).
  Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal). Commentary on the Torah. Padua, 1871. In, e.g., Samuel David Luzzatto. Torah Commentary. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 4, pages 1199–221. New York: Lambda Publishers, 2012. ISBN 965-524-067-3.
  Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter. Sefat Emet. Góra Kalwaria (Ger), Poland, before 1906. Excerpted in The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of Sefat Emet. Translated and interpreted by Arthur Green, pages 309–14. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1998. ISBN 0-8276-0650-8. Reprinted 2012. ISBN 0-8276-0946-9.
  Hermann Cohen. Religion of Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism. Translated with an introduction by Simon Kaplan; introductory essays by Leo Strauss, pages 417, 429. New York: Ungar, 1972. Reprinted Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. ISBN 0-7885-0102-X. Originally published as Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums. Leipzig: Gustav Fock, 1919.
  Erwin R. Goodenough. “Kingship in Early Israel.” Journal of Biblical Literature, volume 48, number 3/4 (1929): pages 169–205.
  Alexander Alan Steinbach. Sabbath Queen: Fifty-four Bible Talks to the Young Based on Each Portion of the Pentateuch, pages 151–54. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House, 1936.
  Joseph Reider. The Holy Scriptures: Deuteronomy with Commentary, pages 165–97. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1937.
  Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, pages 336–38, 447, 736. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
  Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva
caption: Mann
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