DEUT913 If you occupy a position of authority, study the Torah and the other Jewish sources to remind yourself not to feel superior to those over whom you have power. People who occupy high positions often become arrogant, both because of their power and because of the flattery offered them by subordinates. To counteract this tendency, the Torah ordained that, upon assuming office, a king should write and carry around his own Torah, thereby reminding himself that he is God's servant, and serves at God's wish. The Torah also notes that they should be done so "that his heart not be lifted above his brothers" [this verse]. Sit down periodically and study or copy Jewish teachings, such as Deuteronomy 17:14–20 or Psalm 82, which remind the powerful that God is above them, and Psalm 15, which reminds us all of how God wants us to act.

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DEUT914 See [[DEUT377]] Deuteronomy 8:11 forget TZADIK 27

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DEUT915 See [[DEUT485]] Deuteronomy 10:21 deeds GATES 209

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DEUT916 The tribe of Levi shall not have a land inheritance in the land of Israel. Key concept: In order that the Levites and Kohanim concentrate all of their efforts on serving Hashem. To this end, they do not work the land, and the other tribes give them a portion of all that they have. Thereby, the Levites and Kohanim receive their livelihood without oil.

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DEUT917 The tribe of Levi shall not receive booty from the conquest of the Land of Israel or from other warfare. The Levites and Kohanim, Hashem's attendants in the Beis HaMikdash, are sanctified for a sublime calling, so it is not fitting that they take booty snatched in wartime. All that is associated with Hashem's House must be obtained peacefully, through justice, fairness, and mutual agreement, without any trace of violence or force.

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DEUT918 By and large, there are no vows of poverty in Judaism as a means of achieving a Divinely blessed state of affairs. There are no accusing fingers pointed at those engaged in normal economic activities and the earning of material goods. The priests and Levites in biblical times were, it is true, not allowed to have a portion of the Land of Israel like all other tribes, except for the small number of designated towns and villages apportioned to them. According to most of the biblical commentators, however, this was done not in order to produce a priesthood living in a state of poverty and devoting themselves solely to God, but rather to ensure the dispersal of the tribe of Levi throughout the country, so that there would be no area bereft of spiritual leaders. S.R. Hirsch, Commentary on the Bible, on Deut. 18:1-3. The poet- philosopher of twelfth century Spain, Yehuda Halevi, in his presentation of Judaism known as the Kuzari, described the Jewish attitude to economic activity as follows: “Nor is the decreasing of wealth an act of piety if such wealth happens to have been gained in a lawful way and its further acquisition does not prevent him from occupying himself with Torah and righteous deeds, especially for one who has family and dependents and whose desire is to spend his money for the sake of God. .... For you are, as it were, enjoying the Lord's hospitality, being invited to His table, and should thank him for His bounty, both inwardly and outwardly. The Kuzari, part II, 45-50. Mainstream Judaism saw a man's material welfare as a reward from Heaven, a gift of the Deity and therefore as something not intrinsically bad, but rather to be valued and prized. … Yet, despite the legitimacy of economic activity and of man's enjoyment of material goods, Judaism does not allow unlimited accumulation of such goods or unlimited use of them. Thus, the admonition in Ecclesiastes “Go to the ant, you sluggard” is generally regarded as a favorable injunction to industriousness and economic diligence. The rabbis, however, saw the ant’s life as the epitome of foolishness and wasted endeavor. “After all,” they said, the ant eats only two grains of wheat and lives but for one season, yet it labors ceaselessly to amass a fortune.” I.B. Bunim, Ethics from Sinai, chapter 4, mishnah 1 (New York: Feldheim, 1974). [Continued at [[DEUT1673]] Deuteronomy 32:6 endure TAMARI 31-2]

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DEUT919 See [[LEV919]] Leviticus 23:10 first AMJV 298

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DEUT920 In the Torah, there were many "experts" who claimed that they could cure disease and sickness using ways and methods that did not involve standard medical practices. What all of these practices had in common was that these individuals believed they possessed a power to heal that came from some place other than God. Therefore, all these "alternative therapies" (as outlined in the Torah), which are based on a belief in other powers such as idols, are forbidden. Although we no longer have the same deep desire to worship idols today, Judaism still believes that anytime some other power than God is claimed to be involved, that practice is forbidden. Thus, healing by using witchcraft is forbidden in the Torah, as is the healing of a wizard, relying on omens, astrology, (stick) divination, mediums, or illusions to provide a cure (Exodus 25:17, Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

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DEUT921 Do not practice divination. The term קוסם (koseim) refers to someone who secludes himself and focuses his mind entirely on some matter of the future that he wants to know. By mentally blocking out all matters of the physical world and intentionally concentrating on what he seeks to know, his soul mingles with spiritual forces associated with events that are about to transpire in the near future. Even so, diviners do not attain an accurate and clear picture of what will be. It goes without saying that they are powerless to know anything of the distant future of, for these matters are revealed only to genuine prophets. The perfect Torah forbids divination and the like because these practices lead the unlearned to a false conclusion. When they see that some of what the diviner say comes true, they mistakenly conclude that all that transpires in the world is controlled by stars, planets and other forces of astrology. People who harbor this mistaken notion are almost as those who maintain (Yechezkel 8:12), “The Lord has abandoned the physical world.” If someone seeks information from a diviner, he has not violated this prohibition, but his deed is truly shameful. Why should a Jew turn his thoughts to foolishness? How can he waste his time on it? Hashem has given every human being creativity and superior powers of intelligence. He has revealed to the Jewish nation His Infinite Wisdom as embodied in the Torah, so how can a Jew turn his thoughts to practices such as soothsaying? Rather, as a member of the Chosen People, each Jew should devote his thoughts to proper and devoted service of his Maker and never fear even one word of the soothsayers! Always, a Jew must realize that Hashem is managing the world and anytime He wants He can alter what He has set into motion through the agency of cosmic forces. Hashem has the power to totally deactivate the astrological forces and change what is destined to be, in order to bestow kindness on all who are faithful to Him. As is known, the nation of Israel is not under the sway of any star or mazal, for the Almighty manages all of our affairs directly.

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DEUT922 The subordination of the Gods to magic is a universal characteristic of paganism. "Pagan religion even in its highest manifestation, is amenable to believe in magic" because there is "the ever present assumption of a realm of forces apart from the Gods." Magical rites that supposedly have access to these forces "are viewed as automatically effective, or even capable of coercing the Gods to do the will of the practitioner." Kaufmann, The Faith of a Heretic. New York: Doubleday, 1961; p. 40. The Biblical-Rabbinic tradition is unequivocally opposed to magic [this verse and two preceding]. Few things so clearly distinguish Judaism from all forms of paganism as Judaism's insistence that God is in no way subject to magic or coercion of any kind. The holy righteous man ever bears in mind that God owes him nothing.... (Job 41:3).

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