When I think of shotrim, I think of the ones in Ancient Egypt. These were Jews who were appointed as police officers over the Jewish slaves. The philosophy behind it was to demoralize us as a people. Putting one Jew against another Jew. These first set of shotrim didn’t harm their brethren and instead got beaten for not following orders. Later in the desert, they were rewarded to become the Sanhedrin. This exemplary behavior set a tone for all future shotrim. When an officer claims that “they had no choice” but to follow the chain of command, this is proof that it’s not the case. We all have the ability to make choices. No one is absolved from acting morally.
Metaphorically, this can be applied to one’s self. We all have our own shotrim, our own Egyptian slave masters trying to rule over us. It comes in the form of the yetzer hara. It fights us, it tries to demoralize us. It uses arguments that we can respond with… “I had no choice.” Here too, we do have a choice. We can choose not to make excuses, we can “police” ourselves to discern what is proper behavior.
We must stay steadfast and choose wisely. It’s also important to remember that just like Hashem rewarded the original shotrim, we too should learn to reward ourselves. We should learn to appreciate our strengths and accomplishments. Next time you feel, “I have no choice…” remember those original shotrim; there is always a choice and it’s in our capacity to choose wisely.
