A story is told about a Holocaust survivor who stopped observing Torah and Mitzvot. At one point the Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk met him, and he asked him: you, who grew up observing Torah and Mitzvot, why did you stop? The man cried and said that he decided to stop being observant because of an event he saw in the camp during the Holocaust. And he told the Rav that there were thousands of people in the camp, who were suffering from great hunger and from hard work from sunrise to night. One day a new Jew arrived in the camp, and he possessed a small prayer book. Immediately all the inmates of the camp formed a great line to see the Siddur and to read portions of prayers from it. However, to my astonishment, the owner of the Siddur asked each person who wished to pray from it to give him half of the meager portion of bread which he received that day. And indeed, each Jew who came to pray gave him half of his miserable daily ration, and only afterwards he was allowed to pray from the Siddur. I saw this and was shocked, said the man to the Rav from Brisk, and from that day I decided to stop keeping Mitzvot – how can someone take advantage of miserable, helpless people, and take the little bread they had in return for a prayer with his Siddur? I then said to myself: if this is the religion, I want no part of it! The Rav from Brisk heard this and said to the man: why do you only see in your eyes this one particular man who did this, and come to a long-term conclusion? Why do you not see, at the same incident, the hundreds of people who stood in line and were willing to give their daily meager bread to pray from that old Siddur? It is this which you must see, and to learn from them self-sacrifice for Torah and prayer, in every situation and at every age! The man heard this, burst in tears and repented.
 

From this story we see that two people can see the same event, but each one will interpret it differently according to his predisposition. As the popular saying goes: you can look at a half-filled glass of water, and one person will see the half which is full, and another person will see the empty half. Everything depends on the temperament and attitude of the beholder.
 

Our parsha opens with the verse 'Judges and officers you will appoint for yourself' – and many commentators have asked: what is the significance of the addition of the expression for yourself, and why is this necessary?
 

We read a wonderful Psalm during the month of Elul, Mizmor 27 in Tehillim - 'To David, HaShem is my light and my salvation.' In this Psalm, David Hamelech expresses his desire to dwell in the house of HaShem. David senses distance, and yearns for the time when he will be able to sit in the house of HaShem all his days, and David adds: u-levaker b'heichalo – 'and to visit in His Palace.' What is the meaning of 'and to visit in His Palace?' If David desires to dwell there permanently, then why only to visit in His palace?   
 

Perhaps we can explain that the expression levaker b'heichalo emanates from the word bikoret (inspection), as in the verse regarding substituting a beast for a sacrifice – lo ivaker bein ra l'tov (one shall not inspect between bad and good). The word bikur comes from bikoret, meaning inspection and differentiation between what is good and what is bad. 
 

And this is the meaning of the word boker (morning) – in the evening (erev) everything is mixed up (me'urbav) and muddled, and the world cannot be seen properly. In contrast, in the morning/boker everything becomes clear and it is possible to inspect and differentiate (levaker) between good and bad.
 

And this is the deep meaning of the Mitzvah of bikur holim – visiting the sick. The purpose of this Mitzvah is not only to go to the home of the sick person and visit him, but also to check - levaker - if he is in need of something, and in what way we can help him. Chazal went to great lengths in stressing the importance of this Mitzvah, so it is logical that their definition of the Mitzvah is not only visiting, but also active concern for the patient, improving his conditions and making sure he has everything he needs.  
 

In light of this, it is logical that this is the intended meaning of this sentence: David wishes not only to sit in the house of HaShem, but also levaker b'heichalo meaning that David does not suffice with being in HaShem's house and 'to witness HaShem's delightfulness' but he desires to ascend there, to inspect himself and improve his outlook on life, to purify and cleanse himself more and more. The cleaner one is, the purer his outlook, so his outlook is purer and so he sees everything more properly and accurately.
 

We can also say that this is implied by the Torah's addition of 'appoint for yourself' at the beginning of our parsha. This comes to teach us that the command to appoint judges is not only about authorizing judges to judge the nation, but also that every person must put "judges" over himself. He must examine his ways constantly, to scrutinize (levaker) his deeds as well as his outlook on life – to discern between what he sees well and correctly, and what he sees erroneously. A person's spiritual ascent depends greatly upon his ability to scrutinize himself and to improve himself, every year rising above his previous level.

And this is the heart of the month of Elul, the month of introspection, when one examines himself, and by virtue of this becomes closer to HaShem.
 

May we merit to witness HaShem's delightfulness, and to visit (levaker) in His palace, and through Torah study to examine (levaker) our deeds, to improve our ways and to see everything in the proper light.

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