One of the most important institutions in the Jewish world is the Jewish court, called the Sandhedrin, which consisted of seventy one judges who were the final word as far as all Jewish law is concerned. This week’s Parsha is the source of the number of seventy one judges. Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to gather seventy elders to aid him in judging Klal Yisroel. The Gemara makes the calculation that seventy plus Moshe Rabbeinu is seventy one, which is the number that stood throughout the generations.

Rabbi Aharon Dovid Singer
Rosh Kollel, NMB Kollel