This is what Scripture says, "Lazybones, go to the ant; study its ways and learn. Without leaders, officers, or rulers, it lays up its stores during the summer, gathers in its food at the harvest."(Proverbs 6:6-6:8) What did Solomon see to learn from the ant regarding the lazy person? Our rabbis say that the ant has three houses (or floors), and it does not congregate in the top (floor) because of rain, nor does in the bottom because of mud, but rather in the middle. And it only lives for six months. Why? Because anything that does not have sinews or bones only lives six months. And all of its food is a grain and a half. And it goes and gathers in the summer all that it finds, grain and barley and lentils. Rabbi Tanchuma said: All of its life is a grain and a half and (yet) it gathers these? And why does it do this? Because it says: Perhaps the Holy One Blessed Be God will decree life and it will be prepared for me to eat. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said: It once happened that they found a pit of it (an ant) that had three hundred kor (of food grains). What they gather from the summer is for the winter, therefore Solomon said: "Lazybones, go to the ant; study its ways and learn." So to you shall fix for yourselves mitzvot from this world for the world to come. And what is "study its ways and learn"? Our rabbis say study its manners, because it flees from theft. Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta said: It once happened that a single ant dropped a grain. And all of them (the ants) were coming by and smelling it, and yet not one of them took it. The one who it belonged to came and took it. See the wisdom that there is in it (the ant). And all of this praise that it has it did not learn from a creation, and it does not have a judge or an officer. As it is stated, "Without leaders, officers, or rulers." You for whom I have designated judges and officers, all the more-so that you shall listen to them, and there will be judges and officers set for you in all of your gates.
(18) You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. (19) You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. (20) Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
משפט צדק, the manner in which the complaints of the litigants were heard should be such that the resulting decisions could be expected to be fair, צדק, righteous. The judges were not to discriminate in their treatment of either of the opposing litigants.
(9) When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. (10) You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your God. (11) You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. (12) You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD. (13) You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning. (14) You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD. (15) You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kinsman fairly. (16) Do not deal basely with your fellow citizen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the LORD. (17) You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of them. (18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your fellow citizen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD. (19) You shall observe My laws. You shall not let your cattle mate with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; you shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material.
משפט צדק. "righteous judgment." The Torah did not write בצדק as it did in Leviticus 19,15 where it legislated something similar. In our verse -which is addressed to the judges- the Torah teaches the judges something of great importance. If the judge is truly interested in handing down true judgment, they must dissociate themselves from the persons, i.e. the litigants before them and weigh only legal considerations. They must not say to themselves that according to the arguments of litigant A, B must be guilty, whereas according to the arguments of litigant B, A must be guilty. They must research only the halachah on the subject matter in dispute. If they were to approach the matter differently they could not help but develop some bias in favour of one of the litigants. As a result the judgment would not reflect true righteousness, צדק. When the judge follows the procedure the Torah suggests then they first forms judgment, משפט, which turns out to be צדק, righteousness. [You will observe that in the quotation from Leviticus 19,15 the Torah describes the reverse sequence, i.e. your interest in righteousness obliges you to pronounce judgment. In that instance a variety of considerations ultimately demanded that you resort to law rather than mediation, etc. Ed.]
If we are to read the verse as a moral/ethical lesson we could apply a teaching based on what Moses said in Psalms 96,13: ישפט תבל בצדק, "God judges the universe with equity." Kabbalists (Zohar volume 3 page 198) understand the word צדק in this verse as referring to the Celestial Court. According to Beytzah 16 this court decides on Rosh Hashanah each individual's livelihood for the coming year. Accordingly, if a terrestrial judge decides between two litigants on the basis of Torah law they merely publicise a decision already made in the Celestial Court, as any decision not based on Torah law would upset the judgment made by the Celestial Court concerning this individual's livelihood. The words ושפטו את העם משפט צדק mean that these judges hand down to the people the decisions made by the Heavenly Tribunal.
ושפטו את העם משפט צדק, “they shall judge the people with fair judgment.” This may be either a warning to the individual judge or to every individual Israelite not to appoint a judge who is not righteous as well as competent. If they fail to do so each Israelite will be an accessory to perversion of justice if and when it occurs.” The judgment is to be absolute. It is to correspond to Leviticus 15,15 בצדק תשפוט עמיתך, “you are to judge your fellow with righteousness.” Sanhedrin 6,2 phrased this as יקוב הדין את ההר, “let the judgment bore a hole into the mountain.” Rabbi Akiva adds that one does not mix mercy with justice (Ketuvot 84). [The aforementioned quotes mean that the time for possible arbitration is before a matter comes to court; once it has come to court only legal considerations are relevant. Ed.]. The word משפט implies something “in the middle,” i.e. a clear-cut decision between opposing claims. Compare Psalms 112,5: ”One conducts one's affairs with equity.” Jeremiah 30,11 speaks of ויסרתיך במשפט, “One will discipline you with justice.” These applications of strict yardsticks are valid in the dispensation of justice by a human tribunal.
The expression צדק which also appears in our verses is reserved for application by G’d. G’d combines both attributes when God sits in judgment. This is why we find David say in Psalms 99,4: משפט וצדקה ביעקב אתה עשית, “justice and charity You applied in judging Yaakov.” משפט is known in kabbalistic terms as the קו האמצעי the “middle” line on the diagram of the emanations, and Yaakov is the patriarch who represents this line [to the left of חסד on the right, Avraham’s attribute, and to the right of גבורה ,דין Yitzchak’s attribute. Ed.].
This enables us to understand Jeremiah 10,24: יסרני ה' אך במשפט, אל באפך פן תמיעטני, “chastise me o Lord, but in measure; not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.” The prophet says that the attribute of Justice which is part even of the tetragrammaton should not be applied to them as otherwise they would not survive the chastisement. [The prophet utters a prayer by their people who are aware that the enemy army is close to capturing Jerusalem. Ed]. משפט as distinct from דין, is perceived as the mild aspect of justice at work, whereas אפך is the harsh aspect of justice at work. Tzedek is the attribute of Justice applied to the world, as we know from Psalms 9,9 והוא ישפוט תבל בצדק, “and God will judge the universe by employing צדק.” This attribute receives its input from a higher source known as elohim. This is the meaning of Psalms 58,12 אך יש אלו-הים שופטים בארץ, “there is indeed divine justice on earth.” The word שופטים in that verse in Psalms and the word שופטים in our verse here are mystically linked together. The Torah’s instructions here are to establish the mechanism demonstrating that there is divine justice on earth. If it sounds as if justice is to be tempered with mercy in a court of law, this is misleading. The truth is if the guilty receives sentence the innocent is exonerated and feels that righteousness has been done for them whereas justice has been done to the other litigant.
Deuteronomy 16,18. “Judges and law enforcers you shall appoint in your “gates” who will judge the people fairly.”
While it is true, as we all know that G’d sits in judgment of the people of Israel on New Year’s Day, at which time God exercises God's love as well as God's mercy, there is still a need for justice being meted out down here on earth by human, i.e. mortal judges. The judges meting out justice on earth must also reflect the attribute of Mercy employed in the celestial spheres. When judges here on earth emulate the approach to the accused displayed in the celestial spheres, i.e. to assume that even if guilty, there are some excuses to be found for the conduct of the accused, then we can hope that, by taking this into consideration, our own judgment on New Year’s day will also reflect this consideration shown to sinners who had fallen victim to the evil urge.
From the above, it is clear that it is within our power, down here on earth to ”open” the gates of loving kindness, the source of G’d’s blessings for humankind. This is the reason that the Torah linked the dispensation of fair justice to “all your gates.” The Torah tells us that we ourselves must initiate the process of justice by giving anyone who appears to commit a wrong the benefit of the doubt, i.e. as the Talmud in Megillah 12 words it: ”a person is measured by the yardsticks they apply to others.”
שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך . We find an allusion here to the moral imperative quoted in the ספר יצירה that there are seven gateways to the soul (נפש). They are: The two eyes, the two ears, the mouth, and the two nostrils. Thus far the ספר יצירה. Only the gateways that are in person's head have been mentioned here. There are, however, two more "gateways," namely the opening from which seminal fluid is emitted, and the opening from which we excrete. A person has to guard these openings with extreme care. This "care" extends to what they see with their eyes, what they hear with their ears, what they say with their mouth, and the anger that they let escape from their nostrils. They also must exercise careful control over the gateway from the site of the Holy Covenant with G–d, making sure that any seminal fluid which one emits serves a sacred purpose. One must also ensure that one does not unnecessarily fill up the opening from which one excretes, as only animals keep on eating for the sake of eating, heedless of the amount of filth and vomit they accumulate within their bodies. In short, these are the שערים, gates of one's body, that a person must watch over like a judge and law enforcement officer. This is the reason the Torah added the words תתן לך, "place for yourself" in the opening verse of our portion.