What do you think of when you hear the word justice?
What does justice look like to you? How would you describe it?
Why does God require us to have tzedek in order to live in the Promised Land?
(א) צדק צדק. עם בעלי הריב ידבר וטעם שני פעמים לדבר צדק שירויח בו או יפסיד או פעם אחר פעם כל ימי היותך או לחזוק:
(1) Justice, justice — This is addressed to each of the contending parties. The repetition of "justice" implies that they should pursue a just result whether it brings them profit or loss, or perhaps that they should continue to pursue justice time after time, as long as they live. Or it may simply be for emphasis.
Justice, justice you shall pursue...Justice alone is not enough, because there are many types of justice, just as there are many kinds of truth. Every regime has its own justice. The Torah, therefore, stresses, "Justice justice you shall pursue," namely the musar (ethic) of justice, where both the means and the end are just.
Justice, justice you shall pursue...With justice, you shall pursue justice. Even the pursuit of justice must employ only just means, and not falsehood.
Why does Rabbi Simcha Bunim and Derasot El Ami emphasize this point?
The double exhortation of “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Tzedek, tzedek tirdof—צֶדֶק, צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף; Deuteronomy 16:20) could not be more forceful. Moreover, this command is addressed to the communal “you.” It applies not only to the judges, but also to every member of the community, including succeeding generations.
"These three verses... indicate a greater concern about the misuse of mercy than of justice. The text recognizes that we may be too lenient and overlook the need for justice on account of a favored relationship, or more crassly, money.
Excessive mercy can destroy a person and a society just as easily as fanatical justice. When Musar literature speaks of the trait of mercy, it cautions against its overuse because we may allow the guilty “to follow the evil promptings of his heart. Such pity despoils him and deprives him of life in the World-to-Come.”1 Justice is no less divine than mercy. We as humans just need some extra help to know what to use when."
Every member of the community, including succeeding generations, has an obligation to pursue justice in their own interactions with others. Before judging another person, we must be aware of our tendency to stereotype based upon the other’s external appearance. Likewise, implicit bias derived from our own life experiences should be acknowledged. In the Mussar tradition, judging others favorably and giving them the benefit of the doubt should be our default. We are all made b’tzelem Elohim, “in God’s image” (Genesis 1:27). When we view another as a “whole person,” we should search for and acknowledge their redeeming qualities. Just as God shows compassion when we fall short of the mark, so should we temper our judgment of another with compassion. For those situations where we find ourselves “baffled,” Shof’tim teaches us to seek out a trusted friend for advice.
With the advent of the internet and social media, we tend to “hear” only what we want to “hear” and then share that information electronically with “friends.” Such reactive judgment without further investigation and deliberation can be, at best, unfair and, at worst, defamatory, causing irreparable damage. This tendency to “rush to judgment” is most apparent in the “cult of the personality” phenomenon. We either sanctify or demonize public personalities using unverified “facts.” Our children are especially vulnerable to cyberbullying, which can harm the online reputations of everyone involved. Each of us has the ability to counteract the current trend toward reactive judgment by adopting a “slow to judge” attitude toward others. During my tenure on the bench, this practice helped me become a better judge.
(15) you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by your God יהוה. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kin. (16) Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since יהוה has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” (17) And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess. (18) When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. (19) Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere his God יהוה, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. (20) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.
(יז) וְעָמְד֧וּ שְׁנֵֽי־הָאֲנָשִׁ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־לָהֶ֥ם הָרִ֖יב לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה לִפְנֵ֤י הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ וְהַשֹּׁ֣פְטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִהְי֖וּ בַּיָּמִ֥ים הָהֵֽם׃ (יח) וְדָרְשׁ֥וּ הַשֹּׁפְטִ֖ים הֵיטֵ֑ב וְהִנֵּ֤ה עֵֽד־שֶׁ֙קֶר֙ הָעֵ֔ד שֶׁ֖קֶר עָנָ֥ה בְאָחִֽיו׃ (יט) וַעֲשִׂ֣יתֶם ל֔וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר זָמַ֖ם לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת לְאָחִ֑יו וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ׃
(17) the two parties to the dispute shall appear before יהוה, before the priests or magistrates in authority at the time, (18) and the magistrates shall make a thorough investigation. If the one who testified is a false witness, having testified falsely against a fellow Israelite, (19) you shall do to the one as the one schemed to do to the other. Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst;
This distinction is in accordance with the statement of Reish Lakish, as Reish Lakish raises a contradiction between two verses: It is written in one verse: “In justice shall you judge your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:15), and it is written in another verse: “Justice, justice, shall you follow” (Deuteronomy 16:21), with the repetition indicating that it is not enough to merely judge with justice. He continues: How can these texts be reconciled? Here, this latter verse is stated with regard to a possibly fraudulent trial, where the court must take extra care to judge with justice; and there, that former verse is stated with regard to a trial that does not appear fraudulent.
"...what will it take for all of us to pursue the work of tzedek – the tireless work of relationship-building, of learning, of phone calls and protests, of speaking truth to power, and of reflecting on our approach – with consistency?
It is in this spirit that I invite you, your family, your friends, and your networks to join a new, international initiative: the Tzedek Box. The Tzedek Box is like a tzedekah box, but instead of coins, you put a slip of paper inside every time you confront an injustice. If you speak out against sexism in your workplace, if you call your senator’s office about criminal justice reform, if you donate to register disenfranchised voters, write it down – not for self-congratulation, but for a chance to pause, to reflect, perhaps to seek divine partnership in the daunting work you are tackling. In this mini-diary entry, you might share how you are feeling, what you are realizing, or what you want to do next as a result.
Then, once a year, you’ll open your box as a form of sacred accountability and as a chance to take stock of what you did and where you may want to redouble your efforts in the future."
We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation. Partners with God in ( tikkun olam), repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world. We are obligated to pursue (tzedek), justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor, to act against discrimination and oppression, to pursue peace, to welcome the stranger, to protect the earth’s biodiversity and natural resources, and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage. In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice. We affirm the (mitzvah) of (tzedakah), setting aside portions of our earnings and our time to provide for those in need. These acts bring us closer to fulfilling the prophetic call to translate the words of Torah into the works of our hands. In all these ways and more, Torah gives meaning and purpose to our lives.