Sep 10/05 - Shabbat Shofetim: "Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue."

Commentary by Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker

What on earth does it mean to criticize someone as being “too judgmental”? Isn’t that statement about another person in itself a form of being “judgmental”?

The fact is that we cannot endure in life without exercising judgment that may put us at risk of hurting someone else’s feelings. Refusing to buy a visibly shoddy piece of merchandise hurts the feelings of the owner of the store. A teenager rejecting a dangerous plan for an evening's “fun” wounds friends who may reply, “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust us?”

The world has always been a place of pressures to suspend personal judgment, while at the same encouraging extensive criticism of others. For too many people, it is easy to find fault in others and difficult to find merit. All too often we judge harshly, without mercy or compassion for the individual and his or her human fallibility.

Concern for balance in the exercise of judgment is one of the messages in this week's Torah portion. We read, “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof”—"Justice, justice shall you pursue...." (Deuteronomy 16:20) Our understanding of this passage is that we Jews are commanded to emulate God as we administer justice within our own communities.

We read: "You shall appoint judges and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that Adonai your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice." (Deuteronomy 16:18) But we have concluded that the Torah also teaches us that justice by itself is not enough to sustain the world. For the world to endure, God requires mishpat tzedek, "righteous justice"—judgment tempered by love and mercy that recognizes the spark of the divine within every person—even alleged criminals.

The Sages taught that God exhibits justice tempered by mercy and mercy tempered by justice in the world and in each person’s life. That is why God is known by two primary names: Elohim—representing the quality of justice—and Adonai, representing the qualities of love and mercy.

This principle of mishpat tzedek—balance between justice and mercy—applies not only in the realm of law but also in interpersonal relations. Analyzing a passage in the Second Book of Chronicles (vs. 19:6), the great 11th century commentator Rashi wrote: "Consider what you do and conduct yourselves in every judgment as if the Holy One, Blessed Be God, were standing before you. That is the meaning of the phrase 'God is with you in giving judgment.'"

Think of how differently we might act if every time we were about to judge someone, or pass along unsubstantiated rumours, or otherwise "pass sentence" on someone’s actions, we imagined God standing before us listening to what we were about to say. Would we simply pass harsh judgment, untempered by love or mercy?

Moses Maimonides, another great rabbinic commentator, taught that God has commanded us to give others the benefit of the doubt. Seeing someone acting in a way that could be interpreted either favourably or unfavourably, we are obligated by God to give that person the benefit of the doubt. Even if it seems to us unavoidable that we should interpret the action unfavourably, it is better to give that person the benefit of the doubt. And in the end, if we discover that the person indeed deserved to be judged unfavourably, Maimonides teaches that nevertheless we are forbidden to go to others and relate the matter to them—because such tale-telling is lashon hara, "an evil tongue."

Naïve—or generous? Clearly the objective is to preserve any remaining potential for good in a situation. As the Chofetz Chayim, one of the great teachers of Jewish ethics, once said, "We were given two eyes: one, very powerful for introspection, so we should find within ourselves even our smallest faults; the other, very weak, for viewing the faults in others. Only too often we switch their functions."

Anyone can find fault with others. The mark of a righteous person is to be able to see the good qualities—even in the midst of the bad—in those around us.

To live in community, we must constantly exercise judgment—first reviewing our own behaviour, then that of others. Is a particular act or course of action right or wrong? Our tradition cautions us that as Jews we must exercise judgment with mishpat tzedek, tempering our judgment with love and mercy. We must conduct ourselves in every judgment, legal as well as interpersonal, as if the Holy One, Blessed Be God, were standing before us.

Shabbat Shalom.