Parshat Shoftim – August 18, 2023 / 2 Elul, 5783

Parsha Shoftim- means Judges

This week, I took a family poll. I asked everyone in our immediate family what they thought of when I said the word “justice.” I asked our 3 year old Lena, “What is justice?” She looked me right in the eye and said confidently…”Justin!” This is the name of my older brother. Cameron initially said “Justice League,” which includes Superman, Wondewoman, and Batman, but he also added the word “power.” I was onto Meghan. I asked her to give me her initial reaction when I said the word “Justice.” She gave me a look that can only be described as a long “mehhh,” and I was wondering what she meant. She told me that the word justice brings to mind punishment, the inability to forgive, revenge, and a lot of other negative words. I have spent some time wrangling with justice before this little family poll, especially the world of mental health, addiction and restorative justice and diversion away from jail and prison. I remember a particular meeting with some prominent members of law enforcement. One prominent member, upon hearing that one third of prison inmates in America have been diagnosed with a mental illness, said: “That’s not justice. That’s really just not right.” “That’s not justice. That’s really just not right.” Some of the anecdotes I heard in these settings were simply sad, referring to individuals who the system just did not know what to do with…people who with proper treatment could not only enter society, but potentially flourish. To see them behind bars, struggling mightily with their mental health…this did not feel like justice to my friend.This week we read one of the most famous of all phrases in Torah…”Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof-Justice Justice you shall pursue. Or perhaps “righteousness righteousness” you shall pursue.” The people of Israel are commanded by God to appoint judges and officers when they settle the promised land. “They shall judge the people with ‘righteous judgment-Mishpat tzedek.” 

There are many interpretations of the true meaning of this line, and we are always to perk up our ears a bit when a word is repeated in Torah. Rabbi Simcha Bunim, a Polish Hasidic rebbe, attributed the repetition of “tzedek” to mean that one must only pursue righteousness or justice through means that are righteous or just. The outcome is not the only matter of importance, but it is also how we get there that can make a world of difference. Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, one of our medieval commentators, wrote that the repetition of the word “tzedek” was to imply that we must pursue righteousness or justice as long as we are breathing on this earth. We must never stop improving and becoming more just. 

This week’s portion also explicitly tells us that we are not to destroy trees bearing fruit in the midst of the chaotic battles of war. Even through the destruction of warfare, we are told as Jews, never to lose our sight of justice–of the type of justice that aspires to what is right and good. Torah seems to be telling us that we can become blinded by a world that seems unforgiving and cruel. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and we are left wondering why, and perhaps seeking a type of justice that does not truly live up to its inherent concept. Sometimes it might be easier to say, “raze the whole forest! Get rid of everything! We are in the middle of a war! Let’s just flatten it all!” As an ohr l’goyim, a light unto the nations, we must preserve the trees bearing fruit and food in spite of what is necessarily easy. How many beautiful seeds do we have sitting behind bars, not given a chance to grow and bear fruit? Likely too many. How can we reach the full potential of the Promised Land when many of our beautiful souls are not being given a chance to thrive. 

“That’s not justice. That’s really just not right.” My law enforcement friend unknowingly quoted from parsha Shoftim. That’s not Justice (tzedek). That’s not right (Tzedek). His next line could have been..”Let us pursue both”.

The Torah does not call for a lack of justice, or for letting people who need to be brought to justice off the hook. It does however ask us to practice justice that is not perverse, that is not based upon anything other than the particular case at hand. No bribes, no outside influences that have no bearing on the particular situation. What is our reward for mishpat tzedek–righteous judgment?” we will “live long and possess the Land that God has given us.” If we are to endure, we must always remember the fruit of the trees. Amidst the smoke, shelling, bombing, bedlam and trauma, we must do the holiest of work to preserve our precious fruits. We must water and nurture the seeds that are our fellow human beings. We must not run wildly through the forest of our lives with axes in hand, chopping aimlessly at whoever wrongs us. We must also look at the soil, the conditions, the light, and the environment for growing. Have we done, and will we do all we can to ensure that our precious fruit trees are put in the best possible conditions to grow, or will we stifle that growth in a box too small to allow roots to take hold? 

There is a quote whose origin is difficult to track, but is often attributed to author Nelson Henderson: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees underneath whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

When we follow the just and right path in our own lives, we do not imprison the lights of our fellow human beings, but break down the bars and the wall that allow us to live long and endure in the land, that allow us all to plant roots, to get the proper amount of nourishment, and to grow. Every person, every tree, is precious. Let us pursue justice that restores and renews. It is our beautiful, joyous and holy duty.

Shabbat Shalom.

– Rabbi Josh Gray