Parshat Shoftim

 

Justice, Justice (Tzedek, Tzedek) shall you follow,

in order that you will live

and inherit the land the Lord your God gives to you.

16:20

 

 

The repetition of the word “Tzedek,” Righteousness, means that in choosing a judge, judicial temperament and a sense of fairness is of paramount importance, more so than a dignified bearing and imposing presence…there is no greater danger to the stability of national life in the Land of Israel than injustice.

Sforno  (15th Century)

 

 

In order to minimize the need for Divine intervention, the Torah orders the active pursuit of righteousness.  In order to accomplish this, every town must have its own Court and police force with varying degrees of authority and competence required for the adjudication of civil law and criminal law respectively.  Justice must not be bent, bribery is prohibited.

Akedat Yitzchak (15th Century)

 

 

People must be judged by applying the same yardstick by which they judge others.  The hidden message in this legislation is that when God created the universe, He created opposites.  Just as He created domains of sanctity, He also created the alternative, i.e. a domain of impurity, ”Klipah.”…

Shney Luchot Habrit (16th Century)

 

…There are certain Halakhic demands that are worth presenting only within a society which – as a body – accepts the validity of the Halakha.  If it generally does not recognize it, then demands for certain details of Halakha to be observed become absurd…In a society and a state which are not based on the recognition of the obligation to observe the Torah, there is no reason to investigate whether some specific law of the state is in accordance with the Halakha…In a society in which public life, as based on government and law, involves the operation of ports and airports on Shabbat, where hundreds of factories work on Shabbat with governmental permission…the struggle against the opening of another movie house on Shabbat makes religion into a mockery…Mend the society, mend the state.

Yeshayahu Leibovitz (Contemporary)

 

 

If there is to be true unity in Israel, it must be precisely through (a) polyphone of ideas as to how to serve God.  Jewish unity is achieved through a healthy pluralism, through heterogeneity – not by reverting back to the ancient homogeneity.

Abraham Isaac Kook (20th Century)