Why "Justice" Twice?

This is my Parashat Shoftim discussion with the congregation during Shabbat morning service

Transcript

Opening Banter And Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:18

We know about the way Aura works.

unknown 0:33

Thank you, Rob.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Oh, sure. It was also off, by the way. Other than that, it worked perfectly. So what we know about Torah study, and when the one of the rules of Torah study is that the Torah never puts another word in that it doesn't mean or it doesn't do, doesn't magnify a letter. There's always

Why Torah Repeats Words

SPEAKER_04 1:00

some kind of meaning behind it. Okay. That's one of the rules of Torah study. So when you look at the, when you look where it says sedek, sedek tirdov, what does that mean to pursue justice? So we're going to start with our with our text first. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Open with the Parsha's most famous verse and sit with its redundancy. Why does the Torah say justice, justice, not just once? Deuteronomy 16, 18 to 20. The foundational command: appoint judges and avoid bribery, pursue justice. 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

Justice As Society’s Foundation

SPEAKER_05 1:47

the people with due justice. 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. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

In my opinion, the last part of the sentence is the most important part. And that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Because the justice, the pursuit of justice, is the foundation upon which the entire society is built. Without it, you don't have a society. You have anarchy. And you can nobody can be trusted. Because as soon as you lose faith in the courts and you lose faith in judges, your society is finished as a cohesive society.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Sounds very annoying.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

I wouldn't say that. Of course it does. And by the way, it's the same challenge in every society at all times. It doesn't matter who's in charge. Okay, but when you lose the cred when when a court loses its credibility, you're finished. This was a huge problem, by the way. Right, this was a huge problem in the 60s in the South. Okay. You know, in places like Mississippi and Alabama. I mean, you know, as soon as a black person came in front of a judge, you know, they've already lost the case. There was there was like zero credibility in some of these places. And that's why, you know, it's such a worrisome time nowadays, too, because as soon as you get, you know, as soon as racism becomes, you know, in vogue again, again, we're going to go back to the same place. The same is true in Israel, by the way. It happens when people start at lack. That's right. That's right. So so when you've got when when you've got a society that doesn't have law or justice, the rat the the uh the Torah is saying you're doomed. That's real, that's what it's saying. It says you're you're doomed. And that you are uh that we're gonna talk about it in a second, and that the king better appoint good judges. Okay, better appoint good judges. We'll we'll talk about that in a second. So I'll share with you just a story. Sorry. I I I was talking with my philosophy professor one day, and I I and we were talking about the concept of justice as described in some of the medieval works and some of the uh some of the rabbinic works, and uh

Whose Justice Counts In Society

SPEAKER_04 4:52

he turned me to a book called Whose Justice, Whose Rationality? Each society has its own definition of justice, and once you realize that, you say, you know, you can't really apply Jewish rules necessarily into a secular society or secular rules into a Jewish society. Okay? So well, I'm I'm I'm yeah, yeah, of course, of course. But the the you know, the the rabbis are telling us there is a distinct way to do justice within the land of Israel, the land you're about to inherit. And by the way, here are all the rules, and that's what the mitzvot are. Question.

SPEAKER_05 5:40

I'm concerned about the readim in West Bay.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

You ought to be.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

It's not justice.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

No, no, you ought to be worried about it. But what they're doing is they're saying we are going by a strict interpretation of Torah that we inherited the whole land, and therefore anybody who's on that land that's not Jewish, like us, right, doesn't should not be on the land. Right? It's crazy, right? And then what will happen is if the court supports them, right? Then you know, then you know that that that we're in big trouble. Remember, there was all that there was all these protests a few years ago for court reform and in Israel and all that. This is the the pursuit of justice is always a conflict. Always a conflict. Okay, so let's take a look. Let's look at Rashi, famous commentator, and let's see what he has to say about this double uh use of the term.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

Justice, justice shalt thou pursue, go to, search after a reliable court.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

A reliable court. So Rashi is saying what this means is you need to go after a reliable court. So the doubling of, hang on one second. The doubling of the term means

Rashi: Chase A Reliable Court

SPEAKER_04 6:58

don't give up looking for a court. It's not just any court. You don't, you don't just you don't want a Timu court, right? Right? Anyone can make a court, you want a real court, and that's where we we that's where we have to pursue. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

This is uh college, California, or two years. It's finance. Starter was not known to us a ball under uh just some crazy stuff, but but actually what's given. Just as just is why they say it's what's because it's something I follow on life, but it's path and it's also a destination.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

It's a path and it's a destination, very nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

And then we have to live and move that path the journey of our life, just I try to try and just say daily like business like it's very difficult. But I I always click like that when I get to this particular shared and on a daily basis, I think about this. When serious focus of conflict I focus on this not just getting there, it's how you get there. If I'm doing just cost me a few bucks, but I did it for integrity on it, just I like that.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

I like that. Thank you. Thank you. Let's take a look at the second part of Roshi's commentary.

SPEAKER_05 8:36

Justice, justice shalt thou pursue, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The appointment of honest judges is sufficient merit to keep Israel in life and to settle them in security in their land.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

Right. So Rashi is saying what really what the Torah is saying. Rashi is saying there that if you appoint judges properly and judges judge properly and with fairness and integrity, which doesn't, which is not the same as they don't make mistakes. I mean, everybody makes mistakes. Okay, but if they do, then that in and of itself is going to be the foundation that the society depends on.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Is that what we have appeals?

SPEAKER_04 9:22

I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Is that what we have for appellate courts?

SPEAKER_04 9:24

Yeah, well, that's right. I mean, what's an appellate court? I mean, it's it's you know, where mistakes were made or there were judges being justified. That's the whole point, right? I mean, theoretically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Very interesting part of this is that it demonstrates the power of the yetzer hera. Because if the yitzerra was not so overwhelming, you wouldn't need to say it. Right.

SPEAKER_04 9:50

That's true, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, I think this should not, it almost shouldn't have to be said.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Does everybody know what the yetzer

Yetzer Hara And Power Over Law

SPEAKER_04 9:57

hera is? Does anybody not know what the yetzer is? Okay. So expand. Keep going.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Okay. I think the thing that would come naturally would be try to try to take advantage of your fellow in any ways possible. That's right. And this is saying about that's not okay. You you you have to uh deal just to find injustice. Um that's not always the way societies have run started. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 10:44

That's right. So and and in fact, and in fact, you reminded me this this verse was used a lot in the sermons against slavery. Right? And yeah, and and the yetzerhara, the evil impulse, given the opportunity, the evil impulse would would run wild. Okay, that's the whole might makes right. I've got the sword, I've got the power, therefore, I'm the one who determines what the law is. And the Torah is saying no, that that's not the way life ought to work. That's not the way a society ought to work. That's a really good uh point. I'm not gonna now have to go read my code of Habarabi again. Huh? Well, I well, you both get a gold star.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

That's supposed to be pushed on that.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Okay, now Ibn Israel, my favorite commentator, and uh Susie, you'll see why in a minute. Ibn Israel on Deuteronomy 16 20. Go ahead, look.

SPEAKER_05 11:49

Justice, justice. Moses speaks to the disputants. Moses repeats the word justice to indicate that one should pursue justice, whether one gains or loses.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

You might lose your lawsuit,

Ibn Ezra: Accept Fair Process

SPEAKER_04 12:04

but if it was done in a just manner, you have to give the court the credit for adjudicating properly.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Oh, but that's a tough one of the law.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

It is, it is, right? It it is.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

That's why you have appeals.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Well, that's why you have appeals. We're not talking about the the the structure of the Jewish courts here. Okay, and as far as I know, there there are no there are no uh appellate courts here. No, you can't say you'll lose and be happy. Oh no, no, oh no, you're not gonna lose and be happy. No, you're not gonna lose and be happy, but somebody ultimately is gonna win, and somebody ultimately is gonna lose.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

I'm not sure I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

Okay. Okay, all right. Okay, okay. So that now we're gonna take a look at the at at Ibn Ezra's second comment because it's grammar.

SPEAKER_05 13:07

Or the word is repeated to indicate that one should pursue justice as long as one exists, or the word is repeated for emphasis.

SPEAKER_04 13:17

Right. Ibn Abraham Ibn Ezra was a commentator, and he was a he was kind of a philosopher as well, but one of his com one of the things that he focused on was Hebrew grammar. Okay, and so he would look at a word and he would say, Well, okay, here you got a word. What's going on in the word grammatically? But when he saw Zedek Tzedek, he said, This is only for emphasis, which may be the original intent of the writer, the writer or editor of the Torah, but we have taken it and we have turned it into something even more meaningful. Okay, so Abraham Ibnozer does that for fun. Now, I wanted, I I want, I know we don't have a lot of time. So I if if we take, okay, let's go to pay, let's go to the last where it says session four. Okay. Okay. In this portion, okay, which talks about the responsibility of society to appoint proper judges and the and the and and judges to be uh um good stewards of justice, okay? The Torah presents a problem. What if you find what if you find somebody by the riverbank who's dead? Right? You're going to try to pursue justice, right?

SPEAKER_05 14:56

Check his karate authority.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

So

When A Body Is Found Unknown

SPEAKER_04 14:58

what? With what?

SPEAKER_05 15:00

Check his karate authority.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Okay, no, he's dead. He's obviously dead. Well, there is a really interesting ritual. And the rabbi, and I want us to learn about this ritual because it will then impress upon us that justice is not something which is done by judges, it's something which has there's a communal responsibility. Okay, and there's also a responsibility of the leaders of the of the of the city, the town, and society. So this is really an amazing ritual. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 15:38

The parsha closes with a striking ritual. When a murdered victim is found and the killer unknown, the elders of the nearest city must perform a public declaration of innocence. But why? They didn't commit the crime. The broken-necked heifer ritual. If in the land that the eternal your God is assigning you to possess, someone slain is found lying in the open, the identity of the slayer not being known, your elders and magistrates shall go out and measure the distances from the corpse to the nearby towns.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

The magistrates and the elders, these are the judges. Okay, so you can imagine the Supreme Court putting on their boots, walking down to the river, and and and and they have to perform this ritual. Okay, and then we're gonna look at why, because it's really it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_05 16:34

The elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall then take a heifer that has never been worked, which has never pulled in a yoke, and the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to an ever-flowing wadi, which is not tilled or sown. There in the wadi they shall break the heifer's neck.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

Everybody knows what a wadi is? Like a little river.

unknown 16:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 16:58

The priests, sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the eternal your God has chosen them for divine service and to pronounce blessing in the name of God, and every lawsuit and case of assault is subject to their ruling. Then all the elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, and they shall make this declaration. Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Absolve, O eternal one, your people Israel, whom you redeemed, and do not let guilt for the blood of the innocent remain among your people, Israel, and they will be absolved of blood guilt.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

Okay, so here's the question. I don't want you to read on. Right, hang on, Susie. I don't want you to read on because it'll answer your question. Why do these people who had nothing to do with a murder? And these aren't just any people, these are the magistrates, these are the judges of the town. Why do you think they have to go down to the Wadi and perform this ritual?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Because the debt is their dignity.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

Well, okay, I I I like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

But I'm sorry? It's a communal thing.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

Why is it a communal thing? Why does it have to be a communal thing? I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Because the death is done in the community.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

The death was done in the community. Okay, so hold that thought. Go on with your burying thing. They deserve dignity.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

What do you somebody had to have been responsible for it because we don't know who they're male or two understanding?

SPEAKER_04 18:40

So their surrogates for what?

unknown 18:44

Respect.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

For a family, maybe? Okay, okay, that's good. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

This may just be grammatical, but my favorite subject. Okay. When a murder victim is found, then the killer unknown. Now we've always learned that murder is different than killer. So why is it when a murder victim is found and a murderer unknown?

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Isn't that different? Murderer?

SPEAKER_04 19:09

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, if somebody who was murdered was killed.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

But he was also, you know, we walk with the Yeah, you, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

I'm just looking at the I'm just looking at the uh the Hebrew.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

It's like murder sure. Yeah, well, I can't. It doesn't say called murder or killed because it doesn't show that it looks murdered.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

Yeah, I I'm just gonna look at the Hebrew because I want to answer the question if I can. What's the uh the slayer?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Where are we looking at here?

SPEAKER_02 19:39

What what sentence is before the first sentence?

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Oh, no, it says that yeah, the uh it's the no fell, the the and and he fell in the field, and it is not known who smote him. That's the way I would translate it. Who assaulted him? Well, or if anybody really did, right? Could have died of natural causes right by the riverside. What is interesting though is that the Torah is specifying you have to get the judges in there. Remember the judges who who who are now responsible for justice, the ones who have to be fair all the time. The rabbis looked at this and they said, This is a moment of self-introspection for the judges. This is a lesson for the judges. Well, how is this a lesson for the judges? Let's read the last paragraph where it says the elders of that city.

SPEAKER_05 20:50

The elders of that city would then wash their hands in water in the place of the breaking of the neck of the heifer, and they would recite, Our hands did not spill this blood, nor did our eyes see. The Mishnah explains, but did it enter

Leaders’ Duty To The Stranger

SPEAKER_05 21:08

our minds that the elders of the court are spillers of blood, that they must make such a declaration? Rather, they meant to declare that the victim did not come to us, and then we let them let him take his leave without food, and we did not see him, and then leave him alone to depart without accompaniment. They therefore attest that they took care of all of his needs and are not responsible for his death, even indirectly.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

This is an amazing paragraph. It's an amazing paragraph because it's a well, it's a declaration. We are going to absolve the community, right? That's what we had said. We're going to absolve the community, but we're also going to absolve ourselves because we know that we ultimately could have been responsible for his death. Why? Because he came into town on his horse, okay, and he appeared before us. Right? And we kicked him out of town without food and without making sure he was okay. We aren't responsible for that. Okay. In other words, this paragraph in what it's in Maseket Sota. I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_02 22:34

They're making a declaration that they were wrong in doing this, or we see it as being wrong. Okay. And they're they're saying that the situation's no no no blame for it.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Right. They don't take any blame for it. No. No. We'll talk about that in just a in just a second. What this is saying is that when they make that declaration, when you're they're reminding themselves of what ultimately their responsibility is, not just to the people that live in their community, but also to the the passer through. That in order for you to really affect real justice and to be and and to and and to pursue sedek, everybody who appears before you must be treated equally, including the stranger that walks through your town, that you ultimately may end up saying, I don't even know who this person is, get out of my town, and he ends up dead by the river. And this is that that's why this declaration that is created by the by the Gemara, these words were put into the judge's mouth, that that this declaration is so meaningful. Many people, when they, you know, when they're overwhelmed or something, if the person isn't known to them or isn't as important as you know somebody else, they'll they'll say that you know they'll they'll dismiss the person really quickly. And that's why the rabbis are saying, you don't dismiss anybody. Hold on one second, I'm gonna get to in a second. The reason the the justice has a blindfold on is that she she doesn't know who's standing in front of her. Okay, and if she doesn't know who's standing in front of her, she can adjudicate fairly, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Question This

Blindfold Justice And Camp Conflicts

SPEAKER_02 24:41

may be like a stretch, but not us directly doing the killing.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

That is not a stretch at all. That is precisely what the rabbis are saying. That is precisely what they're saying, that ultimately each of us is responsible, even though you know many people say, Well, how can I? I'm not responsible. I didn't know it. But what what this is a I think it's a kind of hyperbole for sure. I mean, are we all really responsible? And the the the the rabbis would say, you know, I mean, in a in a kind of a way, yes, if we're all connected and we all live in the same community, ultimately we are kind of responsible. And so what it's also an opportunity for us to to keep our judges in check, and for our judges to keep us in check so that we can have a certain level of calm in in a community or a society. Look at I have you ever been to camp? You ever been to summer camp? Okay, summer camps are notorious for trying to keep peace. Okay, they are they're they're notorious for trying to keep peace. I'm sure that counselors, okay, are probably among the world's best judges. Because as soon as you walk into a cabin, there's going to be conflict. And every year at every camp, at every cabin, there's some kind of a conflict where the word it's no fair, right? And somebody has to make peace. And if without without the first 24 hours, and I mean literally, without the first 24 hours of making peace in a cabin, if you don't have that, it will ruin the summer for half the cabin. And that's why, you know, that's why we have counselors. I always wondered why they called them counselors. They're lawyers. They are, they're lawyers. So I'm serious, having gone to camp for many, many years. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 26:45

So this is all uh why gets into how we'll go further and say, Oh, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Because that's not what this particular portion is about. This this portion is about assigning judges. What what okay? There are many laws about how to find or how to judge somebody who is a murderer. And by the time or who committed any crime, by the time you get to the Tollment, there are tractates on criminal law. Okay? The Torah is giving us an overview, you know, pursue

Justice As A Never Ending Pursuit

SPEAKER_04 27:27

justice. It's not giving us all the details of how of what happens when there's there's two people and and bad evidence, or the witnesses are not trustworthy, or back in the old days, if the what if the witness was a woman, do we count the wo the the woman's assessment? I mean, this is all this is all the stuff that Steph's uh discussed. And there the there's there's no end to the pursuit of justice. And one of the other common comments that that I've seen is, you know, you're you're pursuing justice now and you're pursuing it in the future, that there's no end to what justice is, that it's a destination, not just a journey.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Guilty.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

Yeah, it's really good. Any other questions, comments, problems? No, it yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

I get the impression, like this is the art, you know, that even though you walk by, you know, you have to record it, so it has to be done so we just have to know it. So in a current day, yeah, saying that this is a car, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Sounds like and and the and the I like that. And and in in a modern society, the coroner is being paid by the the community or the or the government, okay, to be a fair representative. Okay. Yeah, I yeah, I like that. That's really good. That's really good. Any other any other questions about about this? Any other problems, issues? Good. All right, what's next?