JUSTICE AND COMPASSION

“Judges and officers you shall place for you within all your gates that the Lord your God is giving you for your tribes and they shall judge the people a fair judgment.” (Devarim 16:18)

In the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 5:1) Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel comments on this opening verse of our parasha: “Do not make light of justice for it is one of the three legs of the world. Why? For our Sages taught (Avot 1:18), “The world stands on three items: on justice, on truth and on peace.” [Therefore] carefully consider that if you pervert justice, you are causing the world to shake because justice is one of its legs.”  The Rabbis (ibid) add: “Very severe is the power of justice for it is one of the legs of the Throne of Glory. From where do we see this? From the verse (Tehillim 89:15), “Righteousness and justice are at the base of Your throne; kindness and truth greet your countenance.”  

Rabban Shimon depicts the world as if it is standing on a tripod whose three legs are justice, truth and peace.  If any of these are removed or broken, the tripod will collapse and the world will shake and fall. The Rabbis go a step further and, based on a verse from Tehillim, describe God’s Throne of Glory as comprising four legs. Those four legs are righteousness, justice, kindness and truth. God directs the universe He created using these four attributes. The one we encounter first is justice. The first verse of the Torah states (Bereishit 1:1), “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” The Name of God in this verse and for much of the Creation narrative is Elokim. This Name is associated with strict justice. In fact, the word elokim sometimes refers to judges of flesh and blood (see for example Shmot 22:7 & 27). We only encounter God’s four-letter name (Adon-nai) in chapter two of Genesis. Rashi (Bereishit 1:1) explains, “It does not say ‘Hashem (Adon-nai) created’ [but rather ‘Elokim created’] because initially He thought He would create the world with the attribute of justice. He saw that it could not endure so He brought forward the attribute of compassion and joined it with the attribute of justice, and this is what the verse states (ibid 2:4), ‘This is the legacy of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, on the day that the Lord (Adon-nai) God (Elokim) made earth and heaven.’”

Justice and compassion are both vital for the existence of civilisation. Rabbi Chanina S’gan HaCohanim taught (Avot 3:2), “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for fear of it, people would swallow one another alive.” Rabbi Chanina, who lived during the ruthless Roman occupation of Israel, probably had little love for the government. However, the alternative was much worse. Without leadership, society tends towards chaos and anarchy. Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, comments on this teaching (Koren Siddur page 653): “[This] is an anticipation, by some sixteen centuries, of the argument of Thomas Hobbes’ political classic, The Leviathan. Without a centralized power, charged with the authority of enforcing the rule of law, society would degenerate into a “war of all against all” in which life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The Talmud (Avoda Zara 4a) comments on the teaching of Rabbi Chanina by citing a verse from the prophet Habakkuk (1:14) “And makes people as the fish of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them.” Why are people compared to the fish of the sea? Just as in the case of fish of the sea, any fish that is bigger than another swallows the other, so too in the case of people, were it not for the fear of the ruling government, anyone who is bigger than another would swallow the other.” Without courts of law and the rule of law, the weak would be at the mercy of the strong and there would be no justice. Hence, we can fully appreciate why God desired to fashion a world built upon the pillar of justice.

But a society that is built only on strict justice and law can also degenerate and become a place of cruelty.  The Talmud makes a strange observation regarding the fate of Jerusalem (Bava Metzia 30a): “Rabbi Yochanan says: Jerusalem was destroyed only for the fact that they adjudicated cases on the basis of Torah law in the city.” At first glance, this appears senseless. Was it not to their credit that they followed the law of the Torah? Indeed the Talmud queries this: “What else should they have done? Should they rather have adjudicated cases on the basis of arbitrary decisions? Rather, say: That they established their rulings on the basis of Torah law and did not go beyond the letter of the law.” The problem in Jerusalem prior to the destruction of the Temple was that people had become litigious and demanded every cent that they felt was owed to them. They were not prepared to give in even by one inch. There is a time for strict law to prevail but there is also a time when compromise is called for. I have seen this in my work for the Beth Din.  Naturally, each litigant believes his/her claim is justified and correct. But this often leads to a stalemate situation especially when evidence is lacking and the matter becomes one of “he said, she said.” In such an instance, it would be advisable for the claimant and the respondent to each give in a little and meet somewhere in the middle so that they both end up with something. If they fail to appreciate the need for compromise, they stand to lose everything or they end up paying large amounts to lawyers.

As much as human beings can attempt to deliver justice, they can never reach absolute true justice for that is the realm of God alone. Only He can take into account every ramification and knock-on effect of a particular ruling. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 6b) famously states, “A judge has only that which his eyes see.” He can only decide based on the testimony of the litigants and the evidence provided. The judge was not there at the time the crime was committed or the transaction was concluded. He cannot access information that is stored deep within the hearts and minds of the people who come to court. God, however, can access everything. He is beyond space and time. This is what Hashem said to Samuel when the prophet wanted to anoint David’s eldest brother, Eliav, as the monarch (I Samuel 16:7), “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees [does the Lord see]; man sees only what is visible, but the Lord sees into the heart.’” It is for this reason that we refer to Hashem as Dayan HaEmet, the True Judge. This is especially true upon hearing bad news, such as the passing of a relative (Brachot 54a). When such tragedy strikes, we cannot see how justice has been done. Why did the deceased have to suffer? Why did he die young? Why is his wife left a widow to raise several small children on her own? Why did he predecease his parents? Surely such is not the natural order of things? So much of life is inexplicable and difficult to comprehend. Only God, who is omniscient and aware of the full picture, knows the answers to these questions. In His wisdom He has determined that this was just and thus, we submit to his sovereignty and affirm that He is the True Judge.

In the run-up to the solemn Days of Judgment, we turn to God and ask Him to show us compassion and to temper His strict justice with mercy. May He grant us a new year of peace, blessing and success.

Lee, Chani Merryl and Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!   

Rabbi Liebenberg Link to Rabbi’s YouTube message for Shabbat: https://youtu.be/nkuP8U4JzKM