Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat shalom!

This week's Torah portion Shoftim begins in Deuteronomy ch. 16, as follows:

“¹⁸ Shoftim veshotrim (Judges and officers) shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ¹⁹ Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a bribe doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. ²⁰ Tzedek, Tzedek tirdof (Justice, Justice shalt thou follow), that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee”. ^{Deuteronomy 16}

There is a story about Rabbi Admur Avi Shmuel Horwitz, that in his courtroom, there were a backpack and a cane, hung on the wall behind him. To those who asked about the objects on the wall, he used to reply: "So that the powerful may not even think even for a moment, that I distort the law (God forbid!). It has never happened and it will never happen! I will never accept bribery; I will not break the judgment, nor absolve anyone unnecessarily. If the leaders of this community ever thought of threatening to fire me from the rabbinical ministry, I remind them that I am ready at any time to leave my rabbinic chair, take my backpack and my cane that hang here behind me on the wall, and go wherever else. And even if I had to ask for charity, I would not stop a single hour, to comply with just judgments of the law as indicated in the Torah".

Today, I do not believe that a set of “a backpack and a cane” should hang in the walls of the courts behind the judges, but perhaps to have engraved with large letters: “²⁰ Justice, Justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee". It seems that the concept of justice has fallen into misuse in most courtrooms in the world, in Israel too. "Plea bargains" are sometimes so absurd! A murderer, for example, can significantly reduce his sentence if he provides additional information regarding other defendants. In Israel, an exchange of between Hamas and Israel took place in 2011, releasing 1027 dangerous terrorists including Yahya Sinwar current leader of Hamas, in exchange of dead bodies of our soldiers and Gilat Shalit. I do not have to give you many examples. Just read the news and you will understand what happens in this rare world of Law and Justice. Cases by which the prophet Isaiah wrote in ch. 10: "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees…", or in the book of Proverbs 17 - "²³ A wicked man taketh a bribe out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment".

According to Midrash Mishléi, justice and judgment are considered to be even more important than the sacrifices themselves! As it is written in the book of Proverbs 21 – "³ To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifices". Hence, for Torah and according to the prophets of Israel, judgment must be an integral part of the values ​​in each of us, something intuitive and natural.

Rabbi Shimon Ben Chaláfta tells us, that on one occasion, he noticed that an ant dropped a grain of wheat. The other ants approached, became interested, with their small antennas, but none took the grain of wheat. The ant returned, took the grain that had fallen and continued on its way. Rabbi Shimon praised the wisdom (I would say the natural reaction) of the other ants, as these insects did not learn their attitudes from other beings. There were not any “police-ants”, nor “ant-judges”, nor “traffic-agents-ants”, nor “accident-insurance-ants”... it was plain and simple by nature! From this he was able to understand, what is written in the same book Proverbs 6 - “⁶ Look to the ant, thou sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 which, having no guide, overseer or ruler”.

And after all, why do we need Shoftim Veshotrim, "judges and officers ... in all your cities"? If finally the system arrives to a point of "plea bargains", and give, for example, to the one who stole from the public coffers, or to the one who bribed, only a penalty of "community service". How much we can learn from ants! Perhaps that is why the word "Justice, Justice thou shalt follow" is written TWICE. From this duplicity, large volumes of interpretations have been made, and there has been no wise man or rabbi who has not added new ways of interpreting these words, for example:

• Sifra explains, that the duplication of words teaches us that we must look again and again (twice), for a court that offers fair trials.

• A brayta (Mishna) claims, that we must attend to a court in which the judge is the most recognized for his righteousness.

• Reish Lakish understands, that the defendant must be investigated twice before giving a trial.

• In the Talmud Babel Sanhedrin 32b, Rabbi Ashi provides an explanation from the ordinary life, with a curious example using logic and common sense, as follows: “Duplication is because one is for the judgment and the other for the concession, and how is that? For example, if there were two camels that climbed the cliff on the hill of Bet Horón, if the two want to pass, the two fall from the cliff, if one goes up first and the other later, the two pass. But, which one crosses first? The one with the most load passes first, or the one that is closest, passes first, so everyone wins!“

Does it sound familiar to you? A few days ago in a trip, I noticed that a traffic light did not work and everyone wanted to pass at the same time, eventually we all were stuck. Apparently, nobody knew about the common sense of Rabbi Ashi! The Talmud teaches us (and it is obvious) that the law cannot foresee all the cases of justice that will exist in the world, and that it is the duty of each of us to execute the judgment according to the use of common sense, a healthy logic, with minimal place for our egos...

According to the prophet Isaiah 32, the results of executing Tzedek, is a life in peace and harmony, as it is written: “¹⁷ And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever”, peace in our homes, in our country, in our spiritual home. Just as health is not a matter of doctors, nor is it only treated in hospitals, in the same way the delivery of justice is not only the work of lawyers, nor is it only applied in the courtrooms. Like the ant in nature, the sense of justice must be something of its own, and natural in each one of us, part of our Jewish soul, the foundation of our faith. Justice while dealing with our relatives, with our collaborators at work, with our neighbors, even when the traffic lights at the cross roads do not work!

Surely, we may feel very uncomfortable when a trial ends with a “plea bargain”. But just like Rabbi Admur Avi Shmuel Horwitz, it should not prevent from us, even a single hour, from complying with the justice that the Torah teaches us. We shall remember, that there is always a very high level of justice, as it is written in Deuteronomy 10 – “¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a fearsome, who regardeth not persons nor taketh bribe”. By doing personal justice, and especially as a Jewish people, I believe peace will eventually come for all of us.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

September 6^th 2024