In Memory of our beloved David Schwartz, who fell in battle sanctifying God’s name, on 27 Tevet, 5784 (8 January 2024).
“Le’David Barchi Nafshi” is a compilation of essays written on the weekly Torah reading by David Schwartz, of blessed memory. First published on the occasion of his marriage to Meital, David’s unique Torah thoughts that delve into the depths of the Torah are shared now to elevate his memory and sanctify his soul.
Shoftim is read at the beginning of the month of Elul, which is known as the month of love and forgiveness. Moshe tells the people about the laws they must follow upon entering Israel, and he begins by emphasizing the need to establish a court system, founded on principles of justice and integrity. “Judges and officers shall be appointed for your tribes in all your settlements,” Moshe instructs. “And they shall judge the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality: you shall not take bribes, because bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the pleas of the just. Justice, justice you shall pursue …” (Deut. 16:18-20).
The Torah focuses on the importance of acting with justice and truth in establishing the rule of law. Courts must be free of outside interference, and the judges must act with the highest integrity. Before delving into the questions of morality and justice in the law, we should clarify a fundamental question about the essence of the Torah’s demand on this, and distinguish between two aspects in the commandment regarding the courts.
Did the Torah expect a court of justice to be established based on Torah principles that will prevent bribery and forceful oppression? Or did the Torah seek to establish an “objective” court, which would rule based on absolute truths through the tools given to us? To prevent corruption, the Torah does not only seek the appearance of justice, but also “true” justice through the legal process of our tradition.
Whatever the case, a judge obviously is obligated to aim for truth and integrity even when the tools of justice may impede his way. The whole requirement of pursuing justice draws its strength from the verse, “and you should do what is right and good” (Deut. 6:18). Our sages for this reason taught that one should search after the truth, but also be mindful of the concurrent legal obligation to sometimes deviate from the law in order to attain the truth. It is not enough to decide based on strict legal doctrine, but one must consider the fairness of the claims at hand. As our sages tell us in Tractate Shabbat (10a): “Any judge who arrives at a truthful decision even if it is only a moment, is considered by God to be a partner in the Divine creation of the world.” Further illustrating this, one may see the comments of Rashi on the verse, “Righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue, so that you will live and take possession of the land, so that you will live and take possession of the land.” Rashi writes: “The merit of appointing judges is worthy to keep Israel alive and to settle them upon their land” (16:20).
Regarding this, the question arises as to why the pursuit of justice and truth is in such high regard. It should be obvious that we are obligated to pursue the truth with honesty, even without any connection to the issue of the legal system. Upholding the truth is one of the guiding and foundational principles of Judaism, as the Torah clearly says “Distance yourself from falsehood” (Ex. 23:7). Natural morality that goes beyond the Torah laws also obligates us to aspire to perform justice and truth, so why would we need an emphasis on this idea in justice?
Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein in his work Musar Aviv writes, “There is no possibility that the moral standard set by the decree of revelation would be less than that prescribed by natural morality … As the Talmud states (Hullin 33a) ‘Could there be something that would be permitted for a Jewish person but prohibited for an idolater?’... The disconnect of morality from halakha not only harms the body of Jewish law but is also a forgery of it.”
Seeking justice and striving for truth are not new requirements from the legal system. Halakha is not separate from morality, and in any case everyone is obligated to act according to natural laws of morality even without religious considerations.
It seems to me that we may connect this core teaching from our Torah reading as relevant to the month of Elul, as the concept of justice may be applied to teshuva as well. The principle at work is no less than the truth that is learned from the right granted to the judge in other places. For example, Tosafot in Tractate Shabbat notes that the judge may come, “to exclude a manipulated legal ruling.” The responsibility of the judge is to make sure that justice will take place for all and especially for the parties standing in his domain. And even though the judge can not know that he will issue a certifiably just ruling that will go out from his court, and despite there being a certainty that a court ruling will definitely not reach complete justice, such as in a case where the sides reach a compromise, even so the judge has a right to establish equity, or fairness in the outcome of the final ruling.
And it seems that an ordinary person may merit this same right to establish fairness in judgment, as well. When a person makes an effort to do so, he merits that fairness in judgment be applied to him in the Divine court of law.
As the words of the Baal Shem Tov state: “God seeks our heart.” The Rebby of Kotzk used to say on the verse” and You should be a holy people: “God commands us to be holy, saying, ‘I have enough angels.’” We live in this world that was created in a challenging way so that we can sanctify God with our actions.
God created man with two inclinations and it is specifically through the connection that his greatness is expressed. And lest a person say, “And what relevance is there for me to do teshuva, as my sins are too great to bear?” Therefore our sages teach us that just as a judge has the right to determine God’s blessing even when he is not fully upholding the truth, since the complete truth is not always attainable, so too the one who completes teshuva likewise merits the blessing of God.
As the Rambam notes in Laws of Repentance (7:4). :
Someone who is performing teshuva, returning from sin, should not consider himself distant from the level of the righteous because of the sins and transgressions that he committed in the past. This is not the case. In the eyes of God, he remains beloved and favored as if he had never sinned. Furthermore, he has a great reward, because he has actually tasted sin and yet, separated himself from it, conquering the evil inclination. Our Sages said: "In the place where someone who returns from sin (a baal teshuva) stands, even the completely righteous are not able to stand." Indeed a baal teshuva may transcend the level of those who never sinned at all, for he has overcome a strong evil inclination.
Rav Asher Weiss asks regarding the prohibition of bribery: “The wicked accept bribes in secret to pervert the course of justice” (Proverbs 17:23). And Rashi writes: “Bribery in secret the wicked takes - God receives the words of humility and reconciliation from the wicked in secret, in secret between him and them so the ways of justice are altered.”
"Likewise on the High Holidays and in Elul, on the days that we prepare for judgment, when the King sits in judgment over the land and the Book of Life and the Book of Death are open before him, suddenly we present the King with details of a mitzvah and increase our teshuva, tefilla, and tzedaka. But is not all this coming to bribe God, since we do not act this way during the rest of the year? It might only be during the holy days of Elul and Rosh Hashana that we act so, pleading before Him. Is this not bribery?!
"It seems to me that the permitted 'bribery' stems from the greatness of the hour. In actuality God “permits” us to bribe Him in these great days with His abundant mercy, so that we may merit the favorable judgment that is appropriate. Then, with the help of God, we may merit to achieve complete teshuva.
“Make an opening like the size of a needle point, and I (God) will then open this as wide as the door to a banquet hall for you.” (Song of Songs Rabbah, 5:2)