Contributing to a strong, vibrant, and diverse Jewish community in and around Philadelphia
We pray for peace.
During these precarious and challenging times, we pray for the safety of all who are in harm’s way. May everyone throughout the region find safety from bloodshed. May the hostilities end quickly, creating an opportunity for peace in a part of the world that has known too much bloodshed and oppression.
עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל כָּל יוֺשְׁבֵי תֵבֶל
וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu, v'al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel v'imru amen.
May the One who makes peace in the high places, bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel, and all humankind, and let us say: Amen.
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The BOR is comprised of a diverse group of rabbis who live and/or work in the greater Philadelphia region. Our members serve in a wide range of professional contexts and represent a wide range of rabbinic perspectives. The ultimate goal of the BOR is to contribute to a strong, vibrant and diverse Jewish community.
D’var Torah Parshat HaShavuah
PARSHAT SHOFETIM
"A Call to Justice"
Rabbi George Stern
I have always been fascinated by Parshat Shofetim, and especially its first few verses (Deuteronomy 16:18-20): You shall appoint judges and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, and they shall govern 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 ETERNAL your God is giving you.
Each year as I review this parashah, I find myself focusing on words or phrases that seem to offer some new insights—probably because I bring to the parashah new experiences and thinking that point me in some new direction. (By the way, I fully believe that this authentically Jewish approach is responsible for keeping our ancient texts, and thus the Jewish people, vibrantly alive. When in Pirkei Avot 5:22 the sage Ben Bag Bag said of the Torah, “Turn it, turn it, because everything is in it,” he said aloud what others knew instinctively: that traditions survive only when they are made relevant to new circumstances.)
In Pirkei Avot 1:18, Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel states, On three things does the world stand: on justice, on truth, and on peace. Midrash Devarim (Deuteronomy) Rabbah 5:1 expands on that terse phrase: Consider that if you distort judgment, you destabilize the world, as [judgment] is one of its three stanchions. [Indeed,] the Rabbis say: “The potency of justice is considerable, as it is one of the legs of the Divine Throne.” From what [Biblical text] is this [idea] derived? [From Psalm 89:15:] Righteousness and justice are at the base of Your throne; kindness and truth greet Your countenance.
Imagine a three-legged stool (known to be sturdier than a four-legged). Now imagine that this stool is God’s throne, and its three legs are named justice, peace, and truth. If the leg of justice is removed or even just damaged, the throne will collapse. Commenting on the notion that the stability of the world depends on justice, truth, and peace, Rabbi Yitzchak HaGer, in his commentary Zera Yitzhak (Amsterdam, 1798), asserts that the destruction of the leg of justice means that if a judge perverts the law, he causes the Shekhina (Divine Presence) to depart from Israel, as proven by the verse Psalm 12:6: For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, nowwill I arise, says Adonai. The throne’s destruction “arouses” God and shakes up the world.
According to our Midrash Rabbah, all of the above is ultimately derived from Parshat Shofetim’s “judges and officers.”
It seems to me that, while verses such as Deuteronomy 16:19—You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind theeyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just—are most often understood as addressed to judges, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume that the inclusion of “officials” in the Torah means that the warning about bribes refers also to elected representatives and the bureaucracy. Indeed, in a country like ours with a tricameral government (which, as those who actually studied “civics” know, refers to our Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches), it is absolutely essential that the Executive branch act according to the laws passed by the Legislature and interpreted by the Judiciary. Indeed, clearly worried about bribes, our Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8) forbids officeholders from accepting any present, Emolument,Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
As the month of Elul begins, I hope our personal cheshbon hanefesh (introspection and self-assessment) will help us discern how to model justice personally and how to respond justly and fairly to the moral issues that confront us daily.
Rabbi Stern served as a congregational rabbi in Nyack, NY, and as Director of Neighborhood Interfaith Movement and JSPAN (Jewish Social Policy Action Network) in Philadelphia. He worships at Dorshei Derekh, the Reconstructionist minyan at Germantown Jewish Centre, and at Congregation Rodeph Shalom.