This week, our attention has been directed not only to the catastrophe in the Gulf States, but to the drama of the election of one or two new jurors to the elite court of nine, the Supreme Court of the United States. How appropriate, then, that our Parsha this week is Shoftim: which begins
lhrga kfc lk i,, ohryau ohypa Judges and officers shalt thou appoint unto thyself in all thy gates - the equivalent of the civic center. The portion is all about my dear wife’s addiction. She can find an episode of Law and Order any and every hour of the day, while talking on the phone, doing a crossword puzzle and reading the paper.
Well, that is exactly what we are reading about in today’s portion...The law and the officers who enforce the law, Law and Order.
We are talking here about the tiniest of all the professions. Of physicians, attorneys, dentists, accountants, teachers, even clergymen the fewest in number are the men and women who ascend to the judge’s bench. At the same time, if I were asked to name the most universal profession , I would also answer. Shoftim, judges, because, as we say in Yiddish, Yeder einer is a mayven, everybody is a judge...of everybody else and even of himself every day of the year. We are all busy, all the time, making judgments. So I suggest judging is both the oldest, smallest, and also today’s most common profession.
Let us first look into the Jewish attitude toward the so-called bench.
The instructions given to the judges of ancient Israel in this portion are succinct and relevant today. We read in today’s portion.
ypan vy, tk Thou thalt not pervert justice,
ohbp rhf, tk Thou shalt not show partiality
sja je, tku Neither shalt thou take a bribe
ohnfj hbhg rugh sjav hf For a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise. vhj,
ignk ;sr, esm esm But justice, justice shalt thou pursue justly in order that thou mayest live.
We find some specific qualifications for the judge in Shemot, 18:21, in the passage in which Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, says to him, "Moe, you are taking too much upon yourself. You will wear out. So, listen, ‘Provide out of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain,’ meaning corruption or bribery, ‘and let them judge the people.’ "
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to apply these requirements to all our judges, including the justices of our Supreme Court? You bet.
We Jews, not only my wife, have had an ongoing love affair with the law.
What do we call the Torah? The law of Moses. In the Pirkei Aboth, Chapter one, verse one, after describing the handing down of the law from the Prophets to the men of the Great Assembly, what is the first admonition given to them?
ihsc ohbu,n uuv Be deliberate, be careful in judgment.
The Talmud is replete with legal disputation and legal decisions.
Halachah, we call it, and we try to follow it to this very day. Justice is a Jewish obsession. But justice is not confined to the courts. Everybody on earth is a self-appointed judge, including you and me. We are all convinced we are good judges. At this very moment each of you is judging me. And I have news for you. I am judging you. I’ll render my decision at the end of my remarks.
The admonitions we have been given in today’s parshah: "do not pervert justice, do not show partiality, do not take a bribe" apply not only to official judges, but to the self-appointed judges, you and me. In the old Roman Coliseum, the crowd could end a gladiator’s life or save it, by turning their thumbs up or down. Today we still judge with our fingers. We punch the television’s remote and lower somebody’s rating. We decide who sings best on American Idol, who dances best on Dancing With the Stars, even who is going to be President of the United States and who is not. We judge the sports players. I am sure you have all seen some 350 pound, beer swilling, hot dog gobbling sports fan sitting at the top of the bleachers and screaming, "Throw that bum out" He is also a mayven. He is also a judge.
We judge the books we never write, the plays we could never produce, the paintings in the museum, the cook in the restaurant, our friends. We are often harsh judges of our children: when somebody else’s kid acts up, we say, "Isn’t he cute?" When it’s ours, we want to disown him. As for our spouses - there was once a TV show, "Rate Your Mate" which broke up many a marriage when contestants heard what their beloved really thought of them. Bad idea.
We are often guilty of ohbp rhf, tk prejudice pro or con. For example, we love to tear down our adored movie stars. We are especially strict in our judgment of leaders in office. One commentary on our text today, in Midrash Rabbah, states regarding ohryau ohypa Judges and officers, "This means that the officer administering the judgment of the court should never himself be deserving of punishment." You and I are following the Halachah when we expect the highest level of integrity from our politicians, and are especially harsh on those caught in a conflict of interest, or accepting a bribe, or failing in carrying out their duties.
Speaking of which, we have had a week of finger pointing at politicians and government agencies, haven’t we? Will our anger affect our judgment?
Sometimes we are too harsh on the powerful and successful, and then, sometimes too lenient. I like what Heinrich Heine had to say, "If a prince wear a bohemian glass stone on his finger it will be taken for a diamond. Should a beggar wear a genuine diamond ring, everyone will be convinced it is glass."
We are prone to prejudice. Recognizing this weakness in us the Torah tells us not to favor persons, whether too rich or too poor when justice is involved.
Remember the story of King David when he had Uriah killed and took his wife, Bath-Sheba. Though he was king, he did not get away with it. The Prophet Nathan pointed his finger at him and said ahtv v,t, you’re the guy!
No. we must not show partiality nor accept bribes. Bribes are not confined to courts of law. Our opinions are often bought, you and I, by gifts, by flattery, by acceptance by those a little higher when we try to climb the social ladder. We, hypocritically fawn upon the very rich or famous, whom, without these false measures of value, we wouldn’t give the right time. There is a Rabbinic statement, very harsh, but still true in the case of robber barons who try to have people forget their greed by giving some of it up to charity, we say ohrznn rvyn ;xf "Money makes the bastards (the illegitimate) pure. Or as we read today.
ohnfj hbhg rugh sjav hf For a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. We have to be careful in our judgment of others not to be dazzled by success or blinded by bribes, but try to enter into the
very soul of the next person or else don’t judge. That famous teaching of Pirkei Aboth Chapter 2 by Hillel says it all, unuenk ghd,a sg lrcj ,t ihs, ktu "Judge not thy neighbor until you have come into his place". I guess it is a universal truth. Our American Indians have a prayer, "O great Father let me never judge another man until I have walked a mile in his shoes."
I have always felt we all ought to swap places with one another. Every doctor should have an operation and spend a long time in the hospital. Every policeman and clergyman should spend time in a jail. Every business tycoon try to get along on Welfare. Every rabbi have to listen to a bad sermon. We have to feel the pinch of the next man’s moccasins to be able to begin to render judgment.
I love the hoary story of the lady and the butcher. It seems in the days when chickens were hung on hooks in the butcher shop and selected by the patrons. This lady comes in and asks the butcher, "Please take down the pullet."
She picks it up, smells under the wings and throws it back.
"Take down," she says, "the capon."
She smells under the wing and rejects it."
"Gimme," she says, "big one with the black feathers." He does, and she does her thing and throws it back.
By the time almost all the birds are on the counter the butcher says, "Madam, could you pass such a test?" Oh how we judge others.
As for judging ourselves, and we do, we can apply all the same principles. Someone said we have the eye of a bat for our own faults, but the eye of an eagle for the faults of others. I love the poems of Robert Burns, and especially this line from "To a Louse" "Oh would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us."
While I’m dropping names, let me quote some words of Albert Einstein I read this week, because it says what I think our Parsha teaches us in far fewer words than I. In 1937 he wrote about the world, "One misses the elementary reaction against injustice and for justice - that reaction which in the long run represents man’s only protection against a relapse into barbarism."
There we have it: justice in the courts, justice in our judgment of one another, justice in our appraisal of ourselves.
This week when the nomination of a Chief Justice of the United States is overshadowed by the ongoing tragedy of the Gulf Coast States, we are fortuitously reminded by the Torah of the enormous significance Judaism places on true justice, so as not to allow our world to return to barbarism. In a few words today’s portion says it all.
vhj, ignk ;sr, esm esm But justice, justice shalt thou pursue in order for humanity to survive.
Speaking of which, my judgment of you is that you were marvelous. I hope you think that well of me.