A certain wise Brahmin once passed by an orchard where two farmers were quarreling over the fruit of a single pomegranate tree. When they saw the Brahmin, they called for his help and asked him to judge between them. The pomegranate tree had grown in the plot of one farmer, but its fruit had fallen into the other’s field, and they could not agree on how to divide it fairly. The Brahmin agreed and asked: “Do you prefer a ruling according to human law, or according to divine law?” “According to divine law,” they both answered together. “Are you sure?” asked the Brahmin. “Of course,” they replied. The Brahmin then gathered all the pomegranates into one large pile in one plot, placed a single worm-eaten pomegranate in the other plot, and said to one: “This is yours,” and to the other: “And this is yours,” and then went on his way.
The Brahmin identified God with nature, and therefore, one could learn divine law from nature. In nature, there is no equitable or moral distribution of resources. At best, there is randomness; at worst, there is a struggle of brute force. So, when we speak of divine justice—is it natural justice? Certainly, according to the Torah, God created the world in justice. Yet justice—meaning absolute moral harmony—existed only for a brief moment on the sixth day of Creation, as Rabbi Yochanan bar Chanina teaches (Sanhedrin 38b): “Daytime is twelve hours long… In the first hour of the day, his dust was gathered… In the ninth, he was commanded not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. In the tenth, he sinned. In the eleventh, he was judged. In the twelfth, he was expelled and left the Garden of Eden…”. Between the creation of humanity and the expulsion from Eden, “natural” justice and morality existed in the created world. From that moment on, humanity broke it—and humanity has been condemned to repair it.
God, sitting as a court of supreme justice, judges the world and humankind. But the world itself operates according to the laws of nature, indifferent to justice. In fact, justice is “supernatural.” In this sense, the Torah commands humanity to rise above the level of nature to the level of humanity.
Therefore, the Torah says (Deuteronomy 16:18):"You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.”
But how can mortal judges rise above the level of nature to the level of human morality? Our portion continues and commands the judges: “You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, etc.” (Deut. 16:19). General instructions of impartiality are, of course, essential for doing justice—and any deviation is injustice. Yet we may still ask: is the mere command “judge justly” sufficient for a judge to rise above nature to justice?
A fascinating answer appears in the commentary of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Following the Sifrei, which teaches: “Do not pervert judgment and do not show favoritism… This refers to the appointment of the judges”. (Sifri Dvarim 144:7). Hirsch rules that this refers not to the duties of the judges themselves, but to the national responsibility in the process of selecting worthy judges. In his words: “Our verses do not address the obligations of the judges but the obligations of the public authority that appoints them: it is the duty of the community leaders to appoint judges who will judge righteously and will not pervert justice, and at the time of appointment they must consider integrity of character, in addition to the knowledge and understanding required to render judgment…”
Only a judge who is appointed in justice, without bias—ethnic, gender-based, political, or social—is capable of attaining the level of true justice. Hirsch adds: “These warnings are directed at the national representatives … for the community and its representatives bear guilt for every perversion of justice… their sin is recorded against those who appointed them.” Likewise: “You shall not pervert justice”—that applies to the judges appointed by you. Justice in judgment is not only the obligation of the national representatives—it is also their responsibility.
The loyalty of judges must be to justice and the law. If they are chosen based on loyalty to their electorate, or to political or religious opinions, that is already a distortion of justice created by those who appointed them.
In our diminished days, governments demand that judges, jurists, and authorities engage in the distortion of justice—days when a Minister of Justice conditions the appointment of judges on political loyalty and criteria of partiality, distortion, and bribery.
It is a religious and moral commandment to disrupt, halt, and replace the Knesset of Israel and the government. The people themselves are obligated and responsible to expel evil from their midst and to choose worthy appointing authorities.
Reish Lakish in Sanhedrin 7b asks about the “leap” in our portion, from commandments of justice to dealing with idolatry and the Asherah tree, and answers: “Whoever appoints an unworthy judge—it is as though he plants an Asherah in Israel.” It is fitting for us to purify ourselves from the pollution of idolatry and from the natural world where “whoever is stronger prevails,” and to restore the morality of human justice to the Holy Land.
The matter is in our hands. We shall do, and we shall succeed.
Rabbi Ofer Shabbat Beit-Halachmi divides his time between Maryland and Emek Hefer. He writes and teaches about Zionism and Judaism in various communities and settings. He is a social activist and served as rabbi of Shir Chadash Congregation in Tzur Hadassah.
The Brahmin identified God with nature, and therefore, one could learn divine law from nature. In nature, there is no equitable or moral distribution of resources. At best, there is randomness; at worst, there is a struggle of brute force. So, when we speak of divine justice—is it natural justice? Certainly, according to the Torah, God created the world in justice. Yet justice—meaning absolute moral harmony—existed only for a brief moment on the sixth day of Creation, as Rabbi Yochanan bar Chanina teaches (Sanhedrin 38b): “Daytime is twelve hours long… In the first hour of the day, his dust was gathered… In the ninth, he was commanded not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. In the tenth, he sinned. In the eleventh, he was judged. In the twelfth, he was expelled and left the Garden of Eden…”. Between the creation of humanity and the expulsion from Eden, “natural” justice and morality existed in the created world. From that moment on, humanity broke it—and humanity has been condemned to repair it.
God, sitting as a court of supreme justice, judges the world and humankind. But the world itself operates according to the laws of nature, indifferent to justice. In fact, justice is “supernatural.” In this sense, the Torah commands humanity to rise above the level of nature to the level of humanity.
Therefore, the Torah says (Deuteronomy 16:18):"You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.”
But how can mortal judges rise above the level of nature to the level of human morality? Our portion continues and commands the judges: “You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, etc.” (Deut. 16:19). General instructions of impartiality are, of course, essential for doing justice—and any deviation is injustice. Yet we may still ask: is the mere command “judge justly” sufficient for a judge to rise above nature to justice?
A fascinating answer appears in the commentary of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Following the Sifrei, which teaches: “Do not pervert judgment and do not show favoritism… This refers to the appointment of the judges”. (Sifri Dvarim 144:7). Hirsch rules that this refers not to the duties of the judges themselves, but to the national responsibility in the process of selecting worthy judges. In his words: “Our verses do not address the obligations of the judges but the obligations of the public authority that appoints them: it is the duty of the community leaders to appoint judges who will judge righteously and will not pervert justice, and at the time of appointment they must consider integrity of character, in addition to the knowledge and understanding required to render judgment…”
Only a judge who is appointed in justice, without bias—ethnic, gender-based, political, or social—is capable of attaining the level of true justice. Hirsch adds: “These warnings are directed at the national representatives … for the community and its representatives bear guilt for every perversion of justice… their sin is recorded against those who appointed them.” Likewise: “You shall not pervert justice”—that applies to the judges appointed by you. Justice in judgment is not only the obligation of the national representatives—it is also their responsibility.
The loyalty of judges must be to justice and the law. If they are chosen based on loyalty to their electorate, or to political or religious opinions, that is already a distortion of justice created by those who appointed them.
In our diminished days, governments demand that judges, jurists, and authorities engage in the distortion of justice—days when a Minister of Justice conditions the appointment of judges on political loyalty and criteria of partiality, distortion, and bribery.
It is a religious and moral commandment to disrupt, halt, and replace the Knesset of Israel and the government. The people themselves are obligated and responsible to expel evil from their midst and to choose worthy appointing authorities.
Reish Lakish in Sanhedrin 7b asks about the “leap” in our portion, from commandments of justice to dealing with idolatry and the Asherah tree, and answers: “Whoever appoints an unworthy judge—it is as though he plants an Asherah in Israel.” It is fitting for us to purify ourselves from the pollution of idolatry and from the natural world where “whoever is stronger prevails,” and to restore the morality of human justice to the Holy Land.
The matter is in our hands. We shall do, and we shall succeed.
Rabbi Ofer Shabbat Beit-Halachmi divides his time between Maryland and Emek Hefer. He writes and teaches about Zionism and Judaism in various communities and settings. He is a social activist and served as rabbi of Shir Chadash Congregation in Tzur Hadassah.