פרשת שופטים

Well it is interesting that in our little poll at the top of the page we have not received a single vote for יום כיפור, but the day is still young.  This week we have entered the month of אלול, the month immediately preceding the High Holy Days.  We will not be celebrating ראש חודש/Rosh Chodesh for next month in the regular way, it will not be a regular day it will be ראש השנה/Rosh Hashanah.  We will not celebrate the day with הלל/Hallel, and the typical fixings, we will be celebrating the day with שופר and with all sorts of other unique traditions.  The שופר commenced its daily sounding this morning to wake us out of our slumber, and to help us to embrace the reality that we have fallen short and that we have been reluctant to change.  The שופר is the sound that says “hey… change… its not too late… you can do it… God is waiting for you to change, to be closer to Him…”  If you listen closely to the sounds of the שופר you will hear it saying those very words to you.

This week we will read פרשת שופטים, a פרשה that deals with justice in this world and the need for us to be champions for justice.  The famous words צדק צדק תרדף – Justice Justice You shall pursue are found in this week’s פרשה. And I would like to offer some ways in which these beautiful words relate to the season we are embarking upon:

1. Justice, Justice, You shall pursue: The doubling of the word justice has been a cause of question for our commentators for generations.  Nothing in the תורה is extraneous, and so the second mention of the word must come to tell us something.  When God wanted to stop אברהם/Abraham from sacrificing יצחק/Isaac the angel of God said: Avraham, Avraham… When God wanted to grab משה/Moses’ attention and get him to agree to be His partner in the Exodus from Egypt, He said: Moses, Moses… Why the doubling there, and why doubling here?  Well the doubling there is for another discussion, but the doubling here is the subject of much commentary throughout the ages.  The great Biblical commentator רש’’י says that it means that we are to go after the words of a good court, perhaps he was expounding the the second צדק was there to show us that we need good courts and not just mediocre.  Not to disagree with רש’'י, but I have always liked the interpretation of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak of Przysucha who said: This means that one must pursue justice with justice. The means by which you seek to attain justice must be righteous also. Do not allow yourself to be guided by the Godless principle that “the end justifies the means.”  This means that we need to do good by means of good, and not allow ourselves to be fooled into believing that simply because in the end the whole thing helped people, we are excused for having done injustices in the world.
2. Justice, Justice, You shall pursue: According to מדרש תנאים דברים ט’’ז and מדרש זוטא שיר השירים פרק א (and yes these are very obscure sources but the lesson is incredible) this is what it means.  The מדרשים here are questioning the term תרדף, which means to pursue.  The concept of pursuing is not commonly commanded.  So why in connection with justice is it commanded to pursue it? The answer is that it is possible for a person to only give צדקה/charity when a person comes and asks for it.  From where do we know that we are commanded to seek out avenues to give צדקה? From the verse in question, we must pursue it.  We must make opportunities happen in which we can give money.  We do not wait for it to happen to us we make it happen.
3. Justice, Justice, You shall pursue: we have to accept repentance as part of justice.  In a just world and society people have the capacity to improve and change.  Justice means a guilty person being able to be forgiven when they have changed and atoned for their sins. The justice systems of our world and the justice system of the תורה are built on the basic concept of correcting the wrongs of the world and making a better world for tomorrow.  Two theories of justice are restorative justice and retributive justice.  Restorative is the idea that we must get back to good, that the victim must be appeased and all losses accounted for, and the perpetrator must be the one to actually do the restoring.  Whereas in retributive justice we are more concerned with the concept of punishment for the breach of law.  The תורה actually sees both sides of this divide and we find time and again that both are present in the Jewish legal system.  As we are now in the month of אלול and preparing for the High Holy Days, we must see that both of these are part of our lives and part of our tradition.  We must work to remedy our faults and to restore that which we damaged.  But I believe at the root of the restorative system is the basic belief in forgiveness and in the idea of change.  The word תשובה means to return, and this means that we are able to return to where we were before we missed the mark.  I would like to share the רמב’’ם’s (Maimonidies) laws of repentance for all of us to think about over the next month or so:

רמב''ם הלכות תשובה פרק ב

1. What is true repentance? If the repentant individual has the opportunity and the ability to sin and refrains because the individual has repented rather than because the individual is afraid or because that person lacks the capacity to sin, then that is true and complete repentance. For example, were a man to have sinned sexually with a woman, and after a period of time, having repented, he is alone with her in the same context where previously he had sinned and still desiring her, physically able to sin again, he does not, such a person has truly repented. King Solomon alluded to such a case when he wrote, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12: 1). However, were a person to repent in old age at a time when the repetition of the sin would be physically impossible, even such a deficient act of penitence would be efficacious. Such a per­son would indeed be considered having done teshuvah. Were a person to have been a sinner all her life and yet repent on the day of her death, and to have died while still repenting, all her sins would be forgiven. This is suggested by the verse "Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain" (Ecclesiastes 12:2). From this we learn that if one remembered the Creator (Ecclesiastes 12:1) and repented before death, that person would be forgiven.

2. What is repentance? It is that the sinner should leave sin and turn from (evil) thought and conclude never do that sin again, as it says, "Let the wicked leave that way and so on" (Isaiah 55:7). The individual will then be remorseful for transgressing, as it says, "After I repented, I had remorse" (Jeremiah 31: 18). The One that knows the secret things will attest that the indi­vidual will never again return to that particular sin, as it says, "We will not call the work of our hands our God" (Hosea 14:4). All these matters that the penitent has already decided in the heart should be confessed with the lips.

3. However, whoever confesses merely with words but has not decided to stop sinning is like one who immerses oneself in a ritual bath still holding a [contaminating] reptile. The immer­sion will not be effective until the person who "confesses and forsakes sin shall gain compassion" (Proverbs 28: 13). The peni­tent should confess one's sin in detail, as it says, "011, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them a god of gold" (Exodus 32:31).

4. One of the ways of repentance is for the penitent to cry out weeping and in supplication continually before God and give tzedakah charity according to one's ability, keeping far from the context in which the person has sinned. The person should change one's name as if to say, "I am a different person. I am not the one who did those things." That person should endeavor to change all of one's ways in order to do good and go the proper way. That person may even go into exile, since exile atones for guilt. It causes one to humble oneself, to become meek and humble of spirit.

5. It is extremely praiseworthy to confess publicly and to make known one's sins to all, to reveal one's transgressions be­tween oneself and others and say to all, "Indeed, I have sinned against so-and-so and I did thus and such. Today, I have repented and shown remorse. Whoever arrogantly hides one's sins and will not make them known will not achieve full repentance, as it says, "The one who hides one's sins will not succeed" (Prov­erbs 38:13). To what do these words refer? To those transgres­sions between person and person. However, with regard to trans­gressions between persons and God, one need not publicize them. It would indeed be arrogant to reveal them. Rather let such a person repent before God and detail the sins before God. A simple undetailed public confession is sufficient. Such sim­plicity is better than not revealing the transgression, as it says, "Happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is hidden" (Psalm 32: 1).

6. Although it is always good to repent and to cry out [to God], it is even better to do so on the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. At that time, such acts are instantly accepted, as it says, "Seek Adonai where God may be found" (Isaiah 55:6).

7. Yom Kippur is a time of teshuvah for all, for individu­als and for communities. It is also a time of forgiveness and compassion for Israel. Therefore, all [Jews] are obligated to re­pent and confess on Yom Kippur. The obligation of confession on Yom Kippur begins on Erev Yom Kippur before the person eats [the final meal] in order to preclude the possibility of chok­ing and prevent the person from confessing. However, even though one has confessed prior to eating, the individual must confess again on Erev Yom Kippur during the Evening Service and confess again during the Morning Service, and again dur­ing the Afternoon Service and yet again during Neilah [closing] Service. The individual worshiper should confess after reciting theAmidah. The Shaliach Tzeebor confesses in the midst of the Amidah after the fourth benediction.

8. The essence of the customary Jewish confession is con­tained in the words "But we have sinned." The transgressions for which one has confessed on one Yom Kippur may be con­fessed on the next, even if one has remained steadfast in one's teshuvah, as it says, "I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me" (Psalm 51:5).

9. Teshuvah and Yom Kippur bring atonement only for transgression between individuals and God. Such is the case for one who ate something forbidden or engaged in forbidden sexual relations and similar matters. However, in transgressions between individuals, such as in the case of one who injured one's neighbor or who cursed one's neighbor or who robbed that person and similar matters, one is not forgiven until one restores [whatever is necessary] to the injured party and gains that person's favor once again. For example, if one paid back the money owed to another, that person would still have to gain that person's favor by asking for forgiveness. Even were one to pro­voke another with words alone, such a person would still have to appease the other, entreating forgiveness. If the other were not willing to forgive, then the one [asking for forgiveness] should bring three individuals to shout, to entreat, and to re­quest the other person to indeed forgive. If that person (the in­jured party) remains adamant and is unwilling to forgive, then the person asking for forgiveness should bring a second and a third group of people. If the person still refuses, then the per­son asking for forgiveness should leave and go on his or her way. The one who would not forgive is now the sinner! If, however, the affronted party were the other individual's teacher, then the student must come and go even a thousand times until forgiven.

10. It is forbidden for a person to be cruel and unwilling to be appeased; rather one should be easy to appease and hard to provoke. When the sinner asks to be forgiven, it should be done with a whole heart and with a willing soul. Even if one has provoked and sinned against another a number of times, the individual should not be vengeful or carry a grudge. This is the way of the descendents of Israel whose heart is proper. It is dif­ferent for idolaters, these uncircumcised of heart, who hold a grudge forever. Thus Scripture describes the Gibeonites who, because they were unwilling to forgive or become appeased, were " ... not [part] of the children of Israel" (2 Samuel 21:2).

11. The one who sins against a person who dies before one can ask forgiveness should bring a minyan [ten individuals] to that person's grave and say in their presence, "I have sinned against Adonai the God of Israel and against this person. I did thus and so." If the individual were obligated to pay money to the deceased, that person should pay that money to that person's heirs. If the individual does not know who the heirs are, the individual should leave that money with the court and confess.

There are lessons to be learned from each and everyone of these 11 laws.  The most important is the realization that we indeed are not to be judged by that which we did wrong.  We are not to believe that we will never be better.  We are not to believe that we have to live with the guilt of wrong doings of the past forever.  And even more important we have to realize that all of these statements in a society filled with justice ring true for those around us as well.

So here is what I would like you to discuss for this week:  Which of the three interpretations of צדק צדק תרדף do you agree with the most and why?  And what are some the concepts that you will take from the רמב’’ם with you this year into the High Holidays.

 

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