{"id":50771,"date":"2019-03-05T18:37:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=50771"},"modified":"2022-09-27T16:25:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T13:25:15","slug":"righteous-judgement-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/righteous-judgement-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Righteous Judgement \u2013 Then And Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After rehearsing detailed instructions about the celebration of the Passover (16:1-15), and having briefly mentioning all three Pilgrim Festivals (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – verses 16-17), Moses exhorts the assembled Israelites with a charge that remains perpetually relevant: \u201cYou shall appoint judges and officers for your tribes, in all the settlements that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with righteous judgement. You shall not misdirect judgement. You shall show no partiality. You shall not take bribes, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and falsifies the words of the righteous. Justice, justice shall you pursue! — that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you\u201d (18-20). <\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash (Tanhuma Shoftim 7) elaborates on this passage in a way that makes it even more relevant to our day: \u201c\u2018You shall not misdirect judgement. You shall show no partiality\u2019\u201d \u2013 this is a warning to the <\/span>Nasi<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Now, in Rabbinic times, <\/span>Nasi<\/span><\/i> was the title of the \u201cChief Justice\u201d of the Sanhedrin. Today, <\/span>Nasi<\/span><\/i> is the title of the President of the State of Israel, who is formally charged with delegating the presumptive Prime Minister to attempt to form a coalition government. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo <\/span>Nasi<\/span><\/i> should elevate the undeserving to high office, in preference to those who are worthy of being placed in positions of authority. Another interpretation: \u2018You shall not misdirect judgement\u2019 in monetary matters. And \u2018You shall show no partiality\u2019 in the respect that should be shown to all litigants, for example, by letting the rich sit, while the poor remain standing. \u2018You shall not misdirect judgement\u2019 is also a warning to the Rabbinic Sage. He must not sit in judgement with another not qualified to serve as judge. For if he does so, it is as if he has planted an <\/span>Asherah <\/span><\/i>(a tree worshipped as a foreign deity), as indicated by what follows immediately in the biblical text: \u2018You shall not plant for yourself an <\/span>Asherah <\/span><\/i>of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God\u2019\u201d (verse 21). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnother interpretation of \u2018You shall not misdirect judgement\u2019 \u2013 Judges should conduct themselves as if the Shekhinah were sitting in judgement with them, as it says: \u2018God judges amongst the judges\u2019 (Psalms 82:1). Moreover, judges are told: \u2018Consider what you are doing, for you judge not only man but also God\u2019 (2 Chronicles 19:6). Rabbi Hama bar Hanina exclaimed: \u2018If this were not written in Scripture, it would not be possible to say that mere flesh and blood human beings judge their Creator! But this verse can be understood as God Himself saying to the judges: Whenever you render judgement, do so with trepidation, as if you were judging Me.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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