So much anxiety is brought on by thinking one won’t receive what is just. Of course, everyone’s view of their own justice looks different. But the idea of not receiving what you think you deserve, whether from a person or the universe creates a division and distancing in one’s relationships to others, to oneself, and even to life itself.
Justice brings peace, but only when judgment (gevurah) is balanced with the proper amount of mercy (chesed). When this is done right, it creates harmony (tiferet).
Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s last book is titled, Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union, aptly pulling the words from this week’s parashah of Shoftim, which is Hebrew for ‘judges’. One lesson to be learned from Ginsberg through her relationship with her colleague on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, is how they exemplified putting aside their egos, building a personal relationship based on humane compassion, even when they disagreed vehemently in their views of justice.
The reason people praised their relationship so much is that it seems, as a people, we are moving further and further away from such a rapport. The Talmud (the elaborate explanation and commentary of the Mishnah), is based on opposing opinions and respect. For three centuries (c. 200 CE-500 CE) after the redaction and editing of the Mishna, later Sages, called Amoraim, and their students discussed and analyzed the Mishna. Their questions, discussions, and solutions comprise the Talmud.
If you look at a page of the Talmud, on either side of the ancient arguments of the Amoraim, you find more opposing views, those of the Medieval commentators– Rashi on the right and Tosafos on the left. Judaism, from antiquity to now, is steeped in the teachings and the process of learning in the Talmud. Literally thousands and thousands of Jews (and lots of law students) are lovingly arguing with each other at this moment, using the Talmud as the catalyst for diving deeper into endless hypothetical scenarios connected to the morality of Jewish law and ritual. But, as a modern Western culture and people, we seem to be moving away from this embrace of respectful conflict, something discussed in the book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.
In a TED talk Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks speaks on ‘How we can face the future without fear, together’. He begins by saying, “We’ve seen divisive elections, divided societies and the growth of extremism — all fueled by anxiety and uncertainty. Is there something we can do, each of us, to be able to face the future without fear?” He goes on to say that “it’s the people not like us that make us grow” and shares three specific ways we can move from the politics of “me” to the politics of “all of us, together.”
I dive fully into justice and how to find peace in this week’s dvar/article with wisdom from the Zohar, Rebbe Nachman, MF Doom, and even a little Bieber.
Czech it now @ https://lightofinfinite.com/and-justice-for-all/