tzedek tzedek tirdof

[cellio]

This week's torah portion contains the directive "justice, justice you shall pursue". My rabbi had an interesting comment on this tonight, not about "tzedek, tzedek" but about "tirdof". Why does the torah say "pursue" instead of, say, "establish"? Isn't establishing justice a goal, moreso than just running after it?

He suggests that we are commanded to pursue justice precisely because we can never fully achieve it -- pursue, meaning never let up. There is always more to do. I see shades of eilu d'varim here -- these are the obligations without measure.

The rest of this entry is me talking, inspired by that.

If the commandment were to "establish" justice, we might delude ourselves into thinking we'd achieved the goal. Most of the western world has a pretty reasonable judicial system, at least in the abstract. But the abstract isn't good enough; there's a big gulf between, say, the idea of defendants having competent legal representation and all of them actually having it, or between fair rules of evidence and what actually happens. And it's not only about formal systems of justice; we must pursue justice on a personal level, in the ways we interact with other people and the world at large -- the kinds of "tzedek" that are fully ours to control.

"Establish" sounds like something that can be checked off -- yup, did that, on to the next commandment. "Pursue" does not have that connotation -- we can get closer, but we can't fully get there. Pursuit is an ongoing task.

"Pursuit" raises another issue in my mind, one that seems less positive: when we pursue something, don't we usually do it at the expense of something else? Pursuing an educational or career goal usually comes at the expense of time and comfort; pursuing a person comes at the expense of attention to other people. What does pursuing justice come at the expense of? If complacency, well and good -- but is that it?

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What it's at the expense of is mercy -- tzedek is, in a sense, opposed to chessed. Of course, we need both, and the world cannot exist without both.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Two thoughts on the R-D-F root.

One is that there is a mitzvah to proactively kill a rodef -- meaning one who is in the act of pursuing another with intent to murder -- even if the victim-to-be is a third party (so it's not strictly speaking self-defense). I've long felt that the use of the same shoresh in tzedek tzedek tirdof was to tell us that we should pursue justice with that same zeal of not just doing mitzvot to protect our own interets but to go out, find the injustice in the world even if it would pass us by and hurt another person, and take drastic measures if needed to prevent it.

My second thought on R-D-F is that I've always felt uncomfortable being labeled a "Ba'al Teshuvah" because that implies that I have some claim to have "mastered" the process of teshuvah. I call myself a "Rodef Teshuvah" along the same lines as your rabbi's interpretation that we pursue justice because it can never be fully achieved.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the Zeno's Paradox portion of today's lesson!

Pursuit of justice comes at the expense convenience, expeditiousness or perhaps even self-righteousness or vengeance. Those are easy the easy way out, and give us an emotional short-cut at the cost of a little bit of our soul. True Justice is difficult, and far more satisfying.

If following the Torah were easy, we wouldn't need it.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

It is, perhaps useful, to consider those places where justice and mercy are contrasted or placed in context. It is probably also useful to haul out the concordance and see how rodeph is used in other places. I am not entirely convinced that rodeph has the same precise conotation that you place on the English "pursuit" in implying that it comes at the expense of something else.
(I'm not even sure this is true in English for an ideal. Does my right to the pursuit of happiness come at the expense of life or liberty?)

I must also disagree with the posters who suggest that justice comes at the expense of mercy. As Ovadiah states, God intends us to "do justice" and "love mercy." The torah explicitly warns us, however, not to "pervert" justice by favoring the cause of the poor over that of the wealthy. I do not see these as antagonistic, but rather a command to keep them distinct. It is not appropriate to use justice as a vehicle for you to show mercy to another. If I sit in judgment between a rich man and a poor, I have an obligation to fulfill my task and render a just verdict under the law. Justice may require I decide a civil case for the wealthy employer over the poor employee. Mercy lies in my making a personal sacrifice to assist the poor rather than deciding it is better that the wealthy employer lose the judgment. (Note also that there is a difference between "mercy", which is not part of justice, and "equity," which is part of justice.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

As a final comment, I would suggest that the language of "pursue" rather than "establish" is also indicative of our idea of the source of justice. Justice flows from the Holy One, Blessed Be He, who created right and wrong. I(ndeed, man did not even know the difference between "good" and "evil" when first made. And, in acquiring that knowledge, he acquired an attribute which the serpant urged would make man "like God." It is this ability to distinguish good and evil that gives us free will, makes us culpable for our sins, and gives merit to our virtues.

If we humans established justice, based on our own notion of justice, it would be an arbitrary thing, grounded in human falability and no better than any other human creation -- "vanity and striving after the wind" (Eccl.). But justice exists in the world because God -- himself both Just AND Mercifull -- created it. Therefore, like the other creations of God, it "endures forever" (Eccl.)

As such, we can not claim to "establish" justice. God has already done so. More, he has given the responsibility of fulfilling the imperfect vision of justice to all sons of Noah, as establishing of just courts is one of the seven mitzvot of Noah.

But to his Chosen People,God has given the Torah. We therefore have an obligation not merely to provide for the workings of justice, but to actively pursue it. Further, because God has given us a greater means to perceive His Will and Intent in this world by giving us the Torah, we may pursue justice based on Torah not merely human intuition. Hence "justice, justice" shall you pursue. Why the double use of "justice." For you must pursue two kinds of justice. The justice of an ordered society that God gave to all the sons of Noah, and the Justice of God's vision for our lives as embodied in the Torah.