Parshat Shoftim: Truth and Justice

The concept of judgement is a grand concept in the world of Torah. Hashem gave Klal Yisrael (All of Israel) the entire Written and Oral Torah. Hashem entrusted that the Zekenim (elders) of Yisrael shall be able to instill justice upon Klal Yisrael. This justice comes from human judgement. Hashem thinks that His people are worthy of figuring out right from wrong.

So what happened to the pinnacle of human judgement? What happened was that our judges have become corrupt. This isn’t a new phenomenon because it has happened many times in history. As written in the Gemara Shabbat 139a: אִם רָאִיתָ דּוֹר שֶׁצָּרוֹת רַבּוֹת בָּאוֹת עָלָיו — צֵא וּבְדוֹק בְּדַיָּינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל   
“If you see a generation that has many troubles befalling it, go and examine the judges of Israel.”

This poor judgement is no-better seen when it involves the cases of Gerushin (divorce). The tragedies of Gerushin in modern society has led to the near destruction of the Jewish family. These people are breeding a selfish understanding of relationships which only furthers the lack of loyalty in relationships as well as unilateral decision making.

In many cases, the injustice falls upon the husband. Jewish fatherhood is under threat from those who wish to encourage single motherhood in Klal Yisrael. Such a concept is a goyish concept inspired by non-functioning families where the lack of loyalty leads to immorality, and it is very challenging for the children of these divorced parents.

If you want to know how some of these cases end up with the husband does not loose a divorce case, it is likely because of his connections. This is still a rarity. Nevertheless, we should let the positive side stand tall. People are starting to wake up and realize the truth of how corrupt the system is. Eventually, there will be more awareness on the subject even though there is not enough being done about it.

Divorce is a key issue in the World of Justice in Klal Yisrael. Observant Jews have a lower divorce rate than their secular Jewish counterparts, but because of the assimilation of today’s Jewry, the Liberal attitudes on divorce are more common. There are few people willing to counter this trend.

In 2007, a Religious-Zionist website admitted that the number of Gett refusing women is almost the same as men. There were only 5 more men (than women) who were denied a Gett (that year). If this is the difference, then shouldn’t the number of women imprisoned for refusing a Gett be nearly equal to the number of men in prison for refusing the same Gett? In fact, before Elul of 5782, not a single woman was in prison for refusing a Gett despite the fact that currently, most Get refusers are women. This is the true injustice.

Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:20 states “צדק צדק תרדוף” –Justice justice, shall you pursue. The Torah puts a double emphasis on the same Hebrew word that means “righteous”. The Judeo-Aramaic Translation (Targum Onkelos) translates this as “קֻשְׁטָא קֻשְׁטָא תְּהֵי רָדִיף” – Truth, truth you shall pursue. The other Aramaic translation (Targum Yonathan) says “דִּין קְשׁוֹט וְדִין שְׁלַם בִּקְשׁוֹט תְּהֵי רָדִיף” –Truthful judgment and complete judgment you shall pursue.

Rashi says this statement means that you should seek a reliable court (Sifrei Devarim 144:14-15). The Ibn Ezra (Commentary on Deuteronomy 16:20) says that one should pursue justice regardless of whether or not you win the case. He says you should pursue it for your entire life (as seen with the double emphasis on the word “צדק”. The Sforno states that when Moshe Rabbeinu was told to select judges for Klal Yisrael, he used fairness as the overriding quality for whom to select (ibid 16:20).The Chizkuni (ibid 16:20) states that the Torah’s double emphasis is also addressing the litigants and not merely the judges.The Or Ha-Chaim (ibid 16:20) states that one should selected the most learned scholars from the land.

Shmuel Ha-Navi said that external appearance is not a factor for selecting a leader (1 Samuel 16:7). The fakeness of today’s “Orthodox” Jewish culture should not be misconstrued for righteousness unless the Jew is indeed righteous. Some Rabbanim, including those in the Rabbanut of Netanya, have called for changes in the Child Support/Custody system. For justice to be a foundation in society, we must seek truth. Today’s societies vilify the truth, but there are learned Jews willing to go against the trends of the time to shatter the windows. Even some of those who were promoting lies have also become those that have made the spiritual turn around (Teshuvah) by writing against the trends that they were involved in.