I admit it. I am a news junkie. I deeply believe
that we should know what is going on in the world, not just our neighborhood,
not just Israel, but the world. It just
so happens one of the more ironic news stories that I made my children watch
had to do with the UN and the investigation of war crimes that it wants to
conduct against Israel and its execution of it war in Gaza. After the story
ran, our children were incredulous. They wondered what “war crimes” were. They
asked if there was going to be an investigation of war crimes against Hamas. I
added not only would Israel be investigated, but Israel will do everything it
can to cooperate with this investigation. Our children wondered if Hamas was to
be investigated for war crimes, would it be as cooperative? My short answer is no, Hamas would never be
cooperative in investigating itself.
However in terms of Israel, as painful as it may be, Israel’s ability to
investigate itself actually reflects the strength of Israel and democracy in
another wise totalitarian part of the world. I reminded our children that Israel is very
similar to the United States, and Canada. Justice and Law are the bedrock
foundations upon which Israel is built. No individual and no institution is
above the law but all members of Israeli society are responsible to maintain
the integrity of the law. Unfortunately, no one has the ability within the Arab
world, no one has the legal framework or the foundation to hold the leadership
of Hamas responsible for civilian deaths both in Gaza or Israel. There will
never be an investigation, there will never be a self-reflective process that
examines corruption or decision among the leadership of Hamas since laws don’t
apply to Hamas leadership.
This week, we read from Parsha Shoftim. Moshe
has completed his lecture on the values of monotheism and covenant. Now he
begins telling B'nai Yisroel all the nitty gritty details of living a Jewish
life within this community. What a downer! B’nai Yisroel is inspired and ready
to enter into Eretz Canaan and begin living the life in the land that God had
promised their ancestors. They are now ready to begin fulfilling the dream that
allowed them to survive centuries of slavery. So what does Moshe Rabeinu do? He
brings them crashing back to reality. Now they will listen and understand laws
concerning war, punishments for idolatry, choosing a king, jurisprudence,
priestly entitlements and unsolved murders. Moshe gives B’nai Yisroel a healthy
dose of reality by supplying all the details required to uphold the Covenant.
Implicit in Moshe’s lecture,
implicit in a society, any society for that matter, is the role of justice.
Justice provides a check and balance to corruption. However the concept itself
let alone the reality of it can also become corrupt and perverse. Hence it is
not enough for Moshe to tell us Shoftim
v’Shotrim Titen Lecha Sh’Arecha Asher
Adoshem Elokecha Notein Lecha Lishvatecha
V’Shaftu et Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek – Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities- which Hashem,
Your God, gives you - for your tribes;
and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. Moshe must explain
what “righteous judgment” means, its foundation for a civilized society, its
difficulty to maintain, and the brutal honesty required. Lo Tateh Mishpat – You
shall not pervert judgment, Lo Takir
Panim – you shall not recognize a
person’s presence, V’Lo Tikach
Shochad Ki HaShochad Ye’Averi Einei Chachamim Visaleif Divrei Tzadikkim – and you shall not accept a bribe, for the
bribe will blind the eyes of the wise and make just words crooked (Deut
16:18-19).
Justice, as we have learned, is
supposed to be blind. Whether poor or wealthy, whether blue collar crime or
white collar crime, justice is supposed be oblivious to our tendency to
automatically side with the downtrodden or the wealthy and privileged person.
Why? Because corruption is blind as well. The poor can be corrupt and so can
the wealthy. Corruption knows no barriers to color, religion, gender or
nationality. The only barrier to corruption is our own individual constitution
and desire to Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof – Righteousness Righteousness shall you
follow (Deut. 16:20). For Bnai Yisroel and for the Jewish people, our sense
of Justice comes from Torah, these laws and the fact that justice must remain
utterly pure without a blemish. Later on in the Parsha we are taught that a
king, the one person who must wield justice, must write two Sifrei Torah. One
he carries one he keep pristine and locked away only to be used to check
against the “everyday Torah”.
So with tremendous irony, Israel
will be investigated for war crimes, and a known terrorist organization will
not be investigated for war crimes. As our children contemplated this awful
irony, they then asked what was wrong with the United Nations that are not
investigating Hamas. I let them think for a moment to see if they would come up
with their own answer. A light went on
and they understood, there are more countries in the UN that are not
governed by the democratic ideals of justice than those that are governed by
the democratic ideals of justice.
Hopefully, those nations that are governed by the democratic ideals of justice
will prevail.
Peace,
Rav
Yitz
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