Parashat Devarim
Plaut p. 1161
Source Sheet by Yair Robinson
(טז) וָאֲצַוֶּה֙ אֶת־שֹׁ֣פְטֵיכֶ֔ם בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹ֑ר שָׁמֹ֤עַ בֵּין־אֲחֵיכֶם֙ וּשְׁפַטְתֶּ֣ם צֶ֔דֶק בֵּֽין־אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵין־אָחִ֖יו וּבֵ֥ין גֵּרֽוֹ׃(יז) לֹֽא־תַכִּ֨ירוּ פָנִ֜ים בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט כַּקָּטֹ֤ן כַּגָּדֹל֙ תִּשְׁמָע֔וּן לֹ֤א תָג֙וּרוּ֙ מִפְּנֵי־אִ֔ישׁ כִּ֥י הַמִּשְׁפָּ֖ט לֵאלֹהִ֣ים ה֑וּא וְהַדָּבָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִקְשֶׁ֣ה מִכֶּ֔ם תַּקְרִב֥וּן אֵלַ֖י וּשְׁמַעְתִּֽיו׃(יח) וָאֲצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֑וא אֵ֥ת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תַּעֲשֽׂוּן׃
(16) I charged your magistrates at that time as follows, “Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.(17) You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear no man, for judgment is God’s. And any matter that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me and I will hear it.”(18) Thus I instructed you, at that time, about the various things that you should do.
There’s always a lot of talk of ‘fairness’ these days; is such-and-such ruling or law or policy ‘fair’ to all concerned. Which is terrific: it’s good to speak of making the world more fair, more equitable…except so often what is meant by ‘fairness’ by many is whether or not the verdict, or policy, or whatever it is, is slanted toward one party or another. For some folks, ‘fair’ means getting what you want without repercussions or consequences, no matter what happens to others. We’ve seen this in Israel as the Ultra-Orthodox parties riot to oppose the mandatory draft, and the Netanyahu government going along with it, going so far as to draft a ‘Basic Law’—like a constitutional law—enshrining Torah Study as a key value of Israel. And Torah study is a key value of Israel and the Jewish people—just not as the Haredi parties intend. That is only one example; I’m sure we can think of many others in our country and globally as ‘fairness’ gets twisted into something it isn’t.
Which is why this text in Deuteronomy is so important. In Devarim, as we will read, Moses reminds Israel of the importance of fair and just decisions, saying, Ki Mishpat l’Elohim Hu, that judgement belongs to God, and difficulties should be brought to him to discern. What kind of difficulties? Yehuda Lieb of Ger, the Sfat Emet, explains, quoting Nachmanides (as you can see in your Sabbath Lights: if a person is troubled by something and cannot understand it, they should remove their personal pleasure from it. By doing so, they will discern if it aligns with God’s will, as the truth will become clear. And when one realigns with God’s will, there is no concealment, only clarity. That is, for us to experience true fairness in this world, true justice, we—and our leaders—must remove their own personal ‘skin in the game’, remove their stake in the outcome, and discern was is the sacred and good course of action. Only in this way may things be ‘fair’.
So we must pray for the wisdom and discernment in ourselves and our leaders, as well as hold them accountable, so that we may bring about that fairness, that justice, that mishpat Moses speaks of.