Congregation
Beth iibraham
Wel Moses

A Pursuit Of Justice
Distinguishes Judaism

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RABBI IRWIN GRONER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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Pray

Shabbat Morning, August 13 at 8:45 a.m.
Supervised Child Care for Children Ages 2 - 5
Meet our Clergy & Members at Kiddush after Services

Play

Sunday, August 14th Open House 11:00

NATIONAL
CENTER FOR

MISSING &
EXPLOITED

_C H I L D R E N

KidCareTh'ID

• 2:00 p.m.

Have a taste o f Sperber's Catering while your
children play with Butterfly the Clown &
enjoy Magic, Face painting & Fun!
Have KidCareTM ID's made for your
children while you visit with our
Family of Shill Organizations, Speak
with Directors of our Religious and
Nursery Schools & Youth Activities Programs.

Stay

** Take

advantage of our August Special for New Members & let

Congregation Beth 1braham Tfillel Moses

'Become a Part of rill Your Tomorrows*

CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID

MICHIGAN'S LARGEST
TRADITIONAL SYNAGOGUE

Celebrating Its
103rd Year

Will Hold ROSH HASHANAH and YOM KIPPUR

High Holiday Services

for our Members
with RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT Officiating
at the Maple/Drake Jewish Community Campus

Others are also welcome - Seating is Limited!

FOR TICKET INFORMATION CALL 557-8210

he Jewish passion for jus-
tice is stated in its most
powerful form in the text of
this week's Torah portion:
"Justice, justice shall you pursue,
that you may live, and inherit the
land that the Lord gives you."
In commenting on this text,
Jewish sages note that the word
tzedek (justice) is twice repeated.
The reasons for this are several.
First, this is to teach us that jus-
tice must be diligently, vigorous-
ly and intensely pursued if it is
to be attained at all. Secondly,
justice requires that one must ac-
cept a fair judgment even when
it imposes sacrifice, hardship or
loss. Finally, a Chasidic teacher
pointed out that one achieves jus-
tice only by using just means. The
cause of justice is never served by
injustice, duplicity or falsehood.
When we look upon Judaism
as a system of values, its distin-
guishing feature is its emphasis
on justice. The largest part of its
classical literature consists of le-
gal writings: the Torah; the Mish-
nah, the Talmud; commentaries
and codes; rabbinic decrees and
enactments. Jewish law also in-
cludes responsa which record the
decisions of scholars who were
recognized as the legal authori-
ties of Jewish communities dur-
ing the many centuries of the
Diaspora.
These legal opinions continue
to be written until this very day.
This case law consists of approx-
imately 300,000 decisions, a stag-
gering number, when one
considers the fact that these opin-
ions were handed down by judges
who were generally without so-
cietal authority or political pow-
er.
There are some who believe
that man and society are cor-
rupted by law, that love and
benevolence should suffice as a
guide for conduct and for the
building of a moral society. a
French philosopher once wrote:
"I will have no laws. I will ac-
knowledge none. I protest against
every law which an authority
calling itself necessary, imposes
on my free will."
Judaism emphasizes the ide-
al of love. After all, the original
source of this commandment is
Leviticus Chapter 19: vs. 18,
`Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." But Judaism has, at the
same time, stressed the com-
mandment, repeated countless
times to do justly, to pursue jus-
tice and to seek righteousness.

Irwin Groner is senior rabbi of
Congregation Sizaarey Zedek.

One cannot always be trusted to
do spontaneously what is right
and what is the loving deed. Sub-
jectivity can have as many forms
as there are people. The law
comes, therefore, in the words of
Justice Holmes, "as the witness
and external deposit of our moral
life."
Western civilization bears out
the genius of Judaism, which pre-
sented laws as the ideal of life. No
book has served as much as the
Torah to teach the significance of
law for a just society. The Bible
declares that no one is above the
law, not even the king. The Torah
says that there is one law for the
citizen and the sojourner; for the
strong and the weak; for the king
and for the commoner.
Without law, there is no free-
dom since unequal strength will
lead to unequal justice. "And

Shabbat Shoftim:
Deuteronomy
16:18-21:9
Isaiah
51:12-52:12.

when justice is dead," said Im-
manuel Kant, "it's better not to
be alive." Judaism saw the high-
est moral striving of the individ-
ual and the people in the passion
for justice. The struggle for right
is the grandest and noblest moral
duty. In Jewish consciousness,
justice is perceived as that which
embodies God's will, so that the
triumph of the just cause is no
less than the victory of God.
Our struggle for the defense of
the law is therefore a religious
duty. If you have witnessed a
wrong, you have a mitzvah or re-
ligious obligation, to come and
testify even if you are not sum-
moned and to inform the court.
It is the task of every moral per-
son to see that justice is defend-
ed. The rabbis encounter the
sacred in the proper exercise of
the legal process. In a law suit,
litigants not only stand before the
judge, but also before the
Almighty. The judge, himself, is
a partner with God. When two
men brought their case to Rab-
bi Akiva, who served as their
judge, he said, "Know before
whom you stand. You are being
judged by the Creator of the Uni-
verse." ❑

