Shoftim 5772 |
Parshat Shoftim by Rabbi Ariel J Friedlander Marina Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were recently imprisoned for two years in “a form of civil action in circumstances where basic human rights, civil and political freedoms are suppressed by the corporate state system” The band decided to use its art form to protest, and suffered the consequences of a show trial and a harsh sentence. The women considered it worthwhile, in order to highlight the injustices they see in the government of their country. Those of us who believe in democracy consider justice to be a core element of societal existence. In fact, recent studies at the This week’s Torah portion is Shoftim: Judges. It requires of us ‘mishpat tsedek’, righteous judgement. How might one define that? The text also tells us ‘tsedek, tsedek tirdof’, justice, justice shall you pursue. Since traditionally there is no superfluous word in the Torah, one may wonder why the word ‘justice’ is repeated. It is no accident that we read these words at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul. We have entered a time of introspection, as we examine the past year in preparation for our celebration of the one to come. It is so easy to judge others. The Pussy Riot-ers went too far, punk rock is a joke, they only got so much publicity because they are pretty girls! We have so many opinions, e.g., on climate change, the United States Presidential race, the future of the National Health Service! We do want to heal our world. However, we will have a much greater impact on our community if first we consider ourselves. It is time to look at what we have done, to examine our failures and successes, to identify what to hold onto and what to let go. It is time to judge our selves. Where was the justice in our lives? Who have we helped? Who have we hurt? |