Shoftim: Pursuing Justice Justly
Rabbi Lizz is a member of IfNotNow D.C., and co-wrote this d’var Torah with Mira Shoshana of IfNotNow Toronto.
In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Shoftim, we read the famous line, “Justice, Justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the land the Lord, your God, is giving you” (Deut. 16: 20). Rabbi Bunim of Peshischa explains: “Why does the verse repeat itself? Is there a just justice and an unjust justice? Indeed there is. The Torah is telling us to be just also in the pursuit of justice — both the end and the means by which it is obtained must be just.” There is no ultimate cause that injustice may be used to serve, in the name of some particular justice. We must be mindful of our actions, even if we believe we are working toward a greater end goal.
While working on the d’var Torah, Mira told me about this fabulous book she’s been reading. It’s called Your Mouth is Lovely, by Nancy Richler, and it centers on the lives of Jewish women in the Russian revolution. At one point, one of the characters confesses that he botched an early assassination attempt and fled from his comrades. We thought this snippet of that conversation was relevant to unpacking the parasha (no spoilers! I promise!):
“I had realized … that I love life more than justice,” [he said].
“I think there are places where such choices don’t have to be made,” I said finally, “Between life and justice. Places where the two co-exist. Maybe after the revolution this will be one of them.”
“Utopias,” he said, “They don’t exist.”
Yet, I think the Torah is disagreeing with the male character, and teaching us that if we pursue justice justly, we won’t have to choose between it and life. According to Parashat Shoftim, justice cannot be on the other side of life. Continuing this line of thinking, I would maintain that justice for one life cannot be on the other side of justice for another. I find that so many in our Jewish communities are afraid to think about justice because an impossible choice is presented: Either justice for them or justice for us. There is no issue where this is clearer than when trying to determine what will be a just end to Occupation.
As a member of IfNotNow, I want to assert that justice is not on either side of this choice. Justice serves no end but justice itself. If we want to pursue justice justly, we must demand that our community withdraw its support for the Occupation. We must stop trying to present the conflict as inevitable choices between us and them.
The justice we seek is not necessarily a measurable achievement. It is our pursuit. It is a direction — a way to relate to the life and earth that is given. We in IfNotNow do not claim to have all the answers for a righteous peace agreement. All we know is that we will never get there if our community continues to support and refuses to acknowledge this current injustice happening in our names.
I have been guilty of this too. In my climate-controlled house, comfortable with no plausible threats to my biological life, it is easy to retreat from engaging with what I know to be unjust. It isn’t directly affecting me now, so I am able to disengage. I have a permanent strain in my neck from trying to “keep out” the things that I am in relation to, and do not want to engage with.
However, when I do not engage in justice, I am not fully engaging with life. Appreciating life and fully living means acknowledging that which is wrong in the world as well, especially if I bare even a modicum of responsibility for it. To engage with the injustices, to try to fight against them, does not mean we should not also have boundaries or limits. I know this is not an individual task. I cannot pursue justice only in my mind, or with my own body, alone.
When Torah speaks in second person (to “you”, the reader) we understand that this “you” is the congregation — both the one standing in front of Moses and all the ones the followed, up to us today reading this parasha this week. It is our tradition read Torah aloud, together. We pursue justice — we pursue the fullness of life — together.
