Deuteronomy 16:18 through 21:9
Haftarah Isaiah 51:12 through 52:12 (Fourth Haftarah of Consolation)
Shofetim sets out a legal system of magistrates and judges, of civil and religious and civil law, but reminds us, famously: Justice justice will you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (16:20)
This parsha delineates the boundaries between law and justice, between administering law and pursuing justice. There are the obvious safeguards, as against bribery of judges and magistrates, and reminding us of equality before the law.
We are told that the word justice is repeated so that we remember that justice must be tempered with mercy. I want to focus on a couple of laws that work to insure this.
No one is to be convicted on the testimony of a single witness because that person might have a grudge against the accused. Full investigation must follow, and the perjurer is punished with the punishment he intended for his victim. (Think of Haman being hanged from the gallows he built for Mordecai.)
This year I could not read this passage without thinking of the Zimmerman trial, and the jurors' comments afterwards. Trayvon Martin was essentially put on trial, and Zimmerman was acquitted because his account of the actual confrontation was the only one available, because the other witness, Trayvon Martin, was dead. This is an instance also where the law itself can be justice's enemy, and seeking justice means examining the law under which Zimmerman was acquitted.
This is the basis as well for civil disobedience, where an unjust law is challenged. We are witnessing this conflict between law an justice in the North Carolina Moral Monday movement. The legislature, dominated by radicals, has been passing laws that most of us consider unjust, and almost 1000 protesters have been arrested as they point out that these laws are unjust. The fate of those who bring attention to the wrongdoing of government, whistleblowers or traitors depending on your point of view, is also before us in the Bradley Manning trial and the saga of Edward Snowden.
The other law I want to mention is the law against killing fruit-bearing trees around a besieged city - while in war this might have tactical value, in the long run it will not, since there will not always be war, and when we return to peace, the people of the city will need food.
The importance of remembering that there will not always be war cannot be over-emphasized in this time of perpetual war. I always think of this when I hear of Palestinian olive groves being uprooted - trees are living things but cannot protect themselves, and we should be looking forward to a time when there will be peace and all the people will need food. For some people, there is always war against some enemy, and for them, there is no need to prepare for peace even in wartime.
It is also important to seek social justice, so that no one is forced by poverty into a life of crime. This is the second "justice" in the verse above. While punishing crime is important, it assumes a certain amount of choice on the criminal's part. If the only way to get food is to steal, we have not been just. That is why parts of a field, and the gleanings, must always be left for the poor. That is the difference between the cities of refuge for involuntary manslaughterers, but these cities must not be used for deliberate killing, or deliberate acts that lead to death.
I think this is the side of justice the religious right forgets - the right of every person to be able to choose to do right or wrong. We cannot make people so desperate they can see no choice at all.
This parsha is a strong reason for many of us to work for greater justice in our world.
Shabbat Shalom.