JUSTICE, How It Entered the World Through Moses and What It Is

Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

Moses started the Exodus at age 80 with a 40 year walk and some
walk that was;  the sea parted for them.
He died at age 120, kept from entering Canaan.

Way back in 1391 BCE, a boy was born to a Jewish woman in Egypt when the Pharaoh  had just given the order to kill all boy babies of Jews under age 2.  Moses was hidden away in a basket, and as the story progresses, wound up adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter and was raised and educated in his own court.  Ironic, isn't it?  Moses ends his life starting at age 80 rescuing all Jews from the slavery pits of the Egyptians and takes them on a 40 year trek back to their roots from 400 years before to Canaan where their common ancestor, Jacob and his father, Isaac, had been living.  Moses dictates his rules of behavior to his Israelites, a mixture of the descendants that he is related to and others, as he wrote in his notes, people from the area who were also caught and enslaved.  The notes he kept for 40 years were later codified into a writing called the Five Books of Moses which in the present days are listed in The Old Testament.  They are:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  This Pharaoh tried to prevent such a man's existence by ordering all to be killed, yet lost all these workers and the children they could produce through his very own daughter's need for a child.
                                                                             

Moses climbed a mountain and at the top
received the 10 Commandments.  By the time
he had come down, his people had made themselves a Golden Calf to worship
Something left over from Egyptian life.
It took time for all this new stuff to sink in.
It doesn't take long to get away from expectations.  

Moses presented his 600,000 ex-slaves with 10 Commandments of living:  Our history tells us that he was like a radio receiver, hearing the words of G-d who commanded and instructed him with these new thoughts in the world that were to be passed onto these very stiff-necked, stubborn people that were the descendants of the Israelites.  Moses was an educated man of the court of Egypt; skilled in reading and writing and in arithmetic, for he kept a census of his charges, written down when he started his Exodus, and when they arrived at Canaan's doorstep.   He kept his notes written on sheepskin, no doubt, every word carefully written, as ink and skin was not easily replaceable.
                                                                     

Zechariah, prophet b: c500 BCE, living in period of the return from
Babylonian Exile, a priest (most likely bearing the J1 Cohen gene)
prophesied about contemporary events and foretold about the in-gathering of the
exiles who were held in Babylonia and their liberation from foreign yoke
and the expansion of Jerusalem. He had visions.  Zechariah was instrumental in
the future rebuilding project of the Temple. 

          Our prophets had urged men to be just. What they condemned was religion that was reduced to nothing more than worship and which lacked the essentials of justice and mercy, of kindness and righteousness.  

An act of justice can be shown by this:  You must take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted, and perverts the words of the righteous.  Exod us 23:8. 

      In righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.  Lev.19:15.  This precept makes it incumbent upon each person to judge his fellow men in all interpersonal relations on the scales of merit and to give others the benefit of the doubt, especially where a person's record had previously been beyond reproach.  Even if his guilt be proven beyond a doubt, one should look for mitigating circumstances.  

                                                                                   

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
King Solomon was most wise concerning his people.  His decisions
were the wisest of anyone's.  This problem was between 2 women
fighting over the baby.  Both claimed to be the mother.  Solomon
told his man to cut the baby in half and give to each mother, but the real
mother spoke up saying not to, but to give it to the other woman.
Solomon had found a clever way to reveal the true mother.  That's wisdom
and justice rolled up together.  

Justice is better defined by what it is NOT.  "bias, favor, favoritism, nonobjectivity, one-sidedness, partiality, partisanship, prejudice.  

 Many prophetic teachings were regarding justice and righteousness and were given concrete expression by the Rabbis of the Talmud.  The Talmud discusses in detail what it means to be just in terms of fair business dealings.  Talmudic literature is full of laws governing commercial life; how an employer is to behave toward his employees and the duties of employees to their employer;  which prices are legitimate and which constitute overcharging; how false weights and measures are to be avoided;  how business contracts are to be drawn up;  how conditions of sale are to be made binding;  what is fair and what constitutes unfair competition.  These topics and others receive the most precise treatment in the Talmud in an effort to translate prophetic ideals into the language of the market place.  Prophets ranged from Joshua who lived in the time of Moses and was in his prime in 1271 BCE ( Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and 12 others down to the last listed, Malachi.(460-450 BCE who stressed having a high level of morality.  Evidently people do break down their high resolves and need to be reminded by someone who is respected.   Jews were to be the role models, and it was a hard row to hoe for any human.  It took stiff-necked people to have the stick-to-it-ness for accomplishment.

An Important element of justice is the fact that an accused person is presumed innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.  Sadly, I have been witnessing many people of late over the Kavanaugh Judgeship case that act the opposite way of people believing in Justice; Kavanaugh, a judge himself in a very high level court, was ACCUSED of sex offenses BUT THESE COULD NOT BE PROVEN.  It made no difference.  He and his family are receiving death threats, and  have been the point of contention by those still holding these beliefs.  I believe this is mob rule, hysteria and it exists just like it did in the Dark Ages.
                                                                                 

Shabbat in Israel, praying as Cohens are first called up to read from the Torah.
Notice the large prayer shawls, so different from the small ones used in the USA.
Men truly raise them over their heads as tents and meditate and pray under them.

Well, this is how Judaism began, with a rag-tag group of ex-slaves, descendants of Abraham and Sarah who had wound up in Egypt, saved by an Egyptian relative with Jewish birth parents,  and taught how to live in a new way.  Moses was brought up in an environment of people believing in many gods.  His birth parents were descendants of Abraham who had been taught that there was but one G-d.  What he received as lessons to learn must have been awesome to all, both Moses and the 600,000, even the simple 10 that we still find hard to stick to.   Number 9 seems to be one completely unnecessary to many today in politics, and to think it was taught some 3,408 years ago by Moses.  Bearing false witness means telling lies about people, often to get them into trouble.  What a world it must have been back in Moses' day when people didn't even consider some of these commandments!
                                                                         

 Moses had presented them with 613 commandments with the 1st Ten being the most famous.  The gist of the teachings was all about justice, something not found in their world.  So much of it were ways of thinking that conditioned their minds to constantly be aware of justice, not just the defined commandment but other commandments that conditioned this type of thinking.

                                                                                 

Temple built by King Solomon 
but high taxation for it caused a civil War and the 10 tribes ceded from the union
leaving only the tribe of Judah who kept Jerusalem and the Temple along with
Solomon's son, King Rehoboam (933-917 BCE).  

The Jews were in the beginning the most unstable;  they submitted to their law and came out the most stable of nations, observed Walter Bagehot in 1872.  Walter Bagehot was a British journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, and literature.  I don't know how stable we are, but we are sure independent, stubborn and persistent.  

" The fundamental principle of the Hebraic Commonwealth was that there are great moral laws" observed Lyman Abbott in 1901. "Lyman J. Abbott was an American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author. Morality is our issue, that's for sure.  People have not been moral in dealing with us as the Holocaust proves, nor was it moral with its dealings over Israel and Palestine. How quickly promises were broken and  Jews lost 80% of promised land only to find their 20% was also being  divided and a chunk was offered by the British to the Arabs.    

Lord Acton credited the Hebrew nation with having laid down the basis for "all freedom" through its doctrine of "higher law."  John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO DL, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet, and a grandson .

A century ago, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wrote, The whole Bible is a hymn to justice---that is, in the Hebrew style, to charity, to kindness to the weak on the part of the strong, to voluntary renunciation of the privilege of power." Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician and the founder of mutualist philosophy. He was the first person to declare himself an anarchist using that term and is widely regarded as one of the ideology's most influential theorists. Proudhon is even considered by many to be the "father of anarchism.  I think his theory is that of a dreamer.  He must have thought there was pie in the sky.  Anarchism.  He gave too much credit to the human race as it exists today.  

Rabbi Solomon Goldman wrote in 1927 that any Jew "who fails to understand the importance of law misses the very essence of his people's contribution to humanity."  He  was a leading American Conservative rabbi of the 20th century. 

Today, most contemporary commentators, Jews and Gentiles alike,  "view the Jewish tradition as the bedrock of modern justice."  The Jewish people have been dominated by justice since Moses brought them the tablets with the 10 Commandments to this very day.

Professor Arthur Goodhart of Oxford University agreed in 1949 with :"The passion to shape the forms of justice has been one of the dominant forces in the life of the Jewish people from the time of the tablets to the days in which we now live."  Do American Jews of today realize this?  Arthur Lehman Goodhart KBE QC FBA was an American-born academic jurist and lawyer; he was Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, 1931–51, when he was also a Fellow of University College, Oxford

What is the heart of Judaism, then?  The quest for justice is an important essence of this religion.  There is no special Jewish way to define justice, however.   Judaism as a religion is inherently neither "liberal" nor "conservative", left or right on issues of justice, but it is inherently active in its pursuit.  A balance is required to find justice for all; rich or poor, man or woman, black or white, educated or illiterate, regardless of religious persuasion.  

The rabbis teach us that G-d has 2 names;  one representing justice, the other mercy.  Sometimes justice rules, other times  it is mercy, for people must use their common sense and remember that balance of each is the way.   In the story of Jonah and the whale, G-d berated his people for lacking compassion. This teaches the divine mercy for all living creatures, even animals.  It was written from the 8th to the 4th century BCE and reflects the evolution of a universalist outlook among Jews in the Biblical period.   Saul, first king of Israel saw another side.  He had delayed the act of taking the life of Agag, the king of Amalek, a people who were unmerciful to the Israelites who passed through their lands and had tried to kill them all.  G-d berated Saul for being too merciful.  
                                                                                    

Hillel, the Elder, born in the 1st century BCE, and born in Babylon, president of the Sanhedrin, our great teacher, reminded us of the need to strike a balance.  If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  a balance  between self preservation and justice when he said, "But if I am for myself alone, what am I?    Every generation has viewed this balance differently.  Sometimes persecution and victimization must be viewed on self preservation by protection, the IF I AM NOT FOR MYSELF thinking.   If you are in the seat receiving success and empowerment, you must be on helping others less fortunate--IF I AM FOR MYSELF ALONE.  He's also the author of the Golden Rule:  DO NOT DO UNTO OTHERS THAT WHICH YOU WOULD NOT HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU.  He was a man noted for his humility and a tendency to leniency.

Judaism's traditional  emphasis on social justice through social action has had a  noticeable effect in contemporary times.  

  TIKKUN OLAM, repairing the world, is a goal of Judaism. Jews try to see ways of improving everyone's lot in life.  This is also an important aspect of Judaism that some Jews have made as their only goal while forgetting other important goals as Justice.  It's a Jewish concept defined by acts of kindness performed to perfect or repair the world. The phrase is found in the Mishnah, a body of classical rabbinic teachings. It is often used when discussing issues of social policy, insuring a safeguard to those who may be at a disadvantage.

Tikkun olam implies that while the world is innately good, its Creator purposely left room for us to improve upon His work. The condition of the oceans today needs repair.  This is one consideration. 

Tikkun olam is a concept in Judaism, interpreted in Orthodox Judaism as the prospect of overcoming all forms of idolatry, and by other Jewish denominations as an aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially.  It's become a substitute for the 10 Commandments in some minds, in my opinion.  In Jewish teachings, it's any activity that improves the world, bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created.

Professor Samuel David Luzzatto, a rabbinic scholar (1800-1865) in Italy, wrote that from compassion there will also be drawn forth the love for righteousness and justice, which are not independent virtues but extensions of the virtues of kindness and compassion.  
                                                       

 People have various ideas of Tikun Olam which lock horns if thought of in political situations.  

Alan Dershowitz could see many reasons why American Jews were vanishing.  All the more reason why our religion has one chance of surviving;  through the love of the Jews living in Israel, our last bastion of Judaism.  What they are doing to preserve their heritage and believe system is something no one else would put themselves through; the constant of being in jeopardy of their lives by so many hateful enemies.   Though the world has come along with Christianity and Islam, there is nothing like an original belief, a reminder of who we came from and what the world was like before.  Though Israel is really a picture of justice with all kinds and levels of Jews there, it maintains the flavor, the taste of Judaism, spiced up with a dash of all religions as well.  
                         

Judge Brett Michael Kavanaugh
Said he was innocent of charges.
Charges could not be substantiated.
Were there people bearing false witness? 

Senator Dianne Goldman Berman
Feinstein, Democrat, same age
as Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg
already on the Supreme Court.
against his nomination

This essay is a reminder of justice that is in the headlines in the USA lately.  The problems incurred by choosing the 9th member of the Supreme court of the United States that has developed calls for justice.  Judge Kavanaugh was already a judge in the 2nd highest court in the land, ready to be officially voted into this position with all sorts of events of accusations at the 11th hour.  He was suddenly flooded with accusations of being the most evil man in the land.  How could this be?  Did the judge receive justice?  As I write this now, I am listening to the chanting of the mob on TV that are still against him.  They are also thinking of their idea of justice.  The judge was finally seated as the 9th after a 2 week delay, against many odds, 50 to 48.  That's justice at work and that's democracy and where it is today.  

Resource:  THE VANISHING AMERICAN JEW by Alan M. Dershowitz 1997-1998 p. 268.
Chabad says: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3700275/jewish/What-Is-Tikkun-Olam.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuuHdBRCvARIsAELQRQEh40md0PAAgFXM2MhyI1VI2zetl6QtZ8L6XthT7L6kXV3BJdari8caAjgwEALw_wcB
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Book:  What Does Judaism Say About...? by Louis Jacobs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjdP1V-_iCE
Book:  To Be a Jew by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin