Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof

Forgive the spelling errors etc-this are the notes I use to delivery a sermon. Mostly, it is an outline...

· Shabbat Shalom. Well here I am, delivering my very first dvar Torah to my new community for the year. So here I go, making my first impression as your new Rabbinic Intern.
· I wanted to relate something in the Torah portion to my joining your community and to use the text as a spring board to introduce myself to you-you know, to say something nice, expected and unchallenging.
· So, here is a summary of what happens in this week is Shoftim (summary)
o Appoint judges
o 3 witnesses
o Cities of refuge
o Do not worship idols
o Do not cut down trees when warring
· As I read the text, I came across one of my favorites in all of Torah.
o The portion opens with a discussion of the qualities of a judge and what makes for a good court.
o Then it says in Deut 16:20, tzedek, tzedek tirdof…justice justice you will pursue.
· Torah is a concisely written document.
o Nothing is superfluous or extra.
o Every word (etc) has a meaning. So what does it mean that the word justice, tzedek, is repeated twice?
· The 11th century French commentator and father of biblical exegesis, Rashi, tells us that this line means you should seek out a good court.
o The duplication is calling your attention to obligation of not only the judges to judge wisely,
o but of the people to seek out good judges and to make sure that the court system is a good one.
· How could I just pass on talking about this line?
o How could I give up talking about tzedek tzedek tirdof in order to use the text as a foil to talk about ME?
o What kind of Rabbinic presence would I be for you if I did this? What first impression would I really be making if I looked away from an opportunity to say something important to you?
o I am noting if not passionate about Torah study and about social justice. What disservice would I be doing not only to you, but to myself if I passed on the opportunity to do exactly what I believe this line of Torah is commanding me to do?
· This is a frightening moment, to stand before you for the first time and to say some things which may be a little bit provocative. But what kind of Rabbi would I be if I were unwilling to even take the risk?
· So here we go. What does tzedek tzedek tirdof mean? I think Rashi has a point that it is not just upon the judges to judge well, it is up to each one of us, each one of you to hold our judges, hold our community representatives, including your rabbis, cantors and educators, and to hold our elected officials responsible for the pursuit of Justice
· But this is not entirely satisfying. Rashi does not fully explain why the word tzedek-justice-is repeated twice.
o Clearly the Torah is trying to tell us something particularly important, otherwise there would be no repetition. But what is it? What is the message we are to take away from these three words of text?
o Perahaps the repetition is simply refer to the partnership between the people and the professionals-both must be committed, in their own way, to pursue justice.
o As a person in a leadership position for this community, I ask you, I expect you to hold me responsible for pursuing justice just as I hold you accountable for doing the same.
· Maybe that is not it at all. If tzedek tzedek is about partnership, what does this mean for those who are without partners? So this must mean something else.
· I grew up with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner at Congregation Beth El of the Sudbury River Valley in the suburbs of Massachusetts.
o Rabbi Kushner is a man committed to many things including bringing justice to this world.
o He would say it is our job as Jews to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted.
o One tzedek is what we bring to those who are hurting and one tzedek is how we motivate those who are complacent.
o (And pause for a moment to consider which one are you)
· But this understanding is too dichotomous. We are not either one or the other. Sometimes we give and sometimes we take. The Torah is more nuanced and subtle than this.
· Tzedakah is the word we use in our modern, liberal Jewish language to describe “charity.”
o It shares the same root, tzade, daledl kuf which means justice or righteousness, with the word tzedek from this week’s portion.
o Torah commands us to do many acts of tzedakah. These laws together create an incredibly caring and cared for community which binds the lives of the privileged with those less so.
o I was sitting in a class on Jewish politics, my teacher and former editor of the Jewish Forward, JJ Goldberg pointed out that only in America does tzedakah move from being
§ a requirement of Judaism and an act which unites a community
§ to being an optional act of self-expression.
o Perhaps these repeated words are like a mirror image showing us the jarring picture of who we are compared to who we know we can, should and must be.
· But wait, what exactly is this thing called justice? I am holding all of our feet to the fire here to do this justice thing. But what is it?
o For the past two years I have been serving as the coordinator of the soup kitchen of Hebrew Union College where we serve dinner to 90-120 people every Monday night.
o I have seen incredible acts of courage and kindness amongst our guests who are the homeless, hungry and working poor of the Washington Square Park community.
o Weekly, when students from local religious and secular schools volunteer to help serve the meal, I talk with them about justice and what it is.
§ It has something to do with making things equal-or to play with the language of the root which means righteous-to set things RIGHT or balanced
§ The students all understand that they have something to give to the guests and they think it is food.
§ What they do not understand is that they have more to give than that
§ AND that they have something to receive.
§ Beyond food, they can give chesed-or kindness. That even when their pockets are empty, they always have the ability to acknowledge the presence and the suffering of another human being.
§ It is such a simple thing to give and they…we all…have an endless capacity to do so.
· But my students are stumped when they consider what they have to receive from the guests.
o The guests have an astounding ability to respond to the suffering they see in each other.
o Whenever one guest expresses a need or a lack of some kind, quickly another guests sees the need, responds to it and meets it.
o I am forever moved by the ability of those with so little to give so much.
o From them I have learned what justice is.
o Justice is seeing a need and responding to it.
o Injustice is seeing a need and looking away.
· Torah teaches us in last week's Torah portion, Reah, that we will always have people who are hungry. We will always have people who are in need.
o It is so easy to look away from all there is to be done, all the pain and suffering in this world, all the unmet needs of people who know and love and of people have a world away.
· But we cannot turn away for that would be the greatest injustice we could perpetuate.
o If we who have could take a lesson from the have nots and refuse to turn away; to actively pursue justice…well, we would likely have fewer have nots and more haves.
· Tzedek is not an option. I hold you accountable. You hold each other accountable to seek justice and to pursue it. Even when we are tired, even when we are overwhelmed, each and everyone of us always has something to give to the pursuit of justice. It may be a meal, it may be a donation, it may be supporting another person in their efforts to fix some small piece of our broken world. It may be voting, or protesting or sometimes, even, just smiling in to the face of the stranger on the street who the world has forgotten and saying, I see you and I refuse to let you be invisible.
· We do not know exactly why the word tzedek is repeated twice in the Torah text.
· What is clear is that the repetition catches our attention and calls to us, screams to us, justice, justice you must pursue.