By Blake Glovitch
This week’s Torah portion is Shoftim. In this Torah portion, the Israelites are given instructions from Moshe to appoint judges and law enforcers in every city. Moshe tells them “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof,” which means “Justice, justice you shall pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20).
Pursuing justice is taking action to correct something bad that is happening. One question is, why does the verse say the word “justice” twice?
Bakhya Ben Asher, a commentator living in Spain in the 12th century, taught that the double emphasis on the word “tzedek” or “justice” means that justice should be given under any circumstance, whether you will gain something or lose something, whether you are talking about it or doing something about it, or whether it to be when interacting with a Jew or a non-Jew.
Reb Yaakov Yitchak, from 19th century Poland, said that the repetition of the word “justice” shows how you must pursue justice in the right way. Even if you think you are right, you can’t make assumptions and you still must pursue justice justly, such as through the court system.
I think that the word “justice” is repeated to teach us that pursuing justice needs to happen with other people, like in a community, because you can never achieve something alone.
There is strength in numbers for any problem or challenge because when a lot of people come together, they are heard by others and listened to.
It is important to pursue justice because if you do not do so, the world will get out of control because people will be doing whatever they want, and some people will choose not to do good things. But if you pursue justice, the world can be a better place for most people. If you see someone getting bullied or picked on, the right thing to do is to stand up for them and not be a bystander. Being a bystander could lead more people to do harmful things, which could be bad for you and the rest of your community. During the Holocaust, many people were not trying to pursue justice — most of them were bystanders and did not try to help while horrible laws were being made. Some people in the Holocaust just watched as their Jewish friends got taken away and killed because they did not think they could stand up to the German government. During the Holocaust, if a lot of people had stood up to the Nazis together and tried to pursue justice as a group, then maybe it would not have been so bad. There is strength in numbers.
In our daily lives, when we see other people standing up for something, we should always try to learn more and maybe even join in and help. We all need to support each other for the problems we face. This is one of the ways we can help our world and pursue the commandment “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof,” — “Justice, justice you shall pursue.”
Blake Glovitch is an eighth grade student at Krieger Schechter Day School.
