Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים  "Judges"  Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

Shoftim / Justice Justice 5782

A Poetic Reflection On Parashah Shoftim*

Justice Justice you shall pursue,

justice below and justice above*

Then shall you remain in the land,

and you shall not fall backward into Egypt

By the Torah of God the heavens were made

HaShem spoke,

A universe of worlds came into being

He commanded it as Torah,

and creation stood firm

The reality of the universe stood like a stone

The Word of God is teaching

Creation is learning

If you are awake,

you are a student

The heavens were formed according to strict justice

The earth understood and did not understand

and trembled to its core

Was reality for Creation a constant variable?

Strict justice ruled every heaven

Would reality need to be always adjusting 

in order to ever improve its righteousness?

If reality need be continually changing,

would it be no more a true reality 

than a vacuous field of chaos?

The earth feared that the face of Creation 

would remain always as stormy waters,

thrashed into whirling pits and peaks of existence

The voice of strict justice spoke in the heavens

The earth feared and its thoughts were unstable

Was Creation’s reality 

to be only probability waves,

clashing in cross currents,

breaking against each other?

God created universes 

Just as certainly God could destroy them!

The earth felt how terrifying existence could be!

Then the Spirit of God hovered over the troubled waters

and heaven and earth together had a vision

They saw Israel accepting the Torah

The deep fears of the earth were comforted

The dark and stormy waters of heaven and earth 

were calmed 

Creation was ready to hear all the word of God

The Word of God not only speaks,

it listens

At the capstone of all things 

the Word of God is prayer*

prayer on behalf of creation 

for justice and mercy without compromise,

prayer that the Judge of all Creation

might pronounce a just mercy,

in order that creation might stand forever

Justice Justice you shall pursue,

not without the justice and mercy of Torah,

but with it,

by leaving Egypt on HaShem's wings,

and never returning there

Go forward

Pursue righteousness in your peace and in your wars,

with the help of the Torah’s ways and the Torah’s prayers

If you show self-restraint in your days of peace

and kindness in your wars,

you will learn to show kindness 

in your wars among yourselves

and restraint in your wars with others

Pursue justice for Abel

Pursue justice for Cain

Justice for Joseph

is strict mercy towards his brothers

Pursue justice as community

There is one Israel and one God

Torah Israel has righteous judges and officers,

with leaders who cultivate responsibility

to prevent breakouts of murder,

while they suffocate idolatry

They study the ways and pray the prayers of the Torah,

and know how to create the Cities of Refuge,

which are portals to the justice above

From there the judgment is heard

that is forever in the Word of the Judge of all the earth,

in the sentence that is in his mouth

This is the only sentence of truly just mercy, 

which makes the reality of the universe to stand like a stone,

which gives Creation a continuing existence,

that you may live and live again

in the land that he has given you,

through his kindness,

the beauty of his covenant,

that you might be his witnesses

to all the earth and all the heavens,

of his endless goodness

and infinite benevolence,

which he reveals in Torah Israel

in His land

For God owns the mouths of all his judges

And all the nations of the earth

they shall welcome into the gates of Jerusalem