Judges at Our Gates

Last week a viral video captured Prime Minister Netanyahu visiting an injured soldier who, after telling his story and speaking movingly of his four comrades who fell in battle, said emphatically: “We must not go back to the 6th of October – and not only in terms of security.”  This sentiment has echoed across the spectrum in Israel and among American Jews as well. “Not going back” often alludes to the disunity, the fractured and bitter political situation, that reverberated through Israel and across the ocean. If we don’t want to fall back into that whirlpool, we need to find its root causes. Do we have a clue?

My first thought was the phrase that buzzed through the English-speaking media last year: “judicial reform.” Usually this was presented as a demand by the right-leaning coalition government to undercut the power of Israel’s Supreme Court and change the method of selecting its judges. Protesters filled the streets, people warned of civil war. The issues sounded important, but it puzzled me that the country was being torn apart by a problem with judges.

My second thought was that the United States has been having its own issues with judges. If judges are selected by ideology, can they make fair judgments? Is “settled law” being radically overturned by a conservative Supreme Court?  Some of the justices may be corrupt, having accepted gifts that seem like bribes. Many Americans think, like Israelis, that autocracy is just around the corner because of problems with judges.

And then a third thought: Isn’t it bizarre that it was a group of judges, constituting a so-called International Court of Justice, that committed a travesty of injustice against Israel? Adding insult to injury, this came after a horrendous terrorist massacre. A more extreme problem with judges! 

Enter last week’s parsha, “Yitro,” in which Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, acknowledges the supremacy of the Israelites’ God. He also, significantly, provides Moshe with a framework for social management – a system of judges. Following that, in a great epiphany, the Torah describes God giving the Ten Commandments to all Israel.  

The “Ten Words,” or Ten Important Matters, have been described as similar to the Preamble to the Constitution in the United States. But if the Ten Commandments are a preamble, Jethro’s plan for a justice system is the presupposition of the preamble. America’s founders insisted that the foundation for their envisioned democracy had to be an educated citizenry. Jethro insisted likewise that Moshe must create a reliable structure of authority among the people: 

“You will warn them of statutes and laws, make them knowledgeable of the way they must behave and the things they must do… And you will choose from the people men of ability who revere God, men of truth, who hate greed, and appoint them over the people [organized by] thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. … Every great matter they will bring to you, but every small matter they will judge themselves.”  

Lacking this, Jethro warned Moshe, you will collapse under the burden of leadership; but with this framework, “you will be able to endure and all the people shall go back each to his place in peace.”

Jethro was presenting a vision of a society guided by skilled, intelligent people who loved truth, hated greed, and cared deeply about the nation’s relation to G-d or (in secular terms) ultimate purpose. Those guides are none other than the judges, shoftim, who would make possible a society governed by the Ten Commandments.

The book of Devarim, representing Moshe’s final speeches, also includes instructions about judges. They are brief and straightforward:

“Judges and officers you shall appoint in all your gates (towns), which the Lord your God is giving you for your tribes. They will judge the people with righteous judgment:  You shall not be devious in judgment; you shall show no partiality; you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.  

“Justice, [only] justice shall you pursue, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Succinctly, Moshe connects the promise of the land with clear-headed, open-eyed, impartial judges.

Can we each imagine being one of those “judges in the gates”?  Can we each step up to a greater love of truth, a better use of our intelligence, an impartial approach to actual problem-solving rather than waving ideological flags? 

As we reflect on “not going back” to disunity and civil strife, it would be a good time to think about judges and justice. I am not advocating for or against “judicial reform,” whether in Israel or America, but rather a more introspective approach. Can we each imagine being one of those “judges in the gates”?  Can we each step up to a greater love of truth, a better use of our intelligence, an impartial approach to actual problem-solving rather than waving ideological flags? 

For example: Eliminate finger-pointing and blaming from our repertoire. Jettison our past beliefs about parties and policies. Abandon slogans. 

Be only people of truth, choose words carefully, strive for clarity — as we would want from judges if we were plaintiff or defendant.  

Root out greed in our own backyards; be models of full disclosure. 

Stop obsessing about individual politicians and reorient to our fundamental national purpose and the health of our communities.  

If we all work toward becoming righteous judges at our gates, we will see the way to resolve our differences, small and large; and we will pave the way for “all the people to go back each to his place in peace.”

Tamar Frankiel is a scholar of comparative religion and former president and faculty member of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California.