By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO–This week’s parasha contains the famous verse, “Justice, justice, shall you pursue.”
The Hebrew root for “justice” is tzedek. It is the foundation of many other Hebrew words such as tzedakah, charity. The linguistic connection between tzedek and tzedakah reminds us that in Judaism, helping others is not just a good deed but rather an act of justice. Our tradition sees feeding the hungry and clothing the naked as fulfilling our obligation of bringing balance to the world and correcting its ills, and not simply as a good deed.
Another word based on the root tzedek is tzadik, a righteous person. Judaism teaches that a righteous person is not someone who merely does nothing wrong. Righteous people are those who bring their inner convictions about generosity and goodness to life. They must not only refrain from harming others, but take action to correct the injustices they find around them.
As we begin approaching the High Holy Days we need to be mindful that as we face God on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, excuses and rationalizations will not do. We are responsible for our own actions.
The Talmud teaches that even before a child is conceived in its mother’s womb, the Holy One, Blessed be God, declares what it will be like: whether it will be a boy or girl, weak or strong, poor or rich, short or tall, caustic or mild, plain or attractive, etc. God decides everything about the child except one thing: whether it will be righteous or wicked. (TB, Nidah 30:b)
This God leaves to us alone.
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Rabbo Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted at leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com