D’var Torah

WHAT would happen, God willing, if Israel’s enemies were to accept the terms of peace?

That is the challenge presented by Parashat Shoftim which commands the Israelites to offer its enemies the opportunity to surrender peacefully before the attack.

“If they respond peacefully and let you in, all the people present there shall serve you as forced labor (Deuteronomy 20:11).” Turning your enemies into forced laborers may be a better alternative than killing them, but it can hardly be deemed progressive.

The Torah’s mandate for a fair and just court system, while seemingly appropriate for a 21st century society, present a number of challenges. For instance, the Torah articulates clear guidelines in support of judicial impartiality and fairness - for example, explicitly prohibiting judges from giving preferential treatment and taking bribe. Yet, there is no indication that the Torah extends “tzedek tzedek tirdof - justice, justice you shall pursue” beyond the courts to social justice. Even more problematic, if applied to today’s societal norms, is the mandate imposed on judges and officers to enforce civil, criminal and religious law. It is explained, thusly, in Sefer HaHinuch, a medieval commentary on the 613 commandments, explains the job of the shoftim and shotrim as follows: “To appoint judges and officers who should enforce the observance of the mitzvot of the Torah, and should return to it, against their will, those who stray from the path of truth...For with this method we can establish our religious system of law, while fear of our officers and judges is cast over the mass population.” A society ruled by religious law with enforcement that generates fear among its citizens is clearly a model we don’t wish to adopt or emulate.

None of this is new, of course. When we turn to Jewish tradition for teachings that inspire us to work for social justice, we often turn a blind eye to texts that can inspire the opposite: religious paternalism, inequality, brutal forms of capital punishment, and yes, even race-based genocide.

But, is this acceptable or even desirable? Can we credibly cite Jewish teachings that encourage a better world when parallel teachings exist that could lead to a worse one? I think yes, but only with these conditions: that we are honest about which texts we are excluding from active duty and that we study not only those traditions that promote our social agendas, but those that contradict it – because neglected texts left unattended have a nasty way of coming back to life in more virulent forms.

Parashat Shoftim is the perfect reminder that scattered amongst Judaism’s most noble and righteous teachings are passages that are anachronistic at best, immoral at worst. We must identify these teachings – biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern. As we engage texts that inspire us to pursue social justice, we must, at the same time, engage those that can inspire violence and oppression.

Whether we condemn these texts or merely note their difficulty, they are our responsibility. If we ignore them and fail to forge communal opinions about them, we risk the possibility of them being resurrected and reclaimed.

Reprinted with permission from MyJewishLearning.com.