We just celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first World Zionist Congress. In 1897 Theodor Herzl convened a conference to inspire and mobilize the Jewish people to return to the land.
In 1948, when the state of Israel was born, his dream was realized.
How did this miracle happen? How did Jews remain united as a people? One central reason is our faith in the power and purpose of law.
In fact, the Torah was the first book in the ancient Near East to recognize the critical difference between two types of laws.
One is called mishpatim. These are procedural laws.
They are to be strictly applied to everyone equally. Your status, background, and prior history do not matter. Everyone lives the same set of rules.
Think of the set of verses in the Torah known as lex talionis. It reads,
"But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Exodus 21:23-25)
These verses aim to sustain a society under rule of law, impartially and universally accepted and enforced.
But not all laws fall into the category of mishpatim. There is another category known as tzedek.
Tzedek is the Hebrew word for justice. It appears many times throughout the Torah.
It also describes a category of laws. Tzedek aims to fulfill the spirit of the law by taking into account the general welfare of society.
It seeks to ensure the application of the law reflects the truth that every human being is created in the image of God.
Here's an example: "If a man is poor, you may not go to sleep holding his security.
Return it to him at sun-down, so that he will be able to sleep in his garment and bless you. To you it will be reckoned as tzedakah before the Lord your God.”(Deuteronomy 24:12-13)
This verse discusses a man who must pledge his coat as collateral for a loan. The lender has the right to keep his coat.
But without the coat, the man would freeze to death in his sleep. So according to the principle of tzedek, the lender should return it to him.
This is an extreme example, but it reflects the need to balance law with compassion. It is also an imperative calling out to us as people of faith, because living with tzedek is one of the ways we move closer to God.
Think about it: we are fallible. We make mistakes all the time. We fall short of what God asks of us. And God forgives.
If God held human beings to a strict standard of mishpat, we would not be alive. God has compassion for us. Thus, we have compassion for one another. And may God have compassion on the people of Israel.