Parshat Shoftim

‘Tzedek, tzedek you shall pursue, in order that you shall live and inherit the Land which the L-d your G-d gives to you.’ (Devarim 16,20)

What does the word ‘tzedek’ mean? Could it be righteousness or perhaps charity, both connected to the word ‘tzedaka’?  According to the Aramaic translation of Onkelos, the most authoritative translation of the Torah, ‘tzedek’ actually means ‘truth’.  Paranthetically, Onkelos also translates ‘tzedek’ in another place ‘Betzedek tishpot amitecha’, with truth you should judge your neighbour (Vayikra 19,15).  To whom then is this phrase in our pasuk (verse), which is written in the singular, addressed?

Rashi (1040-1105), the major Torah commentator, quotes the Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b), which states that this verse applies to litigants.  Litigants must pick an appropriate Beit Din/Beth Din as a forum for their case.  Incidentally, Jewish law obligates Jews to use a Beit Din to judge disputes between Jews.  Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1167) and Rabbi Chayim Atar (1696-1743) take a similar approach to Rashi.  This approach seems to understand the ‘truth’ that our verse refers to as applying to the litigants’ choice of Beth Din.

Rabbi Baruch Halevi Epstein (19^th century) quotes another opinion in the Jerusalem Talmud (Peah 3:8) that holds the verse applies to judges to make sure that they judge truthfully by always applying the necessary judicial procedures so that they can clarify the case as much as possible, whatever the nature of the case.  This obligation is taught by the repetition of the word ‘tzedek’. Writing ‘tzedek’ once enjoins the judges to avoid judging falsely. Repeating it tells the judges to make sure that they do not make an unwitting mistake through lack of care as opposed to deliberate falsification.

Rabbi Epstein also sees the repetition of this phrase as a source for the preference in Jewish law for settling a case out of court (peshara) rather than commencing court proceedings (Talmud Sanhedrin 6a-b).