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JUSTICE

Everyone is in favor of justice in our legal system and in our social and societal lives. Yet justice is an ephemeral and difficult to define concept. Many times what passes for justice is really the personal subjective opinion of a judge or a jury on a complicated and confusing issue. The Torah demands that judges in a Jewish society strive to "judge the people with righteous correct judgment." That has always been a tall order. The Talmud tells us that great rabbis made mistakes in judging others - even in life and death matters. Yehuda ben Tabai, the great rabbinic leader at the time of the Hasmonean kings, wrongly condemned a man to death in his courtroom and as a result of this error in judgment, for the rest of his life he withdrew from deciding judicial matters on his own. Achieving ultimate justice, ultimate truth, is something that is enormously challenging and nearly impossible to attain. That is why every human legal system contains pitfalls and weaknesses. But without such legal systems, without a rule of law that attempts to protect human beings and their property from the depredations of others, no free and creative society can exist for long. Therefore, the Torah itself, aware of all potential shortcomings that can exist in a human courtroom, nevertheless demands that a judicial system be imposed in Jewish society and in non-Jewish societies as well. Creating and maintaining such a judicial system is one of the "Seven Mitzvot of Bnei Noach" - the basic framework for any civilized society.

The Talmud teaches us that God subtly interferes, over time and through varying circumstances, to correct erroneous judgments of human courts. The rabbis were of the opinion that this is true not only in monetary matters but even in capital cases. The rabbis viewed God, so to speak, as a safety net for their judicial system. He would in His own good time and mysterious ways correct all judicial mistakes. The rabbis of the Talmud strengthened the spirit of judges who were aware of their fallibilities and unavoidable personal prejudices and viewpoints by stating: "A judge can consider only the facts that are presented before him - only what his eyes see." Ultimate justice is the Lord's domain. A human court can and should do the best it can. If it falls short of true justice in the matter being decided, that is only indicative of its human makeup. Its failings should never serve as a basis for ignoring or canceling the general authority of the courts in society.

Throughout the history of Jewish courts, the rabbis always promoted the idea of compromise in judicial matters. Even though compromise, by its very nature, is antithetical to true justice, the rabbis pushed for it because it contributed to the achievement of even a greater value, a sense of harmony and a feeling of live and let live within the Jewish community. Truth and justice are strikingly important values but peace and harmony are even greater values. The Midrash tells us that Truth and Peace disputed before God as to which value should exist in the world as being the primary one, since in the ultimate sense they are contradictory one to another. The Lord decided in favor of Peace. Thus compromise became the essential rule of Jewish courts. Compromise is never justice. But it usually is effective and helps lubricate the grinding wheels of social friction and differences. The uncertainty of being able to guarantee true justice in a human courtroom itself has contributed greatly to this tendency of Jewish courts to enforce compromise solutions in disputes and court cases. Though the parties themselves may be less than satisfied in the compromise solution, since each of them "loses" in a compromise, society as a whole has benefited from such a solution. And that appears to be the overriding value in all of these matters.

Berel Wein