LEV273 [Continued from [[DEUT300]] Deuteronomy 6:18 right DORFFLAW 117-8] The underlying conviction that pushes Jewish law not to stop with defining justice in its procedural and substantive aspects but to insist instead that we must go beyond the letter of the law, if necessary, to achieve justice is the belief that God requires us to aspire to a moral and theological ideal. Specifically, justice in its fullest form is necessary for holiness. All Israelites are obligated to aspire to a life of holiness: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19: 2) In the verses that follow this divine demand, the Torah specifies that holiness requires providing for the poor and the stranger; eschewing theft and fraud; rendering fair and impartial decisions in court; treating the blind, the death, and the stranger fairly; and ensuring honest weights and measures. These are all components of a society that has both procedural and substantive justice and even more-- namely, generosity and caring. We are to treat each other as members of one extended family. To the degree that we can at least in some areas, then, holiness requires that we go beyond insisting on our due and look instead at what seems to be good results for everyone concerned.