DEUT341 One other aspect of the biblical and rabbinic concept of justice derives from its theological foundations. As I have discussed in chapter three, God, according to the Torah, loves the People Israel for reasons having nothing to do with its number for power, the usual marks of a nation's greatness, and God promises the Patriarchs to continue that relationship through the generations. (Deuteronomy 7:6-11). The Israelites, in turn, are to love God and “always keep His charge, His laws, His rules, and His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 11:1). The commandments of the Torah are thus not legalistic formulations, totally divorced from human compassion, moral values, and a spiritual relationship with God -- as some Christian writings portray them. Quite the contrary, the practice of justice is an extension of love, as demonstrated by commandments calling on all Israelites to “love your fellow as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:18). to “love the stranger” (repeated thirty-six times in the Torah), (B. Bava Metzi’a 59b) and to “love God.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 and 11:1). In fact, one of the primary expressions of God's love is precisely that he provides human beings with rules of justice. Very much like parents who love their children enough to take the time and energy to insist on proper behavior because they know it will ultimately be in the children's best interest, so “the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case.” (Deuteronomy 6:24-25). Again, “Bear in mind that the Lord your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God: walk in His ways and revere Him.” (Deuteronomy 8:5-6). In sum then, the Jewish tradition makes justice a concrete reality by spelling out at least most of its demands in specific laws. The Torah and later rabbinic tradition insist, though, that we do the right and the good even when the details of the law would permit us to do otherwise. The Jewish tradition thus recognizes both that the legal framework is indispensable in making justice a reality and that the demands of justice extend beyond the law, however extensively it is defined. The Torah and the later Jewish tradition also placed the demand for justice in a theological context, thereby undergirding the authority of the demand for justice and giving it a rationale: We are to be just because God requires that of us and because that is one important way in which we can imitate God's ways. These legal, moral, and theological parameters of the biblical and rabbinic concept of justice make it an ongoing, active component of a life lived in longing covenant with God.

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DEUT342 See [[LEV1107]] Leviticus 26:3 If LEHRMAN 160

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DEUT343 (Continued from [[DEUT339]] Deuteronomy 7:9 faithful TZADIK 405). If a righteous man commits a minor transgression, He exacts recompense in this world. And this is clear: It is much better for the righteous man to be judged even with afflictions like Iyov all of his days – in his body, a lowly thing, in this world in which has such a short time to live – – so that goodly reward may be given to his soul, which is majestic, in the World-to-Come, to attain to the highest plane in the celestial world for all enduring time, which never ceases. This is much better for the righteous man then if he were whole and retribution were not exacted for his sins in this world, and he would be judged in the next world with the afflictions of Gehinnom, or if, because of his sin, his soul would be diminished in its exaltation in the world of the souls and its cleaving to the Celestial Radiance, which is without assessment or parallel. And the wicked are given their reward with slight, terminal pleasure, and a brief world – this world – and their sin is preserved for the long world and for the great, unparalleled affliction of Gehinnom. And it is explicitly written [this verse]: "And He pays His master to his face to destroy him." That is, the Holy One Blessed be He rewards the wicked man for his merits in this world in order to destroy him for the World-to-Come.

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DEUT344 (Continued from [[GEN957]] Genesis 18:17 hide TZADIK 67). A superabundance of wisdom and wealth in this world falls into one of three categories: (1) good from the Holy One Blessed be He, (2) as a trial, and (3) as revenge. The sign of good: If the wealthy man injures no man through his wealth and the wise man does not utilize his wisdom to harm another, but instead the first through his wealth and the second through his wisdom add to the service of the Holy One Blessed be He then that wealth and that wisdom are truly a gift from the Holy One Blessed be He. The sign of trial: if the wealthy man is always preoccupied with guarding his money, and is afraid of some mischance whereby he might lose it, and never derives enjoyment commensurate with his wealth through its proper utilization – but he does not injure anyone through his wealth nor boast about his riches, but is constantly preoccupied with the acquisition of wealth and concerned over its safekeeping, and does not do good to any man nor take pity on the poor to feed or clothe them. Similarly, the wise man, if he devotes most of his wisdom to the demands of this world, to correct his own affairs, being wise neither for evil or for good-– his superabundance, too, is certainly in the category of trial. The sign of revenge: If the wealthy man injures others through his wealth, and boasts about it, and does not perform charity with it, and is constantly preoccupied with it for his own pleasure, as in Yeshayahu 22:13: "Joy and gladness, the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep," and (ibid.5:12): "And the lyre and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and the wine of their feasts but they do not regard the deeds of Hashem" – – and he does not fulfill thereby Hashem's charge, (Koheles 5:12): "Wealth guarded by its owner to his detriment." And it is the same with the wise man, if he is clever in the doing of evil and does not do good, as it is written (Yirmeyahu 4:22): "They are wise to do evil and do not know how to do good," then his wisdom as a stumbling block to him. Therefore, the wise man will act with his wealth and his good judgment in accordance with the abundance of his wealth and his wisdom. He will increase humility and lowliness, he will not grow haughty, and he will always worry that his wealth might be his [sole] reward and that he is one of those about whom it is written [this verse]: "And he pays His enemies to their faces [in this world] in order to destroy them [in the next]." And the wise man must also worry that he might be one of those about whom it is written (Yirmeyahu 4:22): "They are wise to do evil and do not know how to do good." For every man must employ wisdom and thought to attain good deeds to the ultimate extent of his wisdom.

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DEUT345 One who is guilty of excision is sometimes granted an extension of two or three generations in this world, due to a particular merit that he may possess. Delay of death for the wicked is in order to grant them their award in this world so that they will perish in the World to Capcom, as the pasuk says [this verse], "To those who hate Him, He repays in [their] lifetime [I.e., For whatever good deeds they have performed], so as to eliminate [them from the World to Come]; he will not delay to [reward] one who hates Him, but will repay him in his lifetime." This is explicit in the words of David [HaMelech], a"h, (Tehillim 92:7-8), "A brutish man cannot know, nor can a fool understand this. When the wicked flourish like grass and all evil doers blossom, it is that they be destroyed forever." So did Asaf, a"h, say (ibid., 73:23-17), "For I envied the boastful when I saw the peacefulness of the wicked. For there are no fetters to their death… When I entered into the sanctuaries of God, I understood their end." This means that the retribution for the wicked is [only administered] at "their end"," as the pasuk says (Mishlei 24:20), "For there will be no remnant to evil; the light of the wicked will be extinguished."

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DEUT346 (Continued from [[DEUT569]] Deuteronomy 12:18 rejoice TZADIK 177). The trait of joy encompasses a positive commandment of acknowledging God's justice in all that befalls one, as it is written (Devarim 8:5): "And you shall know in your heart that just as a man chastises his son, so Hashem your God chastises you." If after one repents things do not go so well for him as they did before, it is a positive commitment for him to think in his heart that his adversity is for his good. For before he repented, the Holy One Blessed be He was rewarding him for the mitzvos he had done in order to bar him from the World-to-Come, as it is written [this verse]: "And He pays those that hate Him to his face to destroy him." And, corresponding to this treatment of those who hate Him, He pays those who love Him the punishment of their transgressions in this world so that they will be pure and clean for the next world. And all of this entails the trait of joy, one's being happy in the portion allotted him by the Blessed One. But the way by which a man may come to rejoice in his lot, accepting ill with joy as well as good – this way is divided into several areas: First, he requires trust in God. Second, belief. Third, intelligence. Fourth, contentment.

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DEUT347 See [[LEV1118]] Leviticus 26:14 obey DORFFWITO 41

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DEUT348 See [[GEN1370]] Genesis 32:11 unworthy DUTIES 311

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DEUT349 Why might God bestow favor upon a wicked man? As to God's favor bestowed on a wicked man-- this sometimes happens on account of a previous good deed, for which God rewards him in this world , as it says: “He repays His enemies to their face to destroy them” (Devarim 7:10), which the Early Ones rendered in the Targum as follows: “He repays His enemies during their lifetime [for] the good that they have done before Him, [so as ultimately] to destroy them.” Sometimes wealth is placed in his charge like a deposit, until God, May He be exalted, gives him a righteous son who is worthy of it, as it says: “He prepares it, but the righteous man will wear it ” (Iyov 27:17); “But to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and amassing, to hand over to one who was good before God” (Koheles 2:26). His wealth may also prove to be the primary cause of his death or undoing, as it says: “There is an evil affliction that I have observed under the sun: wealth reserved for its owner, for his misfortune” (ibid. 5:12). It may be that the Creator, May He be exalted, patiently bears with him until he repents and becomes worthy of his good fortune, as was the case with Menashe. Sometimes it is on account of the past piety of his father, in return for which it was proper to bestow benefits on the son, as was said to Yahu, son of Nimshi: “Four generations of your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel” (Melachim II, 10:30); and it says: “He who walks in integrity is a saint; blessed are his children after him!” (Mishlei 20:7); “I have been young and now am grown old, but I have never seen a righteous man forsaken, or his children begging bread” (Tehillim 37:25). Sometimes it is in order to try those who are deceptively and inwardly evil, who, when they observe [the prosperity of the wicked], hurry to turn away from the service of God and hasten to win the favor of the wicked and to learn from their actions. So too, the man who is pure toward God is identified and the man loyal in his service is recognized through his forbearance at a time when the wicked rule over him and humiliate him. For this he will receive reward from the Creator, May He be exalted, as you know from the account of Eliyahu and Izevel, and the account of Yirmeyahu and the kings of his time.

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DEUT350 See [[EXOD684]] Exodus 22:23 your OXFORD 39

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