Justice and Mercy
Recent events in this country surface the old and everlasting tension between justice and mercy. Many are concerned around enforcing a law which in their view is necessary to maintain order and stability, and for many others,they are concerned around the inhumane and merciless enforcement of this law which they believe needs to be corrected.
This tension is as old as time and appears in religious texts and folk tales of most religions and cultures. As mentioned here before, our tradition puts this tension in the very core of our theology with Rashi interpreting the very first verse of the Torah as follows:
"בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃"
When God began to create heaven and earth—”
Rashi:
“...At first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realised that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice…”
Rashi’s explanation here has a direct connection to the verse which opens our portion this week, Vaera:
"וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃"
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am יהוה.”
In his interpretation to the first verse of the Torah, when Rashi talks about the two attributes of justice and mercy, he refers to the use of the name of God “Elohim,” which is used in Creation, and is different than the name “Adonai” (the Lord - the tetragrammaton.)
In a verse in our portion, both names appear:
“Elohim spoke to Moses and said to him, I am Adonai”
Midrash Exodus Rabbah:
וְעַל דָּבָר זֶה בִּקְּשָׁה מִדַּת הַדִּין לִפְגֹּעַ בְּמשֶׁה, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל משֶׁה, וּלְפִי שֶׁנִּסְתַּכֵּל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שֶׁבִּשְׁבִיל צַעַר יִשְׂרָאֵל דִּבֵּר כֵּן חָזַר וְנָהַג עִמּוֹ בְּמִדַּת רַחֲמִים, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי ה'.
“…the attribute of justice sought to harm Moses. That is what is written: “God [Elohim] spoke to Moses” (Exodus 6:2). Because the Holy One blessed be He observed that it was due to the suffering of Israel that he spoke in that manner, He reconsidered and treated him with the attribute of mercy. That is what is written: “He said to him: I am the Lord [Y-H-V-H] (Exodus 6:2).”
According to the Midrash, Moses talked to God with rebuke:
"וַיָּ֧שׇׁב מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֗י לָמָ֤ה הֲרֵעֹ֙תָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה שְׁלַחְתָּֽנִי׃"
Then Moses returned to יהוה and said, “O my lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me?
"וּמֵאָ֞ז בָּ֤אתִי אֶל־פַּרְעֹה֙ לְדַבֵּ֣ר בִּשְׁמֶ֔ךָ הֵרַ֖ע לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֑ה וְהַצֵּ֥ל לֹא־הִצַּ֖לְתָּ אֶת־עַמֶּֽךָ׃"
"Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people; and still You have not delivered Your people.”
After hearing this harsh tone, God intended to strike Moses for his rebuke and punish him, but God recognized Moses’ compassion towards the Israelites. It was that compassion which made God reconsider His anger and treat Moses with the attribute of mercy.
This is huge, especially considering that from now on the Torah will only refer to God as Adonai. The merciful God.
To dive further into the tension between justice and mercy, I wanted to bring forward the Jewish philosopher who embodied this tension in the core of his philosophy — Hermann Cohen (1842-1918).
Cohen was a German Jewish Neo-Kantian philosopher, who is considered by some as the most important Jewish philosopher of the 19th century. He is indeed one of the most important Neo-Kantian philosophers, and because of that he achieved the top rank professorship at Marburg University in Germany and founded the Neo-Kantian school at the University, roles which were extremely rare for Jews to hold at his time.
This column isn’t long enough for me to describe his contribution to Neo-Kantianism and therefore I will focus on the aspect in his philosophy which is relevant to us, his philosophy of compassion.
In short, Cohen expanded on the ethical writings of Kant, transforming them from Justice-centered to Mercy-centered.
Kant’s Categorical Imperative, by which the duty to act morally relies on its universality, meaning, what will my action look like should it be done by all people, still referred to only one type of a human being, the generic human being.
In his book Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (1919), Cohen looks into Jewish tradition to show how it transferred the generic and anonymous moral being into a unique and individual one. Kant wrote a theory of justice, but religious experience (especially Judaism) brings mercy into it.
Kant’s imperative regarding human dignity urges us to always treat others as if they were ends and not means.
Cohen’s expansion on it is that humans are not just “ends,” and one should always treat the other as “their partner in suffering.” In other words, with compassion. Doing so turns Kant’s generic human or exemplar, into a thou, into a “you.” The “you” in turn, gives birth to the “I”.
Cohen suggested that the concepts of sin, atonement and Teshuvah in Judaism were the actual vehicles through which this transformation occurs.
For example, my ability to do Teshuva and to atone proves that my sin is not my entirety, and my ability to change depends on my unique biography and brings my individuality into my moral act.
On a messianic level, Cohen believed that this Jewish contribution is in fact the goal of Judaism and its main role, to carry this compassion-based ethics and apply it in the world. This, is in fact how the Jews can bring the messianic age, which is nothing but a just society. Therefore the Jewish mission is Tikkun Olam (the repairing of the world).
This reduction of Judaism to this mission and goal alone drew a lot of criticism as well. But in times like this I think it's fair to call on all of us to remember what our tradition has to say about justice which is enacted without mercy or compassion.
Watch in Hebrew:
