Rabbi Alison Kobey
This week’s Torah portion is Shoftim: Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9
When one plays a board game, one often either follows the rules directly from the box or we tweak it and establish house rules. One way or the other, there needs to be a shared set of values and expectations or the game will not work, leading to frustration or chaos. This idea of consistency and fairness becomes even more apparent when a participant from that home plays the game in a different home.
Children are often experts on understanding this concept, and when there is a rule change or seeming bias, we often hear the phrase, “That’s not fair.” While children may understand the world in more binary terms, they have a natural sense of fairness and unfairness and rights and wrongs. There are times in games when we may give a younger person or a weaker player a modification, for fairness does not mean sameness. Fairness means helping ensure people get what they need and includes justice combined with righteousness.
Until recently, my father and I would regularly play Scrabble, starting when I was a young child. As a child, he would give me a 100-point head start to help make the score less lopsided. As I grew older and my vocabulary increased, my starting points decreased, until one day he told me that I was a strong enough Scrabble player and a strong enough competitor that I no longer would get a starting point advantage. I have been thinking a lot about our Scrabble games, not only because of the closeness it brought us, but also because of the lessons in equity, both in the game itself and in life.
Fairness is important, especially when it is combined with justice and righteousness. The concept of tzedek, justice, co-mingled with fairness and righteousness, is critical to this week’s Torah portion. Deuteronomy 16:18-19 states that “you shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.” In other words, judges and officials are meant to be fair. They should not be driven by personal gain, but rather a child-like sense of global fairness. And, if we further broaden the idea, regardless of our position or title, we too are meant to be focused on tzedek, on the combination of fairness, justice and righteousness.
Imagine if we mete out justice in an impartial manner. We would reduce or eliminate our biases toward rich or poor, Black or white, young or old, Democrat or Republican or any other binary position. Our current society of divisiveness would shrink as we would all work together to create “due justice.” If we were to live within the Torah ideal, we would be fair to one another, honoring the reminder not to judge unfairly. As the Torah continues (v. 20), it becomes incumbent on all of us with the famous line “tzedek tzedek tirdof l’ma’an tichyeh … justice, justice you shall pursue that you may thrive …”
When we pursue justice, we all gain. All of us. Go back to the idea of games. We do not, or should not, make game rules whether someone is rich or poor, Black or white, young or old, Democrat or Republican. The game becomes more fun for everyone when we eliminate any binary biases and instead focus on equity and justice. The Torah is clear. We are commanded to be impartial, and we are commanded to pursue justice. Fairness does not mean sameness, as in the case when I was younger playing Scrabble with my dad. But fairness means finding the equity, equalizing to help lift others up and support people for all of society to be better. Tzedek is a combination of fairness, justice and righteousness. May we all participate in the pursuit of tzedek, lifting one another up to make a better society for all.
Rabbi Alison Kobey is the rabbi at Congregation Or Chadash, an active Reform synagogue in Damascus, Maryland, where she is now in her 17th year of serving as a rabbi there.
