Yithro: Law and Justice

Yithro: Law and Justice

The climax of the parsha is the Ten commandments, the core charter of Judaism and the religions that originate from it. These principles have become global in their adoption, while  their meaning has remained provincial.  We can all agree on the principle that it is forbidden to steal, but there is a breadth of opinion about the meaning of fraud and theft. 

Jethro sees his son-in-law, Moshe, sitting all day adjudicating cases.  He advises that  justice  be systematized. His advice is accepted by Gd and Moshe. The assignment of people, other than Moshe,  to the role of judge, creates a problem of validation.  Moshe, who can unerringly  anticipate the will of Gd, needs no further endorsement.  But the decisions of  more ordinary people can be called into question, and the questions can rise in the hierarchy, back to Moshe. 

In this context, the Ten Commandments  can be seen as a constitution, a set of immutable, fundamental laws that are the foundation of a system.  The law that is engraved in stone is above human manipulation.  The judge is merely the reminder of rules that exist outside  of the situational realm. 

But justice does not live in the law. Righteousness, like medical care, is dependent on the particulars of the situation.  When the starving serf "steals" the grain he has produced by his labor from the lord of the manner, when the peasant hides the wheat she has produced from the Soviet overseers, what kind of theft is that?  The law is an  ass,  it is blind to circumstances. Justice resides in its interpretation in context . 

Without the law, civilization either collapses or becomes a cult of personality. Truth  is above the law.  Gd is above that.