The World Stands on Justice, Truth & Peace – Sussex University
Peace demands Justice and Truth
Everyone – except the most malevolent – wants world peace. But how do we achieve it?
The Hebrew Bible is full of powerful statements about shalom, peace. Both Jews and Christians often quote the text found in the Book of Isaiah[1] and also in the Book of Micah[2], which looks to a time in the future when ‘they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall learn war no more.’ These famous words express an ideal state – but they also say something very real about what it takes to create peace: That, like making war, it demands energy and effort – all that beating of metal – and involves learning the ways of peace. And Micah adds something else – a vision of the peaceful life that is also very instructive: ‘Rather, everyone shall sit under their vine and under their fig-tree and none shall terrorise them’[3]. Creating peace involves making it possible for everyone to create prosperity and to live in security. Peace is not an end but a new beginning.
Significantly, many of the references to peace in the Bible connect peace to justice. Several passages in the biblical Book of Isaiah, for example, indicate that peace and justice are inextricably linked. We read, for example, in Isaiah chapter 32, verse 17:
For the work of justice shall be peace; and the service of justice, quietness and security forever.
[Hayah ma’aseh ha-tz’dakah shalom; va-avodat ha-tz’dakah hashkeit va-vetach ad olam.]
And so, working for peace involves working for justice – and indeed, pursuing both: In the Torah, in the Book of Deuteronomy, in a section dealing with the laws of justice, we read at chapter 16, verse 20: ‘Justice, justice, you shall pursue’ [Tzedek, tzedek tirdof]. And the Psalmist declares in Psalm 34, verse 15: ‘Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it’ [Sur mei-ra va-aseih-tov; bakeish shalom v’rodfeihu]. The word, ‘pursue’, in Hebrew, [indicated by the three consonants, Reish Dalet Pei,] conveys a sense of urgency, as it does in English. In Hebrew syntax, it is usual for the verb to come first, and so, in the verse, ‘Justice, justice, you shall pursue’ [Tzedek, tzedek tirdof], the tone of urgency is heightened, not only by the repetition of the word, Justice, tzedek, but also by the word order: Justice, justice, you shall pursue.’ Meanwhile, the repetition of ‘justice’ suggests something else, impartiality: where two parties are involved, pursuing justice for the one also necessitates pursuing justice for the other.
So, peace cannot be separated from justice – and both require us to actively pursue them. To understand the relationship between the two more deeply, and the conditions necessary for people to make peace, I’m going to turn now to a key teaching found in the collection of rabbinic wisdom that is appended to the first code of rabbinic law, the Mishnah edited around the year 200 CE:[4]
The world stands on three things: on justice, and on truth and on peace.
[Al sh’loshah d’varim ha-olam omeid: al ha-din, v’al ha-emet, v’al ha-shalom].
This brief statement deepens our awareness of the connection between peace and justice, while making another powerful assertion. Both peace and justice are inextricably connected with truth. Indeed, the world stands on all three together – conjuring up an image of pillars, which suggests that if just one pillar were removed, the world would collapse.
‘The world stands on three things: on justice, and on truth and on peace’ – and so, there can be no justice without truth and peace, no truth without justice and peace, no peace without justice and truth. That is the challenge before all of us – before all humanity. To understand the challenge more fully, it helps to have a sense of the Hebrew meanings of these three pillars of the world.
Justice
There are four words for justice in the Bible and rabbinic literature. The text before us speaks of ‘din’. Din conveys justice in the sense of the legal system for executing justice, and in the Bible, we also find another word that plays a similar role, mishpat [based on the three consonants, Shin Pei Tet, meaning to judge]. The ‘judges’ of the Bible were the shof’tim, a related word based on the same root. The Bible also uses two other related words for justice, tzedek and tz’dakah [which are both based on the three-letter root: Tzadi Dalet Kuf]. And so, as I indicated a moment ago, we read in Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 20, in the context of a passage dealing with how the system of justice is to be administered: ‘Justice, Justice – Tzedek, tzedek – you shall pursue’. And then, in Deuteronomy chapter 24, in a section dealing with economic justice, we read at verse 13 that when giving a loan, returning a garment taken as a pledge before sunset is an act of tz’dakah – justice. While the words tzedek and tz’dakah relate to the individual’s responsibility to act justly, the words din and mishpat focus on the legal system that creates a framework governed by rules of impartiality, which regulates the conduct of individuals, and attempts to ensure that the stronger members of the society come to the aid of the more vulnerable and dependent members of the society – designated in the Torah, in particular, as ‘the stranger, the orphan and the widow’[5] (in that order).
In British society we speak of a ‘fair’ system of justice. From a Jewish legal point of view, fairness is not only about impartiality – for example, as it says in the Torah, not favouring the rich on the one hand or the poor on the other[6] – it is also about correcting inequalities. And so, the pursuit of justice, tzedek, involves what we now call ‘redistributive justice’. While charity – from the Latin word caritas – suggests an act of kindness that expresses our loving feelings towards others, the Hebrew equivalent, tz’dakah, connotes an act of justice that we are obligated to perform in favour of the poor and the needy. The point about tz’dakah is that we are supposed to do it even when we don’t feel charitable.
Truth
And what of truth? As soon as we use the word truth in our post-modern society, we are aware that truth is not quite as absolute as it once seemed. In a British Court of Law, a witness must speak ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ – but nevertheless truth is subjective as well as objective, and the witness speaks the truth as they understand it. The Hebrew word for ‘truth’ – and, interestingly, there is only one word – is emet. Emet is based on the same root [Alef Mem Nun – meaning to confirm or support] from which we derive the word ‘Amen’ – pronounced ‘Amein’ in Hebrew. And so, when we respond to a prayer with the word ‘Amen’, we are basically indicating our support or affirmation for the sentiments expressed – as if we were saying: ‘I agree!’ Or: ‘So may it be!’ – with an exclamation mark. Similarly, the word emet has a sense of affirmation about it. Truth becomes firm and solid when we affirm it. Just as justice requires action and a system of regulation, so truth requires acknowledgement. And so, where there are competing truths, the challenge becomes: how can I affirm my own truth and also, acknowledge the truth of the other person? Justice is not possible while we remain unable or unwilling to acknowledge that we are not the sole guardians of ‘The Truth’.
Peace
Like truth and justice, peace is a much-used word that carries with it a significant, additional freight of meaning in Hebrew. The word we translate as ‘peace’ – shalom – is based on a root [Shin Lamed Mem] meaning to be complete or sound. And so, a related word, shaleim, means ‘wholeness.’ Peace is not the same as ‘tranquillity’, shalvah, or ‘quiet’, sheket; and peace is not simply the absence of war or violence: peace is a state of completeness. A passage in the biblical Book of Leviticus – chapter 5, verse 16 – speaks of a person committing a wrong, being obliged to make restitution, or reparation, using a verbal form of the root – y’shalleim. And so, making peace involves putting right what is wrong, in order that that what is broken may be repaired and become whole again.
The notion of ‘making whole’, reinforces the connection between peace and justice. In the Torah, in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the rules of justice, encompass all aspects of society, including economic behaviour. Interestingly, in this regard, while Leviticus chapter 19 speaks of the need for ‘just’ balances, weights and measures – using the word tzedek, Deuteronomy chapter 25, expresses the same teaching, emphasising the requirement of justice, by adding the word, sh’leimah, ‘whole’. And so, we read at verse 15: ‘You shall have whole and just weights; whole and just measures’ [Even sh’leimah va-tzedek yihyeh lach; eifah sh’leimah va-tzedek yihyeh lach]. Incidentally, the verb to ‘have’ doesn’t exist in Hebrew, so the literal translation of the verse is: ‘a weight whole and just [there] shall be to you; a measure whole and just [there] shall be to you.’
So, peace, shalom, suggests, ‘wholeness’, shaleim – and so, also, ‘well-being’ and ‘welfare’. That is why the Hebrew greeting, when people meet is ‘Shalom’. There is a telling example in the Book of Exodus that centres on the greeting of ‘Peace’, which illustrates beautifully the potential for peaceful relationships of respect and integrity between different peoples. When Moses is about to leave Midian and return to Egypt on a mission to persuade Pharaoh to liberate the slaves, his father-in-law, Jethro, the Priest of Midian, says to him, lech l’shalom – ‘go in peace’[7] – or, rather, more literally, ‘go for peace’ l’shalom – that is, for the sake of peace. Later, after the slaves have made their grand Exodus, Jethro comes to Sinai – the site of the impending Revelation – to wish Moses well, before returning again to his own land. We read that when ‘Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, he bowed low, and kissed him; and each man enquired about his friend’s welfare’ –or, rather, more literally, ‘They enquired, each man of his friend, for the sake of peace’ [Va-yishalu ish-l’rei’eihu l’shalom].[8]
Yes, Moses and Jethro were ‘friends.’ But more than this: the word rei’a friend, also means ‘neighbour’ – as in and in Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18: ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’. And even more significantly: Jethro – as all the references to him emphasise – was Moses’ father-in-law. When Moses became the ‘groom’ – chatan – of Tzipporah; Jethro became his ‘father-in-law’, chotein. Both words chatan, ‘groom’, and chotein, ‘father-in-law’, are based on a root [Cheit Tav Nun] meaning to ‘make an alliance’. When Moses married Tzipporah, the Israelites and the Midianites entered an alliance, a relationship rooted in establishing peace between them.
Justice-Truth-Peace
Of course, marriage is not the only way to build bridges between peoples. What this narrative about Moses, Jethro and Tzipporah teaches us, above all, is that it is possible to forge relationships of respect and integrity across cultural, religious, ethnic and racial divides and so create the conditions for justice, truth and peace to flourish.
It is possible – but it is also a tall order! We only have to think about the major conflicts raging in the world today. But nevertheless, the Hebrew meanings of justice, truth and peace help us to identify the connections between these three pillars of the world. They also suggest the steps we need to take to be in a position to make peace – or, rather, suggest how we might go about hewing the stones for the pillars, and preparing the foundations to set them in place.
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah
Sussex University One World Week
19th March 2020