Thursday, August 28, 2014

Judaism's Top 40 - Elul 3, #38 Tzedek

  
Judaism's Top 40!
TODAY, ELUL 3, NUMBER 38

Tzedek - the obligation to pursue justice

This week's portion contains the integral Torah phrase, "Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof," "Pursue Justice."  Why is the word "justice" printed twice?  To teach us to pursue justice only in just ways (just means - just ends) and also that we should seek justice for ourselves as well as justice for others..

See more on this concept here.  See a social action perspective from Hazon here and a link discussing the connection to tzedakkah here.   An excerpt:


Rav Joseph Solevechik wrote that Rosh Hashanah is a time to look externally, to atone not just for actions, but also for inactions-to examine relationships with the community and larger world.  It is not simply enough to acknowledge the failures and weaknesses in our world, nor to treat the effects - at this time of turning we need to address the ways that we can respond, to discern what each one of us can do to address society's faults, what we can do to impact the direction of things.

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