This week, Ayelet and I were waiting in a two-hour line for her back to school COVID test. Testing has become a ritual of our times. As we prepare for anything out of the routine, we run to get tested to verify our ability to participate with others. I was listening to a podcast while we were in line. It’s a new one for me called “Good Faith Effort.” It’s from the Joshua Network, and so far, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve been hearing. Regardless, the episode I listened to had a guest, Elon Gold, a well-known Jewish comedian and actor. Elon Gold is an observant Jew and he’s also a passionate Jew. The episode was about anti-Semitism today but he also went into a riff about the Hebrew word: צדיק, a righteous person. I had a realization at that moment. Hebrew is all about root words or as we say in Hebrew שורשים. They are each typically three letters, and when you identify the root of the word you’re translating, you are pretty much home free on your way to understanding Hebrew on a deeper level. For instance, א.ה.ב is the root for love. When those three letters appear in that order in a word, you’re almost always discussing some sort of love.
The Hebrew root for צדיק is well… צ.ד.ק, and it’s a well-known word for us because it’s the root of צדקה/tzedakah. Many of us conflate צדקה with charity, but that’s not the case… it’s really all about justice and doing what is right/obligatory. When we give צדקה to another person, it’s not because it’s a good thing to do, but rather because we are all obligated to seek a more just and upright world. It’s more appropriate to say “I am doing an act of justice” rather than “I am doing an act of charity.” There’s another use of the root צ.ד.ק that I think is necessary in this discussion too and that’s the word צודק which means to be correct. When someone says something you agree with, you would say “אתה צודק/You’re correct.” So what does all this mean? Hebrew is a beautiful language that linguistically ties so many parts of our lives together. Doing justice is not about doing something lofty and beyond our abilities. Doing justice is simply about doing that which is right. In the words of Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing.
In the month of אלול, the last month of the Jewish year and the month we’re currently in, we must look inside of ourselves and see how we’re doing. We need to look and see if justice is a part of our world view. We need to look and see if we’re each looking not to do the greatest thing possible or simply the correct thing. We need to look at ourselves and ask what it will take to elevate ourselves higher and higher in the justice category. Higher and higher in the category of doing what is right in the eyes of God and the eyes of other people.
Parshat Shoftim is where we find the famous words צדק צדק תרדוף/Justice justice you shall pursue. Much has been discussed about the doubling of the word justice and much has been written about the use of the term “pursue.” As we embark on our High Holiday season, we need to make decisions about our lives that will cause us to be more righteous, more just and more correct all at once. We need to look at our world and ask what we need to do, not by choice, but by obligation to make our world a more just, more righteous and more correct place for all of us.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Hearshen
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