Making Sense of the Sedra: Shoftim
How should we judge other people?
Shoftim is always first sedra of Elul, the Jewish month of introspection before we get judged by God at Rosh Hashanah.
The Talmud teaches that “someone who judges others favourably is themselves judged favourably”. This is by other people as well as by God. The opening words of the sedra shows that there is a place for judging: “You shall appoint judges and enforcing officers in all your gates.”
People must be judged and held accountable for their actions. People cannot do whatever they feel like. However, the judging is left to the judges. Whilst we can bear witness and bring people to court only a few judges can actually pass judgement. And the end of the verse teaches us that those who do must do it with mishpat tzedek – righteous justice.
Today’s cancel culture is when the influential power of social media causes a person to be ‘cancelled’. All associations with someone are cut off after they are seen to have said or done something offensive or problematic. Overnight a person can lose all their credibility and income and will be shamed and humiliated. This culture has impacted academics, politicians and authors, and it has even extended beyond the grave to the likes of Dr Seuss.
People should be held accountable for their actions and words. People need to be much more careful about what they say. However, there is also something toxic about anyone being able to pass judgement so quickly with indefinite effect without being given an opportunity for a trial, the chance to explain themselves or show remorse.
Later in this week’s sedra we are warned against this immediate judgement. The Torah teaches us that if we hear something we must darashta hetev (seek well) – have a thorough inquiry of the matter. You do not quickly pass judgement but must really fact check and seek to understand the issues. This is particularly important given that humans are psychologically wired to make judgment quickly to keep themselves safe, and so we must work on ourselves and go against our nature to stop and think about all these ideas.
In the era of social media this is something that is particularly important as the nature of it is immediate. We often don’t know the full context and many times we don’t even fully understand the tone in which something was said. This is the opposite of mishpat tzedek or indeed how we ourselves would want to be judged.
As we start going through this month of introspection and self-development let us take more care in how we judge others so that we all merit a judgment from God, who is actively looking to acquit us. We need to seek and find our positive selves.
May we all be written in the book of health and life this year.
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