pursuing just ends through just means

In Deuteronomy 16:20, the Torah states tzedek tzedek tirdof—Justiuce, justice shall you pursue. This phrase can also be translated as justice shall pursue justice. So Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Pshyska and others explain this to mean that even the pursuit of justice must be only along just lines, not through invalid means such as lying and the like. Unjust ends can never justify the means.
One of the passages in the Talmud that discusses this concept is in Sukkot 30-31, where it discusses a Mishnah that says a stolen lulav is invalid. It says there that the reason is that it is a mitzvah haba’ah beaveirah—a mitzvah that only came about through a sin, the implication being that the sin invalidates the mitzvah. You can’t launder the lulav—once it’s been tainted by the sin of stealing, it can’t be used for a mitzvah. According to Rashi and Rambam, the sin adheres to the lulav, and the rule only applies when there’s a specific item that the sin is attached to. According to the Ritva and Tosafot, though, this applies any time you do an aveirah as an integral part of performing a mitzvah—it taints the mitzvah, such that it’s no longer a mitzvah. A mitzvah cannot be accomplished if you have to break halacha to do it. You will notice, last night we had new benchers. We were going to photocopy benchers, and realized it would have been a copyright violation—this sugiya is telling us you can’t bench with an illegally photocopied bencher!
Another very similar halachic principle is that an aseh does not push aside a lo ta’aseh. A mitzvah never overrides a prohibition—the prohibition always takes precedence. You can never use a mitzvah as a reason for violating halacha.
I have seen this issue come up in a couple of interesting ways in this and other shuls. I was at a shul where there was a potluck Kiddush, and people would often run to the store to pick up something for Kiddush, so they wouldn’t be embarrassed. They figured that it was okay, since it was for the sake of Shabbes. The principle is, it’s better not to accomplish the mitzvah of oneg Shabbat, than to break Shabbat.
Another similar situation was posed to me by somebody whose husband can’t walk well, whether he can drive to shul on Shabbes. Her argument was that it’s for a good cause. In that case, I encouraged her to rely on the Conservative movement’s driving teshuvah, even though I don’t generally hold by or advocate that teshuvah. There can be situations that justify relying on a minority or weak opinion, but you can never outright break halacha even for a good cause.
The Hofetz Hayyim, Israel Meir Kagan, brings up the issue of a gossip filled workplace. What if you work in a place where everyone is always gossiping, and you will look uncool or even dumb if you don’t join in? What if you might risk missing out on promotion, or even lose your job by not fitting in? And he says that it’s better to appear like an idiot, and even lose your job, than to violate a Torah prohibition, in this case lashon hara.
I actually worked at a Jewish High School where the Jewish study faculty shared an office with the Hebrew Teachers. There were a few teachers in that office that always were gossiping, constantly. Rabbi Michael Yorndoff sat next to me, and when one of the teachers would start up with gossip, trying to tell him something, he would give a blank stare, so as not to agree, not to urge her on, not to react at all. He looked like a fool. The sages tell us, better to look like a fool than to engage in this.
In synagogue life, we often preach one thing, but actually conduct the business in an entirely different fashion.
I know of someone who had her child in a synagogue nursery school, and ran into financial difficulties and couldn’t pay the tuition. This was a well known synagogue with a reputation for having a strong focus on tikkun olam. She withdrew her daughter mid-year, and told the treasurer she would pay the past due balance when she could, which the treasurer agreed to.
A few months later, a lawyer from the synagogue sent a threatening letter to her demanding immediate payment not only of the past due amount, but also the tuition from the rest of the year,. When she called the lawyer, he said, “You have to understand, this isn’t just a synagogue, it’s also a business.” The synagogue pressured her into credit card debt which took her almost a year to repay.
So the synagogue preached social responsibility, raises money for barefoot children in Asia and Africa, but doesn’t conduct its own business with any regard for Jewish ideals.
I asked a bookstore owner at what age I need to start teaching my daughter Torah, and she said, when you met your wife. In other words, the example we set by how we lead our lives is the most powerful way we teach. The deepest torah we can teach as a synagogue is through how we conduct business. How do we conduct meetings—do people walk away being hurt, or feeling good? How do we treat our volunteers and employees—are they degraded or honored? Do we shop at stores and buy products that are socially and environmentally responsible? Do we conserve energy and recycle? Do we practice the values we preach?
May God give us the courage to live lives of integrity,
truth and justice
in all we do and say.
I was shocked and saddened to learn of the lynch mob assault ten days ago of 4 arabs in Zion square, a central square in downtown Jerusalem. After midnight on a Thursday, 4 young arab boys were walking through Zion square, and were approached by a mob of about 50 Jewish teenagers shouting “Arabs, Arabs” and apparently hunting for Arab victims. One of the jewish teens approached an Arab, Jamal Julani, shouting “where are you going you son of a b___,” and pushed him in the chest. He fell, and the attackers continued to kick and beat him. When the paramedics arrived, they assumed he was dead; he was resuscitated and on a respirator for a number of days.
On Yom Kippur the high priest apologizes not only for his own sins, but for those of his family, the priests, and the entire community. Every sin done by another Jew implicates us, leaves a taint on our soul.
We can never let our national struggles and challenges cause us to act in hateful or unjust ways, or else we become the terrorists. We cannot respond to hate with hate. And we all need to speak out against hate.