Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Elder of Ziyon
Israel haters love this week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim. Tzedek tzedek tirdof, usually translated as “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” is the major Biblical quote that every progressive, anti-Israel rabbi knows. It comes from Deuteronomy 16:20, and it is quoted by people who could not tell you what the rest of the verse says, let alone what tzedek itself means.
A little research shows that “tzedek” cannot mean justice in
the way that English speakers use the term. Moreover, when they invoke
“justice,” they are acting as the judge and jury themselves, which is in no way
justice.
The Hebrew word mishpat also means justice
or judgment. However, it is not a synonym for tzedek. The proof is
in the Torah itself.
Leviticus 19:15 says b’tzedek tishpot amitecha,
“judge your fellow with tzedek.” Deuteronomy 1:16 says, u’shfatetem
tzedek, “judge with tzedek.” And this week’s verse before the
one often quotes, in Deuteronomy 16:18, says v’shaftu et ha’am mishpat
tzedek, “they shall judge the people with a mishpat that
is tzedek.”
Mishpat is the legal ruling. Tzedek is
an adjective describing what kind of legal ruling it should be. Mishpat tzedek does
not mean “just justice,” but “correct justice.” Tzedek means “right”. Mishpat tzedek means
a ruling that is right, and the phrase only makes sense at all if a ruling can
exist that is not right. A judge can follow every procedure, hear every
witness, apply the law exactly as written, and still get it wrong. That
possibility is built into the vocabulary. (In modern Hebrew, the variant “tzodek”
means “correct.”)
The Torah is telling us that legality and rightness are not
the same thing, and that having a system is not the same as having the truth. A
proper judgment must include intangible factors, such as mercy when
appropriate.
The activists who wave “justice justice you shall pursue” at
Israel do not distinguish between mishpat and tzedek.
They use “justice” the way a toddler uses “mine,” as a word that means whatever
gets them what they want. Human rights NGOs and cosplayed trials like “the
Russell Tribunal” operate the same way: reach the verdict before admitting any
evidence. There is a reason the Amnesty report accusing Israel of genocide was
called “the
genocide report” internally before it was written. The modern purveyors of
'justice,” like “Students for Justice in Palestine,” have rendered the word
meaningless.
One cannot even construct a hypothetical in which these
“justice-centered” groups rule in Israel’s favor. No matter how heinous
Palestinian crimes are, it is always ultimately Israel who is guilty. A verdict
that cannot vary regardless of the facts is neither just nor right. It is a
script, and chanting tzedek tzedek tirdof is as mindless as
the sham verdicts are. The Torah insists not only on justice but correct,
righteous justice. These organizations provide neither.
And then there is the second half of the verse, the part that never makes it onto the progressive rabbis' sermons. Tzedek tzedek tirdof, l’ma’an tichyeh v’yarashta et ha’aretz asher Hashem Elokecha noten lach. “Pursue righteous judgment, so that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” In context, this verses are calling for the Children of Israel to create a justice system that not only follows the rules but that applies them correctly, with righteousness. The reward for building a system of mishpat tzedek is the Land of Israel itself. This is one of the most explicitly Zionist verses in the entire Torah, a direct promise linking a functioning, correct justice system to the inheritance of the land.
The idea that the reward for tzedek, tzedek is
Jews being able to live in the Promised Land is not very popular among
anti-Zionists.
(Paid subscribers to my Substack can see how I relate the verse to my Derechology framework.)
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Reclaiming the Covenant on America's 250th (May 2026) "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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