Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof Jewish Value: Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof The Torah says, “Tzedek tzedek tirdof, Justice, justice shall you pursue, so that you may live and inherit the land that the Eternal your God gives you” (Deuteronomy 16:20). Tzedek, “justice,” is a core Jewish value. For example, while Jews have 613 mitzvot to follow, non-Jews have only seven. One of the seven things that the Jewish tradition teaches that nonJews need to do in order to be ethical is have just courts (Mishneh Torah, Book of Judges, Laws of Kings 9:1). The Jewish commitment to justice starts with Abraham. First God reflects on telling Abraham what is about to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. God says: “For I have known him so that he may command his children…to do righteousness and justice…” (Genesis 18:19). Then Abraham told God, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do justly?” (Genesis 18:25). Justice is at the heart of the Jewish relationship with God. Justice, of course, has to do with courts and laws. That is one kind of justice. Another kind of justice has to do with the way we treat other people. That is why the word tzedakah comes from the root tzedek, justice. Micah the prophet taught us: “It has been told you, human, what is good, and what the Eternal does demand of you: only to seek justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
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