One verse. That is all we are going to discuss today. One verse. Tzedek, Tzedek, tirdof.

Who can translate it? “Justice, Justice shall you pursue.” What does just mean? Behaving or being morally right or fair. Synonyms include: fair, equitable, impartial, unbiased, objective. There was a fair amount of discussion about whether law, which is different from justice, can be equitable or not.

What does tzedek remind you of? Tzadik, a righteous person and tzadakah, the obligation of righteous giving.

Why is tzedek repeated here? The rabbis teach there are no extra words in Torah so why repeat? For emphasis. To make the point that we must pursue justice for ourselves and for others, especially the widow, the orphan the stranger. To remind us that justice must be fair—and impartial—not favoring the rich or showing deference to the poor.

What does pursue mean—to chase after, to actively run after.  How?

The rest of the portion is about the how. It tells us how to set up courts, how to try a capital case—there must be at least two witnesses or three to enact the death penalty, how to fight a just war, and the principle of bal tashchit, not destroying.

Let’s talk about the why. Why now? The Israelites are about to enter the land. And we’ve been told, it is a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. They are going to set up a utopian society. In fact the Puritans, much later, would use these very verses from Deuteronomy to set up their own utopian society on these shores. They need these rules in order to set up a just society. They need to be reminded that “You shall not judge unfairly; you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.”

We can all picture Lady Justice blindfolded with her scales balanced. And we could debate whether, even in this country, we have achieved blind justice. I think we would have to agree, in light of Ferguson and other cases here in the United States, that the answer would be no—but that would be a debate that could take all afternoon. I don’t think the ideal has been achieved in Israel either. Yet this verse, “Justice, Justice shall you pursue” is the Biblical goal, the Biblical mandate.

There is only one other time that the verb pursue is used to describe an ideal. What is that? “Seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14. And while this verse comes from Psalms, this verse is given the full weight of a mitzvah, commandment, even though it does not come from the Torah. Seeking peace these days is difficult. It may even seem impossible. And yet, and yet, we are commanded to, we are obligated to, just like we are obligated to set up a just society.

What is the connection between the verses? Without justice, there cannot be peace. Without peace it is hard to achieve justice.

Why two verbs—seek and pursue? The rabbis answer, “Seek it in your place and pursue it in another.”

Rabbi Amy Eilberg, the first Conservative woman rabbi said in her recent book, “From Enemy to Friend, Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace, “The two verbs convey different elements of the command: seek peace when conflict comes to your doorstep but do not stop there. You must energetically pursue opportunities to practice peace, near and far for it is the work of G-d.”

She points out that the Hafetz Hayyim said, “Seek it (peace) for your loved one and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your material resources. Seek it for your own benefit and pursue it for the benefit of others. Seek it today and pursue it for tomorrow. With reference to “seek it tomorrow” it teaches that one should not despair, thinking that one cannot make peace but rather one should pursue peace today and also tomorrow and on the day afterwards until one reaches it.”

So in our troubled world, this brings me hope. Even if peace seems distant. Even if peace seems nearly impossible, we should pursue peace. Today and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.