By Rabbi Oren Hayon, Hillel at the University of Washington
We call God by many names — practically as many names as there are human experiences of the Divine. Literally dozens of metaphors for God fill the pages of our sacred scriptures and our prayer books. We call God shepherd, warrior, lover, and shield; rock, parent, shelter, sovereign. But at this most awe-inspiring time of year, we refer to God most often as judge.
The metaphors of courtroom justice echo again and again through the Yamim Nora’im: We are reminded repeatedly that our deeds are recorded and analyzed and compiled, and we are urged to defend ourselves vigorously yet honestly as we stand before the judge’s stern presence. And as the final days wind down before the conclusion of Yom Kippur, we tremble as we make our last appeal and prepare for sentencing.
The prevalence of this imagery is particularly interesting given the prevalence and practice of law in Jewish life. The identity of every Jew today owes its existence to an extensive root system of religious law and legal texts that have been preserved over the course of centuries. As such, the common High Holiday metaphor of God as judge can be deepened and enriched by learning a bit more about how courtroom justice was dispensed in Jewish antiquity.
One powerful example comes from a discussion in tractate Sanhedrin of the Babylonian Talmud. The text comes from a passage discussing the rules and regulations of courtroom procedure. In particular, it comes from the rules for the sworn testimony of witnesses in a capital murder trial.
“Before the accused can be convicted,” the Gemara teaches, “the witnesses against him must answer ‘yes’ to two questions: ‘Did you warn the perpetrator?’ and ‘Did you recognize the victim?’”
The importance of this procedural requirement cannot be overstated. The Gemara here offers us a vital insight both into Jewish jurisprudential guidelines and into a deeper way of understanding the metaphors of the High Holidays.
The conclusion to be drawn about Jewish legal ethics here is clear: Everyone bears responsibility for his own sins and missteps, but the community at large bears a critical responsibility as well. All of us have a stake in each other’s salvation and each other’s spiritual destiny. Simply by virtue of sharing space in the community, we have an obligation to each other, and as such, we are obliged to look out for others and help them find their way toward the right pathway forward.
Our job at this time in the Jewish year, then, cannot be limited merely to searching our own deeds and working toward the resolution of our own missteps. Our work also is to strengthen the relationships and connections we share with other human souls, because all of us have a stake in one another’s spiritual well being. All of us have the unique and sacred opportunity to help each other prevail over our shortcomings by standing nearby and lifting each other up.
When we take this responsibility seriously, when we are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to invest in relationships with the other members of our community, we, so to speak, encourage God to move ever so slightly closer toward the Throne of Mercy. It is a weighty invitation that Jewish tradition offers us here, and one with serious consequences: We are called to approach the other members of our Jewish community with compassion, humility, and pure, loving intention — because our salvation will always be intractably bound up with theirs. It can be difficult, all of us know, to recognize our eternal interconnectedness with others in the community; our differences and disagreements can sometimes present themselves more prominently than the close ties that bind us to one another. But we ignore the stake we have in each other at our own spiritual peril.
I am deeply hopeful that this may be the year in which all of us will take seriously our responsibility to each other, and that 5775 will see fulfilled the great human potential to bring redemption and repair to our selves, our relationships, and our world.
L’shana tova tikateivu!