God's Justice

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” – Proverbs 31:8-9 In his article in the Encyclopedia Judaica on justice, Rabbi Steven S. Schwarzschild contrasts the Jewish approach to justice with dominant Western definitions, which are primarily retributive or distributive — that is, systems for how to do things. In contrast, Jewish justice is a substantive vision of what human life should be. “The substantive view of justice is concerned with the full enhancement of human and, above all, social life,” Schwarzschild wrote. “Thus it suffuses all human relations and social institutions.”