In Love with the Law What is the purpose of the Law? To enable civilized arbitration of disputes? To apply justice? To create predictability that will ensure investment and commerce? Conventional wisdom would assert that the purpose of the law is to allow for a functioning society. Indeed, in the ethics of our fathers, our sages teach: By three things is the world sustained: law, truth and peace. (Avot 1:18) The commentaries explain that this statement does not refer to the purpose of creation, for that is explained earlier in the ethics: “The world stands on three things: Torah, the service of G‑d, and deeds of kindness.” (Avot 1:2) Rather, justice (as well as truth and peace) sustains the world, meaning it allows the world to function and exist in an orderly manner. And yet, the Midrash offers a deeper perspective. The Midrash refers to the law as the something that G-d loves more than anything else, and as a result, He gives the law to the Jewish people, His beloved young child: Rabbi Levi said: To what is this matter comparable? To a king who had many children, and he loved the youngest more than them all. He had a certain orchard, and he liked it more than all his possessions. The king said: ‘I will give this orchard that I like more than all my possessions, to my youngest son, whom I love more than all my children.’ So, too, the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘From all the nations that I created, I love only Israel, as it is stated: “When Israel was a lad, I loved him” (Hosea 11:1). From everything that I created, I love only justice, as it is stated: “For I am the Lord, who loves justice”’ (Isaiah 61:8). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I am giving what I love to the people that I love.’ That is, “judges and officers.” (Devarim Raba, 5:7) The Midrash refers to the law as an “orchard”. Unlike a field which produces wheat, a staple of sustenance, an orchard produces luxurious fruit. The Midrash chooses the metaphor of an orchard to alert us to the deeper dimension of the law given to the Jewish people. It is not merely a necessity to allow society to function; it is a luxury expressing G-d’s love. The Torah’s commandment in this week’s Parsha, “You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities”, is not merely to arbitrate between litigants. The Torah proceeds to describe that when there is a question as to what the law is, unlike during the time of Moses, when we could count on receiving Divine communication directly through Moses, we were later required to go up to Jerusalem to consult with the Judges who had the authority to explain and apply the Divine law. The law is G-d’s invitation to engage with Him in a partnership between the written Torah, given to us by G-d, and the oral Torah, its human interpretation and application. The study of the law, then, is not only for the practical benefit of knowing what to do, but it is an act of love; a walk in the orchard, with our beloved, where our perspectives combine to create a marriage and partnership between G-d, and His beloved people Israel. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likutei Sichos 29 Shoftim 1
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