Discriminative Justice?

In this Torah portion appears the following verse:

לֹא-תַכִּירוּ פָנִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט, כַּקָּטֹן כַּגָּדֹל תִּשְׁמָעוּן

Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the

small and the great alike… (Deut 1:17). 

The root of the word תַכִּירוּ is נכר

It is interesting to point out that in Hebrew the same root may have two opposite meanings.

In this case:

1. Close relationship

•  הכרה  –  acquaintance, friendship 

         מכר – acquaintance 

2. Remoteness 

• נכרי  –  stranger 

How then, can one understand the real meaning of the above verse? 

Indeed, the Talmud does mention two aspects of justice – משפט

and the judges must adhere to the following guidelines:

1. לֹא תַּכִּירוּ – Do not prefer the one that you are acquainted with. 

2. אַל תתנכרו – Do not push away (don’t act as a stranger) – do not discriminate the one, you are not acquainted with. 

The bottom line for the judges is not to apply any type of discrimination, neither positive nor negative. 

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat,

and speaking a lot of Hebrew!

Yoel & Orly