Musar על ברכות 9:20

The commandments mentioned in this פרשה all revolve around the main subject-matter of the portion, the three marvelous gifts G–d has given to the Jewish people. They are: The Torah, the Holy Land, and the Hereafter. The commandment to study and teach Torah refers to the gift of Torah. I have explained the mystical dimension of Torah study in my treatise on Tractate שבועות.

The above named three types of קדושה, which are really 5, are alluded to in the statement that G–d gave Israel three gifts, תורה, ארץ ישראל, ועולם הבא. The gift of תורה consists of the three branches of achievement the heart is capable of. The study of all aspects of the Torah leads to the performance of its commandments. The gift of ארץ ישראל represents the sanctity of space, whereas the gift of the World to Come represents the sanctity of time, i..e. a world which is identical with the Sabbath concept.

The mystical aspect of all this focuses on the line: ושפטו את העם משפט צדק … צדק צדק תרדוף. The active pursuit of צדק will be a direct result of the Courts handing down fair judgments. The reason the word צדק is repeated is because there is a צדק in our world and there is another צדק in the Celestial Regions. The first kind is generally known as דינא דמלכותא דינא, i.e. that the judgments pronounced in this world, though binding, represent the Divine name א-ד-נ-י, i.e. the letters in the word דינא rearranged. The צדק in the Celestial Regions is anchored in the emanation בינה from which דין/גבורה emanate. The צדק in our world is the mystical dimension of the earth. The צדק in the Celestial Regions is the mystical dimension of the World to Come. Both ארץ ישראל and עולם הבא are gifts G–d gave Israel on pain of sufferings, יסורים. All such יסורים originate in the emanation דין/גבורה. Whenever the Sanhedrin bases its judgments דין תורה, these result in יסורים, because Torah too is one of the three gifts we received from G–d which we acquire only by suffering some יסורים. When we now look at the words למען תחיה וירשת את הארץ in 16,20 we note that the promise of inheriting terrestrial ארץ ישראל is tied to the pursuit of צדק in this world, whereas acquisition of our share of the World to Come i.e. תחיה, is tied to the pursuit of צדק in the Celestial Spheres. By administering דין תורה we become able to obtain all these three great gifts G–d has bestowed on the Jewish people. The Sanhedrin is instructed by the Torah to hand down verdicts which are called משפט צדק. We are aware that משפט originates in the emanation תפארת, and that the combination of משפט and צדק is equivalent to a merging of the emanations תפארת and מלכות. What all this means in layman's language is that the Sanhedrin is to temper justice with mercy, דין with רחמים. This is accomplished when the judges try to arrive at some kind of compromise between the litigants. If they succeed in doing this they perform משפט and do not need to be תטה משפט, i.e. lean towards strict justice (rather than merely משפט). When they have done this they lean towards the attribute of חסד, and we have a tradition that G–d Himself is מטה כלפי חסד, inclines towards the attribute of Kindness. This means that two different attributes or emanations respectively are involved in arriving at the preferable resolution of disagreements. When the Torah legislates that the testimony of no fewer than two witnesses is required, this may symbolise that two different concepts are at work when deciding the outcome of litigation. Some of our Kabbalists said that the reason G–d is called א-ל דעות ה' (Samuel I 2,3), is that the word דעות is an allusion to עדות, testimony, the letters in both words being identical. It is a hint that two considerations are active when legal decisions are made. This matter is explained in detail in Pardes Rimonim in the chapter called אם אין סוף הוא הכתר. ולא יקום עד אחד באיש . "One witness shall not arise and testify against a man" (19,15). The Sifri interprets the word באיש to mean that if a single witness testifies that the husband of a woman has died and there is no corroborating evidence, it is sufficient to enable the widow to remarry.

Anyone who has paid close attention to what I have written will note that the three gifts G–d has given the Jewish people are also represented here. These gifts are: Torah, the land of Israel, and the World to Come. The Torah is represented by the crown of Torah; The land of Israel is the name of the air which the souls in the Celestial Region opposite the site of the altar breathe. The Hight Priest Michael sacrifices the crown of priesthood. The World to Come is synonymous with the crown of Royalty, the table before G–d, as I have described.