Quotes about Justice

The Hebrew original does not say, 'Do not kill.' It says, 'Do not murder.' Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life — one is 'kill' (harag, in Hebrew) and the other is 'murder' (ratzach in Hebrew).

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6; emphasis added).

The Ten Commandments are there to warn all of us that, with very few exceptions, such as the immediate saving of innocent life, no cause is more important than truth-telling. The Ten Commandments are the greatest list of instructions ever devised for creating a good society. But such a society cannot be created or maintained if it is not based on truth.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People and his lectures.

Good societies can survive people doing immoral things. But a good society can not survive if it calls immoral things moral.

Only people can relate to JHWH, the animals, the stars they are with Elohim. We are with JHWH and Elohim. We are also with that God who creates the world., not just the personal God. Adonai (i.e., JHWH) is the God of the characteristic of mercy and compassion, and Elohim is the God whose characteristic is justice. And you need BOTH for the world to function.

The poor who commit murder, rape and robbery are not only not starving, they have far more material things than the word 'poverty' suggests.

The ancient Rabbis associated the names Adonai and Elohim with two characteristics: mercy (Adonai) and justice (Elohim). Their reasoning was that both are necessary for the world to function.

Real justice does two things: It rewards and protects the righteous; and it punishes the sinner and the lawbreaker.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

To be neutral in a situation of injustice is to have chosen sides already. It is to support the status quo.

The cycle of reprisal and counter reprisal that had characterized their national history had to be broken and that the only way to do this was to go beyond retributive justice to restorative justice, to move on to forgiveness, because without it there was no future.