The following sermon was delivered by Abby J. Liebman at Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Minnetonka, Minnesota. You can find the text of her speech below the video.
Before I begin, I need to take a moment to hold the fullness of what it means to me to be here. To be in Minnesota, with my dear friend and teacher Rabbi Harold Kravitz, and to celebrate how he has enriched my life and MAZON, which we tended and watched bloom together. Further, to stand in front of this community, home to some of our proudest state work as an organization. I want to share, speaking to both of these notes — it’s not an honorary, perfunctory title to be Board Chair of MAZON. We spoke every week during his tenure — more while in the height of our campaign. To be chair is to be intimately involved in the mission and implementation of that mission of our organization. And yes, to address my fellow Jews at a time of such uncertainty, such unbearable sadness. As we hold that space in our hearts, let’s turn to today’s parshah.
Tzedek, tzedek tirdof (Devarim 16:20). Justice, justice you shall pursue. When I was given this opportunity to speak before my longtime friends and partners at Adath, I couldn’t have asked for a more apt parshah to reflect on MAZON’s anti-hunger advocacy and advancing the cause of those who experience hunger than Shoftim, home of this mantra, this drum beat, this beating heart of the Jewish social justice world.
And yet, when I went to read the parsha, to feel out the context, I was met with this incredibly dense series of aliyot, detailing the building of a society, of social norms — and not a few directives that are anathema to me and my values.
So our work is cut out for us this Shabbat — to hold at once the seed of an idea that is evocative to so many. To hold the project that is invoked of building a just world, with communal and individual stakes. And to question and challenge how it is that we animate that world — how do we define the values that make it glow?
Let us first sit with this quote — tzedek, tzedek tirdof. The quote that launched a thousand social justice units in Hebrew School. And if I may: in preparation for this d’var torah, I had the opportunity to read torah commentary. This is what happens when you come to speak at services as the guest of a dear rabbinic friend — a little light torah commentary arrives in your inbox. Thank you, Harold. Most quotes are thanks to your assigned reading.
What is clear, and unsurprising, and moving all the same — is that we are the inheritors of an incredibly rich discussion of justice.
As Rabbi Harvey Fields in A Torah Commentary of Our Times recounts:
“The pursuit of justice is one of the most frequently repeated concerns, not only of the Torah, but of Jewish tradition.”
He continues, “The prophet Amos declares, in the name of God: ‘Let justice well up as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.’
Isaiah proclaims: ‘Seek justice, relieve the oppressed.’ […]
The mother of Lemuel, king of Massa, advises her son: ‘Speak up for those who are silent, for the rights of the unfortunate. Speak out, judge justly, champion the poor and the needy.’ […]
Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel […] warns his generation […]: ‘Do not ridicule or scorn the doing of justice for it is one of the foundations of the world.’”
And finally, he concludes, “other rabbinic commentators claim that the guarantee of justice in the courts and in all dealings between human beings is more important than all the sacrifices offered at the Temple in Jerusalem. […] ‘To do righteousness and justice is more desired by God than sacrifices,’ […because] the doing of justice is always crucial to society’s welfare.”
As Rabbi Fields moves through this litany of citations, what begins to take shape is the most basic question: what is justice?
It’s not a simple question to answer, just as “justice, justice you shall pursue” is not a simple commandment to follow. There are also a number of interpretations of why it is that tzedek is repeated twice — including that this is because the pursuit of justice is not only the responsibility of government, of the courts operating in society, but also a mitzvah — an imperative — for each individual. Anyone who knows me, will not be surprised to learn that this interpretation speaks to my deepest held values.
It has also been the guiding principle for all of MAZON’s work to bring about food justice. Let’s look at school meals. Over 12 years ago, MAZON and this community worked together to end “lunch shaming” — when struggling families fall into debt and their children are stigmatized, sometimes by having their lunches publicly thrown out or getting their hands stamped. Together, we exposed this shameful practice and advanced key policies to address the core issue, hunger, in Minnesota classrooms. In 2014, we successfully fought for a bill that fully funded reduced-price lunches for all eligible students, moving, at the time, an additional 62,000 children into the free school lunch category. That landmark legislation, and the coalition you at Adath built to support it, aided by pandemic-era program expansions, led directly to the passage of universal free school meals in 2023, ensuring that all children can eat, learn, and thrive. Minnesota remains one of only eight states that has accomplished this incredible goal.
This is the pursuit of justice by individuals as a community, to persuade their government to pursue justice. This is what justice looks like. Is it justice because now everyone gets the same access to school lunch, regardless of need? Is it justice because those who struggle, now have to struggle a little less? Is it justice because while we work to end the larger systemic injustices that thrust people into poverty, we ensure that school children in America will not go hungry now?
Perhaps it’s all of the above — is justice the same as fairness? Is justice the same as equality? Is justice the same as compassion? Or mercy? I believe that some of the answer lies in what we see through the prism of our values. The values that motivate us define what justice is; indeed, this commandment “tzedek, tzedek tirdof” cannot exist without the values of Judaism that inform it. They offer us a common understanding of what we strive for.
So let’s go back to Hebrew School for a moment. We see all people as created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of god, deserving of dignity and respect. We privilege kehilla, community. And yes, we look to repair the world, because when the problems are systemic, they require a wide perspective. Justice is when people can get what they need — what we all need — without barriers of systemic bias, limited opportunities, stigma, or shame, individuals and communities alike — and that is the animating force of the safety net that we fight for.
For almost 40 years, MAZON has pressed for policies, programs and laws that give meaning to our values — in the halls of Congress, in the federal Administration and in state houses across the country. Now, we are launching a new effort to work to bring justice for those who are food insecure through the justice system. This sits us firmly back in our parshah in fact — as we are called not only to justice as individuals, but to building just institutions. There can be no justice where there is no accountability for the policies, laws and regulations that govern the nutrition safety net and the systems that give rise to the need for that safety net. Holding our leaders accountable for the laws they pass and those who implement those laws is a centerpiece of our democracy. It was built on the values I noted earlier and in order to give meaning to those values and our mission, MAZON is committed to ensuring that those who struggle with food insecurity have access to our system of justice.
I want to close with a quote from MAZON’s founder, Leonard “Leibel” Fein (zikhrono livrakha). He wrote: “God asks, always, ‘Where are you?’ But the question is not in the wind and not in the earthquake and not in the fire; it is in the still small voice. The claims of justice do not thunder; they whisper, and will not be heard above the bedlam. Here and there, from the pulpit and the polling booth, there will be an answering ‘Here I am.’”
All else aside, this is the heart of it. The work of justice cannot be done without the hands to do it. Tzedek, tzedek, we say. Together we give real meaning to the understanding that we are pursuing justice by our government and by our own actions. I know you hear this call. I know your hands are raised to do the work. And I am so, so honored that MAZON can walk alongside you.
Shabbat Shalom.