As someone who is not a lawyer or a legal historian, I take for granted the notion that our judges should be fair, should not be partial and should not take bribes. Yet, those are the very instructions given in this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim. Their inclusion in the Torah demonstrates that judges did not always follow those standards. Even currently, our criminal justice system does not judge each person equally.
Now that we are entering Elul, the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah, our attention turns to judging ourselves. As hard as impartiality is in judging others, it is even harder when it comes to judging ourselves. Some of us see only faults in ourselves and others of us can do no wrong in our own eyes. Yet, truly seeing yourselves involves finding a middle ground.
During this season of introspection spend some time (fairly) judging yourself.
– Rabbi Avi Fine