Here’s a thought experiment. The 10th blessing of the Amidah is the blessing of redemption, the call for freedom in our own land. So once we come back, what should be our first priority? In the Amidah, the answer is: Justice. Once again, the Amidah recalls the redemptive promises in Isaiah (1:26), “I will return your judges as of old.”
The essence of freedom is to live in a society where you are judged by the standards to which you subscribe. Think of our ancestors, subjected to the laws of the Romans (who enjoyed watching people being eaten by animals); the Christians (whose theology demanded that Jews live in degradation); or the Muslims (who did not allow Jews to testify in their courts). Obviously, they yearned for a fairer system.
But it was not merely a question of escaping judicial oppression. Judaism had its own perspective on what justice is supposed to look like, and it is incorporated in this prayer: “Rule over us, G-d, You alone, with kindness and mercy, and righteousness and justice.” Kindness, mercy, and righteousness are the preconditions for justice.
This is an incredible insight. Judaism does not say, “The law is the law.” Judaism recognized that “the law” is a blunt instrument that had to be tempered by a sense of shared humanity.
A story was told to me by a great rabbi, my sandek Rabbi Henry Gutterman. He said that when a woman [pardon the sexism, but it was always a woman back then] would come to him with a chicken, to learn whether it was kosher or not, his first question was not about the chicken. It was, “How was business this week?” If it was, good, he explained, he had the luxury of being stricter. If it wasn’t a good week, he would try to be lenient so as not to put the family under undue financial stress.
Kindness and mercy, and righteousness and justice. That is our way. No wonder we pray for the day it will return.