Defining Torah-based Justice vs. Social Justice

Defining the justice in any society is not just a philosophic or social exercise – the defined justice is used in the legislative work to force individual citizens to follow certain moral/spiritual principles, which a government rules are “just”, in all individual’s life activities.

In the Nazi Germany, there was a Nazi justice that led to physical extermination of Jews; in Soviet Russia, there was a Soviet justice that led to spiritual extermination of Jews; in a new Middle-Eastern state ISIS, there is an Islamist strict-Sharia justice that leads to physical or spiritual extermination of all Jews, Christians and even non-Islamist Muslims.

In the USA, the justice is supposed to be defined in the way that lets a government legislatively enforce and strengthen the Judeo-Christian foundation of our country. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

These days many Jews are fighting for the Social justice – not for the Torah-based Judeo-Christian justice. It looks strange – the Torah is supposed to identify the Jews, and if it is so the Jews have to fight for the Torah-based justice for everybody, Jews and non-Jews. And the Jews are supposed to do this fight together with the Christians who share with the Jews the Torah-based social values in the Bible. However that is not the case: many Jews and Christians are fighting for the Social justice instead. Why?

An answer could found in the following statement of orthodox Rabbi Yaakov Perlow at http://forward.com/articles/199010/orthodox-rabbi-stuns-agudath-gala-with-heresy-atta/ :

“The Torah must be guarded from the secular forces that seek to corrupt its values and the lives of [Jews], from intruders who sometimes in the name of Judaism completely subvert and destroy the eternal values of our people.”

It sounds strange. Indeed, as the Chosen the Jews are supposed to help non-Jews, whom Rabbi Perlow considers to be secular or even idolaters, understand the guidance of the Torah and build together a Torah-based better world. But Rabbi Perlow wants an impenetrable wall between the secular people (and even idolaters) and the Torah …

Rabbi Perlow and many other orthodox rabbis (fortunately not all of them) believe only they know the true Torah guidance in all spheres of human life, and nobody else is allowed to make own individualized Torah-inspired decisions tailored to everybody’s unique life circumstance. In essence rabbis of Rabbi Perlow mind-set act as Jewish human spiritual enslavers.

Many good Jewish people are looking for Jewish guidance on working together with Christians on creating a better – just – world for everybody. And they are searching for definition of the justice in this just world. They are searching for definition of justice in their areas of expertise and activities: businessmen in business, politicians in politics, architects in architecture … They understand the fundamental importance of the Torah in this search, and they would like to get help of a rabbi. However, Rabbi Perlow and many other rabbis of Rabbi Perlow’s authoritative mind-set are telling them – don’t even try to interpret the Torah guidance your own way to find definition of justice for your own areas of social involvement – only the rabbis of Rabbi Perlow’s mind-set can do it.

That is why the Jews (and Christians who have their own Perlow-type priests) have created “Social justice” instead of “Torah/Bible-based justice”. They have done it to avoid communicating with“Perlow” rabbis on the issue of Torah/Bible-based justice – not because they disrespect those rabbis but rather because they understand those autocratic rabbis may only decree but not deliberate.

Now the “Social justice” is being enforced and strengthened through legislative work – not the “Torah/Bible-based justice”. The problem is that the contents of “Torah/Bible-based justice” and “Social justice” are different, and principally different. They are different since now the anti-Torah/Bible public forces are participants in formulating the content of the “Social justice” and the “Social justice” is becoming more and more an adversary of the “Torah/Bible-based justice”.  Now the legislatively supported “Social justice” is destroying the Torah-based Judeo-Christian foundation of our country.

A Torah/Bible-inspired just society is created by the Judeo-Christian individuals while a society of the Social justice is created by the government.

The Judeo-Christian individuals build a Torah/Bible-inspired just society by peacefully competing with each other and searching for solutions acceptable to a great majority of citizens of various spiritual streams and backgrounds. The government builds a Social-justice society by forcing its citizens to behave the way a government in power wants them to behave. A government in power wants to be in power forever, and to reach this goal a government works tirelessly on creating a voting majority. A government creates a voting majority by providing numerous free benefits for its citizens. Because government produces no material wealth it can provide free benefits only in one way – by taking material wealth from a relatively rich minority and redistribute this wealth to a relatively poor majority thus creating a voting majority for political forces currently in power. Also, a government in power is trying to increase its voting majority by delivering spiritual benefits to various anti-Judeo-Christian groups like for example to groups of non-traditional sexuality or origin.  

The Jewish and Christian religious authorities of the “Perlow” mind-set support, probably unwillingly, the creation of government-gods with their own possibly devastating “Social justice” and contribute to the movement of Judeo-Christian societies away from building a Torah/Bible-based better world.