Parashat Bamidbar 5786, 2026: "Tzedek, Mishpat, Chesed, and Rachamim"

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Our parasha’s haftorah is most often Hosea 2:1-2:22.The concluding pasukim of this passage are well known, since men recite them after putting on their tefillin: “And I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness and with justice and with loving-kindness and with mercy. And I will betroth you to Me with faith, and you shall know Hashem.” (Hoshea 2:21, this and all Tanach and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach) Rashi (1040-1105) explains that “with righteousness and with justice” refers to the actualization of our midot tovot, whereas “loving-kindness and with mercy,” represents Hashem’s response to their practice. He supports this analysis with the following textual supports:

Concerning our father Avraham, it is written (Gen 18:19): “For I love him since he commands…to perform righteousness and justice.” And, corresponding to them, He bestowed upon his children loving-kindness and mercy, as it is said (Deut. 13:18): “And He shall grant you mercy;” (7:12) “And Hashem your God shall keep for you the covenant and the loving-kindness.” When they ceased to perform righteousness and justice, as it is said (Amos 5:7): “Those who turn justice into wormwood, and righteousness they leave on the ground,” also the Holy One, blessed be He, took away from them the loving-kindness and the mercy, as it is said (Jer. 16:5): “for I have gathered in My peace from this people, says Hashem, the loving-kindness and the mercies.” And when they will return to perform righteousness and justice, they shall be redeemed immediately, as it is said (Isa. 1: 27): “Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and her penitent through righteousness.” And the Holy One, blessed be He, will add mercy and loving-kindness to them and make a crown of all four of them and place it on their head.
 
In sum, Rashi underscores the following crucial points:

1. Hoshea 2: 21 contains four essential terms in the covental agreement between Hashem and our people: tzedek, mishpat, chesed, and rachamim.
2. Tzedek and mishpat are our responsibilities. They are the fundamental ways we must interact with one another.
3. Chesed and rachamim are from Hashem and reflect His response to our actions that emobdy tzedek and mishpat.
4. A middah k’neged middah relationship obtains between our acts of tzedek and mishpat, and Hashem’s bestowal of chesed and rachamim. As Rashi explicitly maintains: if we fail to live up to our responsibilities to acheinu kol beit Yisrael, and act without tzedek and mishpat, then Hashem will act toward us without chesed and rachamim. In contrast, when we live up to our mandate to be truly righteous, then Hashem will reward us in kind. As Rashi states:

​And when they will return to perform righteousness and justice, they shall be redeemed immediately, as it is said (Isa. 1: 27): “Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and her penitent through righteousness.” And the Holy One, blessed be He, will add mercy and loving-kindness to them and make a crown of all four of them and place it on their head.
 
Hoshea the navi gives us a formula to achieve a dynamic relationship with Hashem that pulsates with boundless spiritual energy. He teaches us that if we seek to experience the unlimited joy of Hashem’s chesed and rachamim, we must treat our fellow Jews with tzedek and mishpat. Consequently, every action we undertake should be viewed through the lens of a seemingly simple question: “Does this act bring greater tzedek and mishpat to the world, or chas v’shalom, does it bring the opposite in its wake?”
 
May we be zocheh to ever pursue tzedek and mishpat, and may we, in turn, receive Hashem’s chesed and rachamim. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
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