The Place Where We Are Right (Noach)
Written by Yehuda Amichai
From the place where we are right
flowers will never grow
in the spring.
The place where we are right
is hard and trampled
like a yard.
But doubts and loves
dig up the world
like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
where the ruined
house once stood.
הַמָּקוֹם שֶׁבּוֹ אָנוּ צוֹדְקִים
לֹא יִצְמְחוּ לְעוֹלָם
פְּרָחִים בָּאָבִיב
הַמָּקוֹם שֶׁבּוֹ אָנוּ צוֹדְקִים
הוּא רָמוּס וְקָשֶׁה
כְּמוֹ חָצֵר
אֲבָל סְפֵקוֹת וְאַהֲבוֹת עוֹשִׂים
אֶת הָעוֹלָם לְתָחוּחַ
כְּמוֹ חֲפַרְפֶּרֶת, כְּמוֹ חָרִישׁ
וּלְחִישָׁה תִּשָּׁמַע בַּמָּקוֹם
שֶׁבּוֹ הָיָה הַבַּיִת
אֲשֶׁר נֶחְרַב
“The Place Where We Are Right” is probably one of the most famous poems by Yehuda Amichai, one of the greatest Israeli poets.
The tremendous success of this poem is probably due to the fact that it addresses one of the biggest tensions which exist in any human society, the tension between Justice and Compassion.
Justice, for it to be just, must be blind. In order to be just, justice must act through equality, to always assume equality, in order to be able to serve everyone in a given society, in order to be able to serve the poor and the rich, all genders, all races and all ethnicities.
Because of this, what justice sometimes lacks is compassion. By assuming equality, justice can do wrong. What is just for one person, may be unjust or unfair to another. Humans are complex and hold complex needs, but yet we must apply the law in a way which is inclusive to everyone.
Our tradition addressed this tension beautifully in many of our texts. In our tradition this tension is known as Din and Rachamin, translating to Law and Mercy.
Our portion this week, Noach, presents perhaps the earliest example of the tension between Din and Rachamim.
Professor Eliezer Schweid, Israeli scholar, writer and Professor of Jewish Philosophy, writes in his book Studies of the Weekly Torah Portions: The Relevance of Moses’ Philosophy for Our Time:
“The Godly sadness is therefore the awakening of the virtue of mercy, that is being revealed beyond the virtue of justice and restrains it: humanity as a whole has sinned and its annihilation is necessary, but here there was found a single man who has not sinned but rather “walked innocent,” and who has kept the law of God. The righteousness of one man cannot prevent the punishment on all humanity, which had sinned as a collective entity, but the killing of a righteous man because of a sin that he himself was able to stay away from, would be a total wrongdoing. God therefore combines the virtue of mercy with the virtue of justice/ law, out of recognizing that justice demands it, and saves the single righteous with his family and with his biosphere, and because each person represents humanity as a whole, the rescuing of Noach becomes the rescuing of humanity itself.”
Here, from the beginning, from the second portion in the Torah, we learn of the importance of enacting mercy when implementing law. There cannot be law/justice without mercy. The balance between them will forever be a source of tension.
A radical saying in the Talmud, found in Bava Metzia, supports this notion.
"אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשׂוּן זוֹ לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: לֹא חָרְבָה יְרוּשָׁלַיִם אֶלָּא עַל שֶׁדָּנוּ בָּהּ דִּין תּוֹרָה. אֶלָּא דִּינֵי דְּמָגִיזְתָּא לְדַיְּינוּ?! אֶלָּא אֵימָא: שֶׁהֶעֱמִידוּ דִּינֵיהֶם עַל דִּין תּוֹרָה וְלָא עֲבַדוּ לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין."
It was taught in the baraita: “That they must perform”; that is referring to acting beyond the letter of the law, as Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Jerusalem was destroyed only for the fact that they adjudicated cases on the basis of Torah law in the city. The Gemara asks: Rather, what else should they have done? Should they rather have adjudicated cases on the basis of arbitrary decisions [demagizeta]? Rather, say: That they established their rulings on the basis of Torah law and did not go beyond the letter of the law.”
This radical saying states that Jerusalem was destroyed because Justice was enacted in it without mercy.
Punishing theft and protecting people’s property was important, but how severely should a poor mother stealing bread to feed her children be punished?
I was always a believer in big ideals, especially those that demanded justice for all. I always believed that it was necessary to implement sweeping and all-encompassing changes to the way we live in order to fix the ills of society.
History has shown us that many of the recent sweeping revolutionary attempts failed partially because they have failed to consider the individuals in a more nuanced way. They have called for justice and neglected marcy.
Personally, the past year has forced me to begin and consider those nuances, because I have found that I, myself, was one of those individuals. Compassion and mercy were lacking in those who have ignored my feelings as an individual, in the name of great and just ideals.
As we are dreadfully nearing the presidential elections this Tuesday, let us all remember that our passion for justice should never obscure the individuals in front of us, and that while it is certainly worthy to passionately advocate for a better society, we should walk towards it with mercy and with compassion.
“From the place where we are right
flowers will never grow
in the spring.”
