A Judgment of Truth and Mercy: Section 7

On the basis of the above, we can appreciate David’s exclamation:1 “May my judgment issue forth from Your presence; Your eyes will see righteousness.”2 The explanations in the preceding [chapters] enable us to understand why David’s emphasis was that his judgment be issued by G‑d Himself, why he did not want the judgment to be made by the other appointed judges,3 and why it is specifically G‑d’s eyes and not the eyes of the other judges that will see righteousness.

The rationale and the source for these concepts can be understood and explained on the basis of the proposition and preparatory remarks made previously to interpret the verse:4 “My son, fear G‑d and the king” and the verse:5 “The King establishes the land with justice,” which [places the emphasis on the quality of justice as the medium for the successful maintenance of the land] for the reasons explained above. This is sufficient for a person of understanding.

To explain the matter, the verse: “The King establishes the land with justice,” [accentuates the fact that the quality that enables the land to be established with justice] is kingship and, [in a complete sense,] this quality is not found in the character of anyone other than a king, nor can it aptly describe another’s traits. For a king is a fit medium for the light of the sublime attribute of kingship6 which blends and includes the two opposites of kindness and judgment in an intermediate quality. That intermediate quality does not have a natural inclination to the right or to the left (i.e., neither to kindness nor to judgment). Instead, it functions according to the most appropriate and sound attribute which is referred to as the attribute of true justice.7

Therefore, David requested: “May my judgment issue forth from Your presence,” and not be made by the judges and arbiters who are appointed to judge, for they will hold him liable or vindicate him [through judgment] that exceeds [the proper measure] and they will not focus on the point of [absolute] truth8 which stems from the intermediate path that is the chosen and sound path. For “man looks at the outward appearance, but — ‘the King of Justice’9 — looks to the heart.”10 For He searches the hearts and the inner parts [of man]11 to differentiate between good and bad, falsehood and truth, and to judge a matter in truth without deviating even a hairsbreadth right or left.

David was certain of the worthiness and the righteousness of the true, inner point of his heart, as [implied by] the verse:12 “You have tested my heart…. You have subjected me to trial.” Therefore he asked, “May my judgment13 issue forth from Your presence,” because then he would be vindicated in judgment, for G‑d would examine him and see that his heart is upright. Other judges would not be able to discern this. For this reason, the verse emphasizes that it is “Your eyes” that “will see righteousness.”

As is well known from the texts of Kabbalah, the first source of the divergence and the inclination of kindness and judgment to the right and left respectively in the mind and in the heart — as illustrated by the chart of the three vectors of Chabad, Chagas,etc.,14 — is the level of Kesser that is above the middle vector. [Kesser] is identified with the simple will of the essence of the soul before it diverges into the will’s two inclinations to kindness and to judgment that influence the mind and the heart.

Division [into the different vectors] is drawn down from this level.15 The initial stage is a division into “the two eyes.” For it is the nature of the eye’s gaze that emanates from the essence of the person to see [two sides], the good and the bad. For example, a father will [only] look [positively] on his son, viewing him solely with kindness. He will see even his bad deeds in a favorable and positive light, because all he can see about him is the good. A similar pattern exists with regard to self-love. We see that a person will not see any of his faults at all,16 and [because of his self-love] he will cover over even his severe shortcomings17 and see himself positively. Conversely, when something touching the person’s very essence causes him to see a person as an enemy, he will view him only negatively and judge him negatively in his mind; holding him liable even [when he is] righteous.

Thus a person’s [entire approach] is dependent on the way he looks with his two eyes, one right and one left. [It influences] the dictates of his mind’s judgment, whether he will tend to a rationale and a conscious reason to judge [a matter] critically or favorably.18 And the way one looks at a matter determines the way one intellectually understands it [afterwards].

Therefore, it is “Your eyes” that “will see righteousness,” the righteous and the just path that is the intermediary that blends the two opposites of the “good eye” of kindness and the “bad eye” of judgment, arriving at true justice. This approach is manifest only in the king, for the reason explained above. For “the beginning is rooted in the end.”19 The level of Kesser transcends Chochmah and Binah, Chessed and Gevurah,20 yet shines within Malchus, the lowest of all levels [as reflected in] its description as Kesser Malchus.21

This is the meaning of the request “May my judgment issue forth from Your presence” because “Your eyes will see righteousness.” After “Your eyes see righteousness” with true judgment, then, as a natural consequence, when my judgment comes before the sublime court, they will also judge me according to their intellectual and emotional disposition in the manner illumined to them by the justice of the attribute of kingship.22

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A Judgment of Truth and Mercy: Section 6

A Judgment of Truth and Mercy: Section 8

Footnotes

Tehillim 17:2.

See Toras Chayim, Bereishis, p. 119a ff.; Maamarei Admur HaEmtza’i, Bereishis p. 214ff., Sefer HaMaamarim 5674, p. 95.

I.e., various intermediate levels in the Spiritual Cosmos that are appointed with the mission of rendering judgment.

Mishlei 24:21.

Ibid., 29:4.

I.e., Malchus of Atzilus.

In contrast to the judgment associated with the attribute of might.

I.e., their judgment follows their own individual tendencies.

Cf. the daily liturgy of the Ten Days of Teshuvah.

10.

I Shmuel 16:7 where the verse concludes, “and G‑d looks to the heart.” The Mitteler Rebbeuses the wording “the King of Justice looks to the heart,” because he desires to highlight the dimension of justice that emanates from G‑d’s kingship and is reflected in the justice rendered by a king on this earthly plane.

11.

Cf. Yirmeyahu 17:10.

12.

Tehillim 17:3. This verse follows in direct sequence to the verse: “May my judgment issue forth from Your presence.” Why was David asking, “May my judgment issue forth from Your presence”? Because he knew that “You have tested my heart” and thus know its inner virtue.

It is possible that the term 'כו, which implies the omission of a phrase or several words, should have been included at the end of the verse to allude to the phrase “You remembered me at night” which follows in the verse, even though the tendency is to be brief when citing Biblical verses. (See Tosafos, sv. Venason, Shabbos 128a.)

13.

I.e., G‑d’s judgment of him.

14.

See ch. 2.

15.

Kesser, lit., “the crown,” refers to the encompassing light that possesses the potential for all existence. As a whole, it — and, in particular, its inner dimension, Atik Yomim — is above all division. Rather, it exists in a state of intrinsic oneness without there being any distinction between different attributes. Nevertheless, since the external dimension of Kesser serves as the direct source of the divergent Sefiros of Atzilus,we are forced to say that the potential for the different, distinct attributes exists within it as well and “from this level, division [into the different vectors] is drawn down.”

16.

See Shabbos 119a.

17.

Cf. Mishlei 10:12; see Derech Mitzvosecha, Mitzvas Ahavas Yisrael,sec. 2.

18.

For an intellectual rationale does not necessitate a specific value judgment. Indeed, the same rationale can lead to a positive or a negative conclusion. For example, the Torah states that G‑d originally thought to bring about the flood because (Bereishis 6:5): “all the desires of man’s heart were always evil.” Afterwards, He promised (ibid. 8:21): “not to continue to curse the earth again because of man, since the desires of man’s heart are evil from his youth.” The very same rationale which brought about the flood served as the motivation for the promise never to destroy the world again.

19.

Sefer Yetzirah 1:7.

20.

I.e., the division into two vectors.

21.

As explained in Chassidus (Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar, p. 52c; Sefer HaMaamarim 5665, p. 260ff.; the series of maamarim entitled BeShaah SheHikdimu, 5672, Vol. 1, p. 149; Toras Menachem, Vol. 16, p. 62), there is a concept that all the levels identified as Kesser have a direct process of descent that does not involve the intervening levels above the lower rung described with that name (hishtalshelus hakeserim zeh mizeh). For example, there is a dimension of Malchus that derives directly from Kesser even though there are nine Sefiros of Atzilus between them.

22.

This in turn will have an effect on the judgment to be issued on this material plane, as explained in the following section.

Translated by Rabbi Eli Touger and Rabbi Sholom Ber Wineberg; edited by Uri Kaploun.

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