Parashat Shoftim: The Way We Judge Others Shapes Our Judgment in Heaven

“You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates that the Lord your God gives you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.” (Deuteronomy 16:18)

The Kedushat Levi reveals a fundamental principle about the relationship between our actions below and what they awaken in the spiritual realms above.

When the Day of Judgment arrives, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges the Jewish people with great mercy and kindness. Yet in order for Divine mercy to be awakened above, there must first be an itaruta d’letata, an awakening from below.

This awakening takes place when we conduct ourselves with kindness and judge every Jew favorably. When we act with compassion toward others, we awaken that same attribute of compassion and kindness above. As a result, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges us and all of Israel with kindness.

“The Holy One, blessed be He, judges the Jewish people when the Day of Judgment arrives with great mercy and kindness. However, an awakening from below is necessary in order to awaken the attribute of compassion above. And how is that attribute of kindness awakened? When we conduct ourselves below with kindness and judge every Jew favorably. Through this, that same attribute is awakened above, and kindness is extended both to that person and to all the people of Israel.”

“With the Measure a Person Uses, He Is Measured”

What, then, are the “gates” mentioned in this verse?

When a person acts in this world with kindness and judges others favorably, he actually awakens and opens spiritual gates above, allowing blessing to flow upon all of Israel.

In other words, through your own actions, you prepare and influence the judgment above. Through “your gates,” the spiritual gates that you create and awaken through your actions. In this way, you can bring about a favorable judgment for yourself.

“A person, through his actions below, awakens the upper gate, opening the gates of kindness so that blessing may be poured upon all of Israel. This is the meaning of the verse, ‘You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates.’ It means that you yourself prepare and establish the judgment above through your gates, meaning the gates that you create and awaken through your actions.”

Learning to Judge Others Favorably

The verse then continues: “And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.”

Every person must train himself to judge others righteously and to seek merit in every Jew. When a person behaves this way toward others here below, judging them favorably and looking for the good within them, he awakens the corresponding gate above. As a result, he himself emerges favorably from the judgment in Heaven.

This is based on the well known principle: “With the measure a person uses, he is measured.” The way we judge and evaluate others becomes the measure by which we ourselves are judged.

“This is the meaning of ‘And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.’ Every person should train himself to judge the people righteously, finding righteousness and merit in all of Israel. Then the person awakens the gate above, and through this he emerges meritorious in the judgment above, for with the measure a person uses, he is measured.”