We Are All Judges

Like many of you, I have been following the hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court appointment. Interestingly, even before the passing of Justice Ginsberg, of blessed memory, I began learning virtually with two different groups of women (Florida and Toronto) the Rambam’s (Maimonides) Seven Qualities of a Judge!

In our first session, I asked them what they thought the seven would be. They came up with many excellent answers, and slowly together, were able to come up with six out of seven. Here is the list; let me know which one of them you think was the one both groups had a hard time getting:

The one neither group could guess was… #6, “Loved by others.” Like those women, on my own, I probably would not have listed that quality as important, but the Rambam felt it was essential.

Imagine you moved to a city and heard there was a Rabbi that people felt was very wise, feared G-d, was exceedingly humble, unbribable, sought truth, and had an excellent reputation… however, no one liked him. Want him to be your Rabbi?

Please know that I have not been doing this series with these women because I thought a Supreme Court opening was about to open up. I did it because in our day to day lives, we are all judges — make decisions and judgments that not only impact us but those we most care for. Understanding each one of these qualities and working towards them in our own lives could only lead to good.