Almost everyone makes this mistake. The middle path in Judaism is not like other middle paths. It's a middle path of inclusion. Mercy includes both favor and strict justice. It inclines to the right, but, it's still middle path.
That's an interesting interpretation. Michael Fishbane's book,
Sacred Attunement, deals with this extremely well; particularly in the latter chapters. He does so, so well, in fact, that I should like to branch off into another thread on this topic alone.
Paraphrasing Fishbane, at least as I interpret him, he states that justice is "just" because it follows logical, rational, principles, that can be applied wholesale, and in all cases, "thou shalt not steal"; and if you do, justice (
gevurah) is "just," lawful,
nomos, to make you pay. -----Mercy, on the other hand, the right, often, and in the most fundamental cases, must be antinomian; it must transcend justice in cases where the most merciful acts, say salvific acts, are concerned. In other words, the ultimate (and thus foundational) act of mercy, is to forgive someone of a crime that falls totally and completely under the jurisdiction of justice/
nomos.
Whereas justice is within the natural purview of rational creatures (judges, juries, executioners), mercy is superordinate in that if it can save from acts that are fully and legally subject to the law and justice, then in some sense mercy overrules justice (
hesed is higher than
nomos, the right hand is superordinate in respect to the left hand) therein creating a potential problem for the "middle path" that would see a peaceful, natural, or normalizable unity, between justice and mercy.
In Fishbane's argumentation, the superordinate (and or "superorgatory") nature of
hesed/mercy, must justify itself through the ultimate in self-negation in order to make sure the salvific act of mercy isn't self-serving. It must serve the highest goal of creation, which can't be self-serving, since it's in the service of all things.
In a most ancient rabbinic saying, Simeon the Righteous taught, "The world depends [literally stands] on three things: on Torah, on avodah, and on gemilut hasadim." The first two are characterized by nomos. They are principles of social order and normativity; without them the basis of human existence falls. What, however, is the third thing mentioned? . . . Gemilut hasadim is something radically different. It denotes gratuitous kindness (hesed); unrequited care; and superorgatory acts. For the sages, such deeds were typified by clothing the poor; providing a dowry for indigent women; and burying the dead. The common core is that these actions express pure giving---works that cannot be repaid.
Fishbane next states that these acts of loving-kindness or mercy come, in Judaism, to be categorized as charity, and are thus integrated into the communal
nomos.
But they are not. They are anomic, and reflect an anarchic spirituality. . . Hesed cuts deeper than nomos. It cannot be formalized or routinized; it is the deepest source of human beneficence. Indeed, hesed is the inner core of nomos; for without the reality of hesed, nomos would lose its soul. . . Thus, the world ultimately stands on hesed. Scripture states this clearly: "The world is built by hesed."
In this light, the "arm of the Lord" lifted in Moses' right hand, has "the inner core . . .
hesed" (i.e., the Branch), even though the outer, or fore, skene, is the bronze-serpent representing
nomos or justice (the angel of death). Which makes us think of John 3:14, where we're told that just as Moses lifts the rod of the Lord in his right hand to affect justice and retribution against Israel's enemies, so too, must "the inner core," i.e.,
hesed,
gemilut hasadim (loving-kindness), be lifted up simultaneously since, as John says two verses later (3:16), God so loved the world that he sacrifices his own son in a superorgatory act of
gemilut hasadim (loving-kindness), or self-sacrifice, so great that it melts, or destoys, the bronze-serpent (Colossians 2:14), that's the outer skene, or fore skene, the
nomos, of the grace of God upon which the world is erected.
. . . Two things in that respect. One, God is love. And two, there's no greater love than to lay down one's life for one who doesn't deserve it. Combine these two, in one person forever, and you have the crux, so to say, of the Christian message.
John
