Justice Balanced With Redemption
by: Shmuel ben Shlomi

We all desire justice to be implemented to those who break a law, whether that law be manmade or from the heavenly realm. It bothers even the most hardened when a wrong is committed but left unattended by a just recourse.

Yes, we may moan and groan over the justice levied but deep within the core of our existence we know justice meted out, as long as it fits the transgression, is needed in order to maintain a working civilization.

However, justice without some form of redemption is not real justice but more on the scale of vengeance or worse in its most retrograde form “pay back.” Justice must always be scaled in the balance with compassion especially when that justice comes from the Creator of all that is. There is, and has always been, a very fine line between justice and vengeance.

As a side note: Redemption should never be equated as equal to pity. When one has transgressed the law of man or G-d, those guilty of the offense are not to be pitied, but to be empathized with while allowing the justice required to be meted out with the knowledge of available forgiveness and redemption to all who seek it with a sincere desire for that atonement.