By: Samuel J. Levine
In one of his earliest encyclicals, Dives in Misericordia, Pope
John Paul II explored the concepts of mercy and kindness, with a
focus on notions of divine love and compassion. Although the
encyclical relies, of course, primarily upon Christian sources and
theology, the pope dedicated a section of the work specifically to
a discussion of the importance of mercy in the Hebrew Scriptures.
In this section, the pope addressed the complex issue of the
relationship between mercy and justice; attributes of both divine
and human conduct that often seem in tension, if not in direct
conflict with each other. Indeed, the pope first observes
that in Scriptures, “mercy is in a certain sense contrasted with
God’s justice, and in many cases is shown to be not only more
powerful than . . . justice but also more profound.” Upon
further reflection, however, viewing mercy and justice in
connection with the attribute of love, the pope suggests that
“[l]ove, so to speak, conditions justice and, in the final
analysis, justice serves love.” In addition, he writes,
“[t]he primacy and superiority of love vis-a-vis justice . . . are
revealed precisely through mercy.” Therefore, reformulating
his depiction of the relationship between mercy and justice, the
pope concludes that, ultimately, “[m]ercy differs from justice, but
is not in opposition to it.”
Building upon these observations, and drawing extensively on the
work of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and other scholars of Jewish law
and philosophy, this Essay briefly considers the complementary
roles of justice and mercy in Jewish tradition. Toward that
end, the Essay places these concepts in a broader perspective,
viewing mercy as representative of attributes such as kindness,
compassion, love, and peacefulness, while understanding justice in
terms of more exacting principles, such as strict adherence to
truth and objective logic.
In particular, the Essay begins with a look at the figure of
Abraham, the father and founder of the Jewish nation, who embodied
the characteristic of kindness, but exercised it within the context
of the pursuit of justice. The Essay then examines the role
and character of communal leaders, who sometimes must resort to
elements of strict justice, but at other times may also require the
capacity to temper justice with mercy. Finally, the Essay
turns to the juridical setting, considering the possibility that an
ideal form of justice might incorporate a meaningful and
appropriate measure of mercy.