King David said, ‘may goodness and kindness pursue me all the days of my life’. What a strange expression! Goodness and kindness to pursue me? as though I was fleeing from them?
The Torah instruct us in this week’s parashah to establish a justice system with judges, courts and court officers and to pursue righteousness and justice. Many people have things backwards. They pursue goodness and kindness for themselves, but leave righteousness and justice to somehow catch up with them. The Torah dictates a different order. A person should pursue virtue and let G-d‘s goodness and kindness catch up to him.
If we asked people for their goal for life, many would say, to achieve happiness. While this answer is certainly understandable, happiness is not the primary goal of the creation of man. The Torah instead says, humanity was created in order to toil, meaning to work on his spiritual purpose, to fulfill the Divine will. If our primary goal is happiness, we are certain to be frustrated. The average person’s life is abundant in distressful happenings. However, if his primary goal is to pursue righteousness, justice and virtue, then G-d‘s goodness and kindness will be knocking down his door.
