“צדק צדק תרדף, למען תחיה וירשת את הארץ אשר ד' אלקיך 16:20נתן לך” “Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue, so that you will live and possess the Land that Hashem, your G-d, gives to you.”
Why does the Torah use a double loshon of “צדק”? The loshon of “תרדף” is a loshon of chasing after for the purpose of eliminating or harming the subject. Bereishis 44:4 “קום רדף אחרי האנשים, והשגתם ואמרת אלהם למה שלמתם רעה תחת טובה” – “Get up, chase after the men; when you overtake them, you are to say to them, ‘Why do you repay evil for good’?” It seems that posuk is telling us that we should treat righteousness as our antagonist. What is the Torah teaching us by using this lashon?
One must chase righteousness through righteousness. The end does not justify the means. One may have thought that as long as he ultimately achieves that which is righteous, he can act without righteousness in his pursuit. The Torah tells us a double lashon of righteousness, that one’s actions in pursuit of righteousness must also be righteous. (טורי זהב)
רבינו בחיי says that we learn from the double lashon of “צדק צדק” that one must be righteous in his actions and with his words.
- RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
Another p’shat is that there is indeed a righteousness that should be chased away, and that is one’s own sense of righteousness. Vayikra 18:5 – “וחי בהם, אני ד'” – “He shall live by them (the Mitzvos), I am Hashem.” The nature of Mitzvos is to give life. The posuk is teaching us that although the mitzvos are the actual lifeline of a person, one should only perform the Mitzvos because Hashem commanded him. This is the thought process one should have while making a Brocha. We say, “אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וצו־נו...” – it should be understood as – “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, the King of the world, who made us kodosh with His mitzvos; ‘וצונו’ – however, I am now going to perform this mitzvah for You commanded me to. We must perform mitzvos because it is Hashem’s ratzon, and not because it is our lifeline, and is mekadesh us. (אדרת אליהו)
Every individual has an innate sense of what he considers to be righteous. What one may firmly believe to be righteous is not necessarily righteous to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The first “צדק” in the posuk tells us that we must be righteous within the parameters of what Hakodosh Boruch Hu says is righteous. The second “צדק” we need to be Rodef; we need to be antagonistic towards it. This refers to our innate judgment of what we consider to be righteous. We must eradicate it from our thoughts. We must perform all mitzvos, for one reason only, “וצונו”, because Hashem commanded us. In the zechus that our actions are truly lshem shomayim, “וירשת את הארץ אשר ד' אלקיך נתן לך” – we will be zoche to live and possess the Land that Hakodosh Boruch Hu, our G-d, gave us.
