Will there be an asterisk?: Haftarah Balak

Micah 5:6-6:8

A quick search for the famous phrase from this week’s haftarah from the prophet Micah renders a number of inspirational t-shirts. This is my favorite.

Verse 6:8:

It has been told to you what is good, and that Adonai requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness
And to walk modestly with your God.

Jewish study Bible reminds us that this verse has been used to understand the essence of the commandments (b Makkot 24a). Micah took the 613 commandments, which already Isaiah whittled down to six, and made them three. These three.

What does it mean to do justice, to love goodness and walk modestly with God’s presence?

The Talmud teaches:

Micah came and reduced them to three [principles], as it is written, It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: [i] only to do justly, and [ii] to love mercy and [iii] to walk humbly before thy God. To do justly, that is, maintaining justice; and to love mercy, that is, rendering every kind office; and walking humbly before thy God, that is, walking in funeral and bridal processions.
(BT Makkot 24a)

Another version:

What is the implication of the text, “It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God”? To do justly means [to act in accordance with] justice; to love mercy refers to acts of loving kindness and to walk humbly with thy God refers to attending to funerals and dowering a bride for her wedding.
(BT Sukkah 49b)

There is, at first glance, the difference between the translation of the Hebrew Hessed, alternately as mercy or as goodness (New JPS). The term in Hebrew can have either meaning, but also implies a certain fidelity and commitment. This added meaning can give a certain sense of clarity to how we understand this line and these three commands.

There is also the difference between the meaning of loving hessed. Is it about loving kindness or is it about rendering every kind of office? By focusing on hessed as a relational term, we can glean something else from these wise words.

Considering that through our relationships with others, we can and often do come to a relationship with God, the command to be just, be faithful and be humble in our dealings with God is perhaps not only about God, but how we should act toward one another.

How often do we consider the justice of our interactions with one another? How often do we consider the faith we place in one another? How often are we humble in the presence of the other?

Having been mesmerized by the 11 hour and 5 minute longest-tennis-match-in-the-history-of-the-world, I was struck by the remarks afterward by the competitors. Each, in the spirit of humility, faithfulness, and justice remarked at the fight and the drive of their opponent. There was a recognition of the fact that one could not be there without the other. All records will now be second best to this one.

In complete opposition to this, the French football debacle at the world cup represented the opposite. Fighting, blaming, suspicion, entitlement. Not a grand achievement, but an ignominious exit for les bleus. An asterisk recalling the expulsion of a player and the team's refusal to practice.

What does this tell us about tennis vs. soccer? Very little.

However, when the history is written, whether it be in a sports almanac or the pages of our and others’ memory, how will we want to be remembered for our interactions with others? How will we be remembered if we treat each other with the recognition of the divine in each person?