Kabbalah Library

97. It is written, “You shall do no injustice in court.” At its end, it is written, “In justice shall you judge your neighbor.” There are two degrees here, court and justice. One is mercy, court, ZA, and one is judgment, justice, Malchut, and one is perfumed by the other.

98. When justice awakens, it judges everyone together, since there are no mercies in it or leniency. When the court awakens, there is mercy in it. Can it be that everything will be in court? It is written, “In justice shall you judge your neighbor,” since justice does not sentence this and forgive that, but judges everything together, equally. Likewise, it is written, “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great,” but rather, everyone equally, justly. Could all the judgment be only in justice? It is written, “sentence,” that they must be joined together, so one will not be without the other. This is the wholeness of the judgment.

99. So it is because the Creator is in the place of the sentencing. For this reason, we must complete the judgment; as one does below, just so the Creator does above. The Creator places the judgment throne when the judges are seated, as it is written, “He has established His throne for judgment,” and from there the throne of the Creator, Bina, is established. His throne are justice and court, as it is written, “justice and court are the foundation of Your throne.” One who sentences should sit in the king’s throne. If he blemishes one of them, it is as though he blemishes the king’s throne, and then the Creator departs from among the judges and does not rise in their judgment, as it is written, “‘Now I will rise,’ says the Lord,” and it is written, “Be exalted above the heavens, O God.”