Justice William Charles Crockett AO - Victorian Bar

this conversation!Some Biblical commentators explainthis anomaly by saying that the conversationwith Jethro and Moses actually tookplace “after” the revelation of the TenCommandments, and in this instance,the Biblical narrative is not in chronologicalorder. Which begs the question, whyis it that the Torah needs to locate thisconversation before the giving of the TenCommandments?Perhaps the message is this: before wecan speak meaningfully about the lawsthemselves, we must first clarify how theyare to be given real expression; how thelaw is to be systematically applied in reallife. Without a means of bringing the lawto the people, the law itself cannot live.And what’s more, it cannot rely onone person, however well-intentioned.What is called for is a judiciary, a systemof legal adjudication. And by establishingthis thousands of years ago, the Torah isemphasizing that Jewish law is based onprinciples, not personalities.Not that the Torah is suggesting thatMoses would project his personality intohis role as law-giver and judge. Rather, itis simply underlining a vital notion, onethat is definitional to law itself – that is,that law must be based on principles, notpersonalities … not the personalities ofthe judges, nor of the accused. The ruleof law is the means of building a stableand civil society. One need only read theopening passages of the constitutions ofthe Victorian Bar, or the Law Council, tosee that this notion is well-ensconced inthe legal psyche of Australia.And Judaism recognizes this truth notjust “within” the Jewish legal framework,but within civil society as well. The primaryexpression of this idea is the rabbinicdictum, Dina d’Malchuta Dina, thatis, the law of the civil authority has Jewishlegal import. In other words, to be a trulydevout Jew, one must also follow the lawsof the civil authority. So, paying your taxesessentially becomes a religious exercise!One wonders what the ATO would dowith that!And by extension, this means that thework of those assembled here today inthe legal profession, as you strive to fairlypresent people’s cases to the best of yourabilities, or when you work to adjudicatejustly, then your work is holy work.And while the civil year has just begun,we await another New Year’s Day thisSaturday, which marks the Festival of Tub’ Shevat, the Jewish New Year for thetrees. It is with that in mind that I quotethe famous teaching of R’ Elazar benJustice Habersberger and PhillipSheezle of Rigby Cooke.Joshua Kohn, Rabbi Shamir Caplan and Deborah Mandie.Azariah, in the Chapters of our Fathers,who used to say:Anyone whose wisdom exceeds his gooddeeds, to what is he likened? To a treewhose branches are numerous but whoseroots are few; then the wind comes anduproots it and turns it upside down, as itis said in Jeremiah “and he shall be like anisolated tree in an arid land and shall notsee when good comes; he shall dwell onparched soil in the wilderness, on a saltedland, uninhabited.” But one whose gooddeeds exceed his wisdom, to what is he likened?To a tree whose branches are few butwhose roots are numerous; even if all thewinds in the world were to come and blowagainst it, they could not budge it from itsplace; as it is said (also in Jeremiah) “Andhe shall be like a tree planted by waters,toward the stream spreading its roots, andit shall not notice the heat’s arrival, and itsfoliage shall be fresh; in the year of droughtit shall not worry, nor shall it cease fromyielding fruit.”Indeed, while wisdom is of course acrucial part of the picture, it must betranslated into action. It is our good deeds— our constant striving to apply the wisdomof the law justly and fairly to peoplein their real lives — that establishes themost profound roots in our society, thatyields the sweetest fruit. May we beblessed to humbly go about our business,and to always sense the sacred nature ofour work … and may our strivings for justicealways bear fruit. Amen.58