Rule of Law - Din and Mishpat
Part 2 of a 3 part series
It would be an overstatement to claim that democracy, as it developed in England (the Magna Carta), France (the French Revolution) and America (the American Revolution), originated with the Bible. And yet the intellectual and political leaders in all three countries were mostly people of faith who sourced many of the values informing democratic principles in the Bible. The protection of the stranger (ahavat ger), the rule of law (din and mishpat), the commitment to truth (emet one of the names of God) are all deeply rooted in Jewish sources. (Rabbi Sid Schwartz, Times of Israel article and dvar torah at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD) January 2022)