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11. Sometimes the misuse of ācompassionā is at odds with justice.
āAn ancient proverb teaches, āTo spare the ravening leopard is an act of injustice to the sheep.ā That is why the Rabbis spoke of mercy and justice as the two necessary attributes of Godāand therefore of a decent society.ā Dennis Prager
Prager continues:
ā¦both are necessary for the world to function. If the world were ruled solely by justice, it would be destroyed, as it almost was during the time of Noah (Genesis 6:11-22)ā where only Elohim is used to describe God. However, if the world were ruled solely by mercy, there would be no room for justice, and such a world, too, would cease to function. An overabundance of mercy means an increase in injustice. If, for example, mercy were extended to all murderers, their victims and the victimsā loved ones would suffer a terrible injustice (hence the Midrashic teaching, āthose who show mercy to the cruel end up being cruel to those who deserve mercyā).
And, of course, if everyone knew they would receive only mercy, not justice, no matter what crime they committed, the amount of crime in society would increase exponentially.
āAn ancient proverb teaches, āTo spare the ravening leopard is an act of injustice to the sheep.ā That is why the Rabbis spoke of mercy and justice as the two necessary attributes of Godāand therefore of a decent society.ā Dennis Prager
Prager continues:
ā¦both are necessary for the world to function. If the world were ruled solely by justice, it would be destroyed, as it almost was during the time of Noah (Genesis 6:11-22)ā where only Elohim is used to describe God. However, if the world were ruled solely by mercy, there would be no room for justice, and such a world, too, would cease to function. An overabundance of mercy means an increase in injustice. If, for example, mercy were extended to all murderers, their victims and the victimsā loved ones would suffer a terrible injustice (hence the Midrashic teaching, āthose who show mercy to the cruel end up being cruel to those who deserve mercyā).
And, of course, if everyone knew they would receive only mercy, not justice, no matter what crime they committed, the amount of crime in society would increase exponentially.