03 Feb IS EVERY JEW A TZADIK?

I. The Maximal
Tzadik
A recent saying has
it that every Jew is
a tzadik, righteous.
Taken literally, the
statement strains
credulity. Jews,
like everyone else, commit sins, some
grievously so. Even the conscientious Jew
is marked by inconsistency and obvious
need for improvement. Read as a factual
description, the claim seems plainly false,
and its uncritical repetition can sound less
like theology than like reassurance. If that
is the case, and it is just a feel-good saying,
then maybe we can pardon the exaggeration.
I would like to examine the claim literally
and show that it can be understood as a
mainstream theological statement.
Any serious examination of this claim must
define the terms “Jew” and “tzadik.” The
definition of a Jew has been debated for
decades. While there is still more to say
about that, mostly to limit that definition
even further, we will leave that for another
time. The term “tzadik” colloquially means
a righteous person. For example, the Gemara
(Sanhedrin 97b) says that there are at least

36 tzadikim at any given time. If every Jew
is a tzadik, then the number of tzadikim
should equal the number of Jews, which is
much larger than 36.
The prophet says, “Ve-amech kulam
tzadikim, and all your nation is righteous”
(Isa. 60:21). At face value, this seems to
say that every Jew is a tzadik. However, the
proper translation is that “all your nation
will be righteous.” The verse is discussing
the future, at the time of the redemption.
Radak (ad loc.) says that the entire nation
will be righteous because everyone who is
not will be killed. The Gemara (Sanhedrin
98a) says that Mashiach will only come in
a generation that is fully righteous or fully
sinful. The prooftext for the scenario is the
above verse, that everyone is righteous.
Every Jew being a tzadik is a possible future
scenario, not the current reality. We will
return to the Mishnah’s understanding of
this verse.
II. The Limited Tzadik
However, that example uses tzadik in
maximal terms. It can also mean someone
imperfectly good. The Gemara (Kiddushin
40a) examines the verse: “Say of the
righteous who is good, that they will eat the
fruit of their actions” (Isa. 3:10). The Gemara

asks about the apparent redundancy in the
verse regarding the righteous who is good.
Does that imply that someone righteous
can be bad? Indeed, for this reason, many
translations make the word good refer to
the future so it reads: “Say to the righteous
that it will be good.” However, the Gemara
offers a different answer. Someone who
is good to Heaven and to people is a good
tzadik. Someone who is good to Heaven but
not to people is a tzadik who is not good.
We all know of people like that, who put all
their effort into religious ritual but neglect
or even abuse the people around them. Such
a person is hardly perfect but the Gemara
still refers to him as a tzadik, albeit a tzadik
who is not good.
Another Gemara (Berachos 7a) tries
to explain the theological challenge of
righteous people who suffer. If they are
righteous, why does G-d allow, or even
cause, them to suffer? The Gemara says
that a righteous person who suffers is not
completely righteous, a tzadik she-eino
gamur. Someone perfectly righteous, a
tzadik gamur, does not suffer. This is one
Talmudic perspective to this complex
question, which itself raises other questions.
Be that as it may, notice how even an
incomplete tzadik is still called a tzadik. The
term tzadik allows for some flexibility.
III. The Situational Tzadik
An important biblical example of very
qualified use of the term tzadik can be
found regarding courts. “If there is a
controversy between men, and they come
to judgment, and the judges judge them,
by justifying the righteous (tzadik), and
condemning the wicked (rasha)” (Deut.
25:1). The innocent party is called a tzadik,
not because he is perfectly righteous, but
because in the specific case at hand, he has
committed no sin. Here we see tzadik with
a very limited, situational meaning.
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16b) says
that three books are opened on Rosh
Hashanah — the book of the completely
righteous (tzadikim gemurim), the book
of the completely wicked and the book of
the intermediates. Those who are judged
to live the next year are written in the
book of the tzadikim gemurim. But don’t
we see wicked people who continue
living? There are different answers to this
question. However, Ramban writes that in
this context, tzadik gamur means merely
someone who wins this judgment. For
example, someone who murders, worships
idols, commits adultery and performed
one mitzvah, might be judged innocent so
G-d can reward him for his mitzvah in the
coming year and then punish him after. If
so, even such a wicked person is a tzadik
gamur in the context of this judgment.
And, in the opposite way, someone who

observes every single mitzvah but once
issued a halachic ruling in front of his
mentor (which is forbidden), may be judged
a rasha gamur in the sense that he will die for
that sin and receive reward in the afterlife

for his great righteousness (Derashah Le-
Rosh Hashanah, in Kisvei Ramban, vol.

1, pp. 224-225). Rabbeinu Nissim, in his
commentary to the Rif (Rosh Hashanah 3b
s.v. tzadikim) explains likewise.
Ritva (ad loc.) quotes this explanation but
ends by asking why the Gemara uses the
term “gemurim, completely” if it means
a limited kind of righteousness. We see,
though, that according to Ramban and
Ran, even the term “tzadik gamur” can, in
a limited sense, refer to someone who is
objectively wicked. Another way of framing
this interpretation is that anyone who is
alive for the year is, in some sense, a tzadik
gamur. If you are alive, it is because G-d
judged you worthy of living and consciously
decided that you deserve to be in this world.
That is a powerful conclusion.
IV. The Minimal Tzadik
The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 90a) says that all
Jews have a place in the afterlife because of
the verse quoted above, “Ve-amech kulam
tzadikim.” This seems to say that all Jews
are righteous. Of course, the Mishnah
proceeds to list who is excluded from the
afterlife, but everyone else is a tzadik. It
would take us too far afield to delve into his
words too deeply, but the Rambam in his
Mishnah commentary (Makos 3:16) says
that any Jew who performs a mitzvah for
completely pure reasons merits a place in
the afterlife. The term tzadik here is meant
in a minimal sense, not in a maximal sense.
Is it technically accurate to say that everyone
is a big tzadik? We have seen that the term
tzadik has a maximal definition, a minimal
definition, and limited meanings in between.
Almost no one is a tzadik gamur in the
maximal sense. But a great many people are
classified a tzadik gamur in a more limited
sense.