B"H

Friday, Shevat 26, 5779 / February 1, 2019

One of the laws in this week’s Parsha, Mishpatim, concerns passing just and truthful judgment: "Keep far from uttering a falsehood… Do not accept bribery, for bribery blinds the wise and falsifies the words of the righteous." 

The Torah tells us that receiving bribery will influence the outcome of the judgment.  Thus, a judge who accepts bribery will be punished by eventually forgetting all his knowledge of Torah, thus becoming intellectually blind as well as physically blind.

In addition to money and gifts, bribery even applies to favors and kind words from the litigants. Since this is done with the intent of influencing the judge, it is considered bribery. Our Sages were extremely careful about judging a case in which they felt there may be a remote resemblance of bribery.

A Talmudic story: Shmuel, one of the greatest Sages of the Talmud, was once crossing a bridge over a river, when a person stretched out his hand to help him along.  Shmuel began speaking to this man, and found out that he was on his way to the courthouse where Shmuel was one of the judges. "Because you helped me cross the bridge I cannot be your judge," Shmuel told the man. Although the person was sincere and did not intend to influence the case, Shmuel refused to judge it.

The prohibition against bribery also applies when a gift is offered unconditionally. It even applies when the judge is encouraged to judge the case fairly. Even if the judge is absolutely certain that he will remain impartial, he is prohibited to accept a gift/bribe. The very nature of bribery distorts the judge's clear thinking, and causes him to side with his benefactor. The following story illustrates the effect of bribery -- even when the judge is not aware of it!

Rabbi Teomim was a respected scholar who was a member of a Beth-Din (Rabbinical Court). Once, two businessmen brought their dispute before the court, yet Rabbi Teomim was unable to agree with the other judges and the case was adjourned until the following day. Rabbi Teomim left the courtroom puzzled, unable to understand why his thinking was so different from the other judges.

On his way home, Rabbi Teomim put his hand into his coat pocket and felt a bundle of money. He immediately realized that one of the litigants had tried to bribe him. The next day, when the case continued, he accused one of the businessmen who admitted his guilt. "Just see how powerful are the effects of a bribe," said Rabbi Teomim to the other judges. "I had no idea that this individual had bribed me yet, my thinking became biased and I could not agree with you and pronounce him guilty!"

Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir would say: "The Jewish people are compared to a box full of glass dishes.  If the dishes are packed tightly, the box can be moved about and transported and none of the dishes will break. But if the dishes are packed loosely, they bang into each other and will easily break. We too, have to be tight with each other. Our destiny depends on how tightly we are with each other.”

SHABBAT SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 4:42 / Shabbat ends: 5:49