How does taking a bribe distort a judge’s brain?
Table for Five: Shoftim
In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts just words.
– Deut. 16:19
Rabbi Pinchas Winston, Thirtysix.org
Any justice-based society warns against taking bribes. But usually, they only warn against taking bribes to corrupt justice, not to uphold it. Rashi points out that the Torah forbids a bribe even from a person who says, “I just want you to be just in your decision. I’m not looking to win per se, just to get a fair trial.” You could say that the Torah doesn’t like a bribe like this, as altruistic as it is, because once you allow such bribes it will open the door for the wrong kind as well. Very true. But there is an even deeper reason for this, to do with being created in the image of God. The Sforno explains that the part of God that we image is discernment. A Tzelem Elokim, someone made in the image of God, has to be a thinker, a deliberator, someone who makes a point of fully understanding ideas well enough to judge their worthiness, so that their decisions can be as truthful, and therefore as Godly, as possible. A bribe, no matter how righteous the recipient is, or how noble the reason is for giving and accepting it, reduces a person’s objectivity and dependency on deliberation. The Hebrew word for bribe is shochad, alluding to how a person becomes one with the bribe. Biases work the same way. They compel us to distort facts to get results we favor, reducing our ability to live up to our potential to be a Tzelem Elokim.
Yehudit Wolffe, Founder, Bais Chana of California and KosherSofer.com
Torah warns judges that a bribe will distort their vision and words. How can a bribe distort our brain? It seems to me it’s because accepting a bribe removes us from our alignment with our soul’s desire to do Hashem’s will to bring justice. We get trapped in our own selfish desires.
Our true inner will and desire is to fulfill our purpose as a soul in a body to elevate our soul, body and the world. Kaballah teaches that will and desire come from a part of our soul that is above our logical brain. Therefore, not being aligned with our soul’s true desire can overpower and distort our brains logic and perceptions of just judgment (and other good things). For example: when we know something is not good for us, our desire for it can rationalize it to be good.
Torah teaches that our righteous Moshiach judges by smell. How????
Possibly meaning that Moshiach is completely in tune with G-d’s will, and being aligned, Moshiach perceives truth and true logic and senses if our motives and our soul’s will are aligned. Sensing how in tune we are with G-d’s will, Moshiach guides and motivates us to align with our true will, which is to serve our creator and reveal G-d in our personal life and world. Thereby we see truth, that G-d is the true power and bribes are not needed or wanted: seeing our opportunity and responsibility to make the world better, and facilitating miracles.
Rabbi Chanan (Antony) Gordon, International Inspirational Speaker
At first blush verse 19 in parshas Shoftim appears to be warning Jewish judges to maintain their objectivity by cautioning them to “… not take a bribe (shochad)” (Deut. 16:19). If one looks deeper into this verse by reviewing a section in the Oral Law that corresponds to this verse, we are given a more profound understanding of the role that each of us are expected to assume in this world – whether we are part of the judicial system or not.
The Talmud in question, in Ketuvot, 105b asks, “What is shochad? It means she’hu chad (that he is alone).” The commentator Gan Raveh explains this cryptic remark in light of another Talmudic passage (Shabbat, 10a) that states, “any judge who issues a true verdict is considered to be a partner with G-d in Creation.” In other words, a judge who accepts a bribe cannot issue a true verdict, since the bribe will have swayed his perception of truth. Since his ruling will not be honest, he can no longer be called G-d’s partner in Creation. Therefore, the bribe (shochad) has led him to a state where he is alone (she’hu chad).
We are all partners with Hashem in this world and our role is to be His Ambassadors. That said, we lose the honor of being Hashem’s representatives in this world if we compromise on truth. It is clearly no coincidence that the Hebrew word for ‘truth’ – emet – happens to be one of Hashem’s names.
David Sacks, Join David Sacks Torah WhatsApp group
This world is a bribe. It tells you that what you see around you is all there is. It lulls you into a sensory bombarded coma. And there, in the fog of your euphoric non-thinking, it tells you to do whatever you want because “You only live once.”
Don’t be bribed by your senses. Because the Torah teaches us that bribery causes blindness. Blindness to what? Blindness to the unseen realms that tower before us. Blindness to the consequences of our choices. Blindness to the heavens and the heavens on top of the heavens.
Where our souls came from and to where we will return to give an account – when our eyes become open again.
Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, Congregation B’nai Torah
A judge who is a good judge needs to be a caring, respectful, and just individual. However, a flaw in the process of fair judgment can emerge from these very salutary qualities. Namely, there is an impetus within a person with these qualities to seek to use the court in which they serve as a means of correcting the larger problems in society – to use the courts as a tool for social engineering. A judge might feel that society is best served by protecting its leaders and savants.
Conversely, and more likely, a caring judge might want to bend a case in favor of the poor or disadvantaged individual who comes before them by rendering them victorious in a case thereby benefiting them both financially and in social standing. Moses therefore tells the judges: “Do not show favoritism.” The courts are the place for truth and only truth. Any deviation from truth, even for lofty causes, corrupts the entire system and renders it meaningless. Charity is important and a great mitzvah, but it has no place in the realm of the justice system.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 2:3) tells us about King David: “David administered justice and charity for his entire people (II Sam. 8:15) … One has to say that he judged by the law, cleared the innocent and condemned the guilty. If a poor person was found liable, he paid from his own money; in that he was administering justice for one party and charity for the other.”
With thanks to Rabbi Pinchas Winston, Yehudit Wolffe, Rabbi Chanan (Antony) Gordon, David Sacks and Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe
Image: Deborah the Judge by John Francis Bentley, c. 1890
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