Parshas Mishpatim 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Feb 19
- 2 min read
ושחד לא תקח כי השחד יעור פקחים ויסלף דברי צדיקים ... (ג-ח)
MASHAL: In the city of Chabarivka (Ukraine) lived a dayan, a judge, who was afflicted with deafness. The entire town was in an uproar when it was reported that the dayan would accept bribes; this, they assumed, was punishment for his actions.
When a tzaddik by the name of Rav Shlomke in a neighboring town heard about this, he dispatched someone to find out if this rumor was indeed true. For if it wasn’t true, he would put a quick end to the terrible slandering that was going around about the dayan.
Unfortunately, however, the messenger found that there was, in fact, grounds for the accusation. But this begged an explanation. “How is it that the dayan is not blind instead of deaf?” someone asked Rav Shlomke. “Doesn’t it say in the Torah that ‘bribery will blind the eyes of the wise’?”
Rav Shlomke answered, “If you knew the people of Chabarivka, you would not ask that question.”
“Why not?” he was asked. “Well, because the people of Chabarivka only agree to pay bribes, but they do not actually pay those bribes. If the dayan had actually received cash as a bribe, doubtless he would have become blind, like the Torah says. But as it was, he only listened to the propositions, in the hope of receiving bribes, but in the end, he never actually received them. For this he became deaf, not blind!”
NIMSHAL: Chazal describe the intense persuasion “bribery” can have on a person. R’ Zalman Sorotzkin zt”l (Oznaim L’Torah), explains the meaning of the verse “For bribery… will distort the words of the righteous” to mean, that even after the dayan gives his honest verdict - a bribe is so powerful that it can still have an effect and distort the righteous words of the dayan, long after the ruling.