Parshat Devarim: Blind Justice

By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of July 24, 2009 / 3 Av 5769

One of the major ills of our times is our inability to accept people for who they are. We often tend to judge people based on exteriors or based on a one-time encounter. A sensible person might deny this, saying, “Who am I to judge someone else?” And some people actually practice what they preach, and are warm, sensitive and caring to all people.

In describing the first of the two commandments that appear in Parshat Devarim, the Sefer HaChinukh makes a seemingly obvious statement.

Based on 1:17, he writes, “The great Bet Din is charged not to appoint a judge who has not demonstrated proficiency in the wisdom of the Torah, and understanding its just and righteous laws. Even if blessed with fine qualities, if he is not an expert in Torah law, he is not worthy to be appointed judge... ‘Do not favor a face in judgment’ means — Do not pick a judge based on beauty, might, wealth, or the ability to speak other languages. [The person should be appointed based on understanding of the law and the ability to apply it properly].” (Commandment #414)

Do we really need the Sefer Hachinukh to tell us that the judge must be an expert in the law? The problem is exacerbated when we consider an inconsistency — Moshe claims he told this to the people when he first appointed judges:

“I selected wise and well known men... and appointed them as your leaders — captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and police for your tribes. I then gave your judges instructions, saying, ‘Listen [to every dispute] among your brethren, and judge honestly between each man and his brother, [even] where a proselyte (ger) [is concerned]. Do not give anyone special consideration when rendering judgment. Listen to the great and small alike, and do not be impressed by any man, since judgment belongs to G-d. If any case is too difficult, bring it to me, and I will hear it.’ At that time, I gave you instructions regarding everything that you must do.” (Devarim 1:15-18)

While the Sefer HaChinukh derives the aforementioned commandment from the format in which the phrase “not to give special consideration” is written, is it not strange that the Torah leaves out the need for the judge to be an expert in the law? Furthermore, when we compare this retelling to the original, we see some elements of the story are different here than they were then.

Shmot 18:22-26 “... Moshe took his father-in-law’s advice, and did all that he said. He chose capable men from all Israel, and he appointed them as administrators over the people, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. They administered justice on a regular basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses, and judging the simple cases by themselves.”

Important points raised in Shmot 18 included rules surrounding numbers of judges, and that difficult judgments were to be brought to Moshe. But the judges were not warned about taking bribes, nor about the importance of being extra sensitive to maintaining impartiality, nor about how to choose when appointing judges themselves.

In Shmot 23:7-9, judges are warned against taking bribes, and to be sure to treat the convert or stranger appropriately: “Keep away from anything false. Do not kill a person who has not been proven guilty or one who has been acquitted. [Ultimately] I will not let a guilty person escape punishment. Do not accept bribery. Bribery blinds the clear-sighted and twists the words of the just. Do not oppress a foreigner (ger). You know how it feels to be a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

While it seems Moshe in Devarim is rolling the two Shmot accounts into one, he is still not painting the entire picture. The remaining details appear in Parshat Shoftim, the last time we hear rules of appointing judges, in Devarim 16:18-19:

“Appoint yourselves judges and police for your tribes in all your settlements that G-d your Lord is giving you, and make sure that they administer honest judgment for the people. Do not bend justice and do not give special consideration [to anyone]. Do not take bribes, since bribery makes the wise blind and perverts the words of the righteous.”

To summarize, the rules are for judges to be sensible when appointing other judges, and for judges to be impartial when adjudicating over a case. Moshe may originally have presented things separately because he first thought judges need no more instruction than, “Judge easy cases and send the hard ones to me.” Perhaps he learned the hard way that even judges must be told that bribery is bad and that picking sides or favoring one over the other is a recipe for judicial disaster.

There are two kinds of blindness a judge can follow. Lady Justice wears a blindfold because justice is to be meted out objectively, impartially. The other blindness is the kind a judge who has been bribed exhibits towards the other side.

Blindness is relative. Approaching anything with a bias is also a form of blindness, no matter how wide open you think your eyes may be. In these days leading up to Tisha B’Av in particular, we must check ourselves and stop judging people. Sometimes we are blind to our own biases — especially those of us who see no wrong in the things we ourselves do.