“See – I have placed before you today life and good, and death and evil…and you will choose life so you will live.” Deut 30:15,19 Even if you made bad choices yesterday, you still get to choose life TODAY. http://torah.org/learning/kolhakollel/5765/netzavim.html

The above is the most recent in a series of brief daily messages I have published to Facebook and Twitter, in a modest effort to use the newest communications media to inspire. If the project works well through Yom Kippur, I might just keep it up throughout the year. Please don’t “join” either service for the sake of these messages, but for those that do, please ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ me as appropriate:

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Rosh HaShanah is coming soon — please take a look at our Rosh Hashanah articles at Torah.org, and listen to our Rosh Hashanah audio at TorahMedia.com.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

In this week’s Torah reading, Parshas Shoftim in Deuteronomy, Israel is commanded to have judges and officers, those who maintain both justice and order. A judge in particular is required to be entirely unbiased, and not to accept ‘Shochad’, usually translated as bribery.

The Torah warns us that “bribery blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.” [Deut. 16:19] G-d is not talking about a corrupt person here, He is talking about the “wise” and the “righteous”!

The Talmud tells us that the ‘bribery’ discussed also goes well beyond passing money to the judge and back-room deals. In one case discussed in the Talmud, two litigants are sent to a noted sage for arbitration. One of them recognizes the judge and asks, “didn’t you stay in my hotel?”

The Rabbi answered, “yes I did, and now I can’t judge your case!”

Having previously conducted a commercial transaction, with no ulterior motive or quid pro quo, isn’t something we would understand as ‘bribery’ at all. But the scholarly Rabbi correctly understood that even this was enough to create a small connection, and perhaps was enough to intimidate the other party.

Like most other Orthodox Jews, I am troubled by the judge’s actions in the trial of Shalom Rubashkin. There are all sorts of things that can be said to justify her behavior, or chalk it up to a judge with a long history of apparent favoritism towards the prosecution. But having been so intensely involved with the planning of the immigration raid upon the Postville plant — which, in the end, had no direct relationship to the misreporting of which Rubashkin was guilty — certainly gives the appearance of a previous connection to the prosecution and bias against the defendant. The fact that she failed to disclose this, and it only came to light after suing the government to provide information about the raid, is entirely inexcusable and unseemly. Our Sages knew well that no matter what decision might be arrived at in a truly unbiased fashion, justice must not merely be done cleanly — it has to look and smell clean as well.

This week is Shabbos Nachamu, the “Sabbath of Consolation.” Following three weeks in which the weekly Haftarah spoke about the loss of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, leading up to Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, we now have seven weeks during which we focus upon our hopes for the future, culminating in the final Redemption.

Rabbi Pinchas Winston, author of our weekly Perceptions on the Parsha, has written a booklet called Geulah B’Rachamim, Redemption with Mercy. It contains 60 short yet powerful daily lessons, helping Jewish readers to yearn for redemption. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of an anonymous supporter, he is offering this work to all Torah.org subscribers and visitors for only the cost of shipping and handling.

Please go to the order page to get your free copy!

May we soon merit to see the final redemption, which Rabbi Winston’s work will help us to keep in our daily thoughts and sincere prayers.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org