Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Chasidut su Deuteronomio 16:18

שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכָל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ לִשְׁבָטֶ֑יךָ וְשָׁפְט֥וּ אֶת־הָעָ֖ם מִשְׁפַּט־צֶֽדֶק׃

Giudici e ufficiali ti faranno in tutte le tue porte, che l'Eterno, il tuo DIO, ti dà, tribù per tribù; e giudicheranno il popolo con giusto giudizio.

Noam Elimelech

And this is "judges and officers you shall appoint" (Deuteronomy 16:18): a hint to the two judges spoken before [paragraph 1] which are the impulse to good and the impulse to evil, and the text designates the impulse to good with the expression "officers", since it is like the police officer that controls the people without doing them harm/evil, also the impulse to good is the one that rebukes and chastises a person with the staff of its mouth, and shows to the person what is lacking in his/her devotion. "At/In all your gates" [is used] because to every thing connected to a mitzvah and to holiness there is a gate of its own, and every thing that a person does in this world, be it Torah, prayer or some holy [act], the person opens the gate of that mitzvah, and this is "in all your gates."
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Kedushat Levi

Deuteronomy 16,18. “Judges and law enforcers you ‎shall appoint in your “gates”‎‏ ‏‎ who will judge the people ‎fairly.”
While it is true, as we all know that G’d sits in ‎judgment of the people of Israel on New Year’s Day, at which ‎time He exercises His love as well as His mercy, there is still a need ‎for justice being meted out down here on earth by human, i.e. ‎mortal judges. The judges meting out justice on earth must also ‎reflect the attribute of Mercy employed in the celestial spheres. ‎When judges here on earth emulate the approach to the accused ‎displayed in the celestial spheres, i.e. to assume that even if ‎guilty, there are some excuses to be found for the conduct of the ‎accused, then we can hope that, by taking this into consideration, ‎our own judgment on New Year’s day will also reflect this ‎consideration shown to sinners who had fallen victim to the evil ‎urge.‎
From the above, it is clear that it is within our power, down ‎here on earth to ”open” the gates of loving kindness, the source ‎of G’d’s blessings for mankind. This is the reason that the Torah ‎linked the dispensation of fair justice to “all your gates.” The ‎Torah tells us that we ourselves must initiate the process of ‎justice by giving anyone who appears to commit a wrong the ‎benefit of the doubt, i.e. as the Talmud in Megillah 12 words ‎it: ”man is measured by the yardsticks he applies to others.”‎
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Tiferet Shlomo

Deuteronomy 16:18: This alludes to the path of tzaddikim and the path of good leaders. The main idea of judge is, as the Torah says, "[to] judge everyone favorably" in order to arouse G-d's mercy and kindness on every single Jew, even those of the lowest level--they, too, must be judged favorably. This will help us understand a verse from Kings, "you should give your servant a listening heart to know how to judge your people, to differentiate between good and evil, for who is able to judge your blamable people." The question [about this verse concerns the fact that during] the times of Shlomo HaMelech, there was lots of money; it was insignificant and as common as pebbles in the street. What is the novelty of this saying [since, during times of prosperity, there are fewer conflicts]? This was Shlomo HaMelech's intent: he should be able to judge every person favorably, as the way of tzaddik (they see themselves as lowly, and he who is great is small [great people think little of themselves]). They [tzaddikim] never rest, and it's as if they have a judge and policeman watching them as the Talmud says "tzaddikim are judged by their yotzer tov (good inclination)." However, their perspective is self-denigrating. Tzaddikim judge their friends favorably and are greater in their eyes, even though their friends don't reach their ankles [spiritually, their friends are at a much lower level]. This is despite the tzaddik's self-denigration; as the Talmud says "what is hateful to you don't do to others," which means [that one shouldn't project their self-hatred] and judge other people. All the Jewish people, as one, are important and beloved, and in their hearts [want] to do goodness and kindness. It says about Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa that "the whole world is nourished by Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa my son, and he only needs the nourishment of a small carrot." He [Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa] was so self-contempting that he thought that the small carrot was more than enough for him, and he wasn't even sure that the carrot was meant for him, and he saw it as gift of G-d. However, for the rest of the world, he'd give "all good"-- the tzaddik, seeing the earth favorably, was able to give the world goodness and kindness. This is the meaning of original verse: tzaddikim, who are disgraced in their own eyes (as if they have judges and police watching them) always judge themselves unfavorably and say that they don't have good deeds to justify themselves. However, they judge the people favorable and "they shall judge the people righteously [favorably]" because people, in the eyes of tzaddikim, are like perfect tzaddikim. This is the meaning of the Torah's admonition, "you must not show favor": [the literal interpretation of the verse asks not to judge a person's face and] there are some people that say they can [characterize and understand a person] by looking at their face, and one shouldn't do that. Rather, judge them [the Jewish people] favorably because all of the Jews are tzaddikim and bring mercy and kindness to the whole world, amen.
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