Komentarz do Kapłańska 19:15

לא תעשו עול במשפט YE SHALL NOT DO INJUSTICE IN JUDGMENT — This teaches us that the judge who perverts judgment is called an "unjust person" (עַוָּל), hateful and detested, doomed to destruction, and an abomination. He is rightly called thus for the unjust person (עַוָּל) is called by Scripture "abomination", as it is said (Deuteronomy 25:16) "For all that do [such things] all that do injustice (עַוָּל=עֹשֵׂה עָוֶל) are an abomination (תועבה) unto the Lord thy God”. The abomination (תועבה), on its part, is called by Scripture חרם and שקץ, as it is said (Deuteronomy 7:26) "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination (תועבה) into thine house, lest thou be a doomed thing (חרם) like it; but thou shall regard it as שקץ.

Now the Torah addresses the judges who are charged with dispensing fair judgment. לא תעשו עול במשפט, a warning not to relate sternly to one litigant while being lenient towards his opponent. Do not allow one litigant to sit down while his opponent is required to remain standing upright. This is followed by admonitions applicable to different levels of leadership in the people and the spirit of jealousy which often prevails between competing layers of the bureaucracy. Examples are: Doeg badmouthing David so as to gain favour with the king. (Samuel I 22,9) From such admonitions it is only a small step to warn against badmouthing people generally, especially when it even involves slander. The sin of slandering is considered so serious by the prophet Ezekiel that he describes it as being equal to bloodshed (Ezekiel 22,9)

לא תעשו עול במשפט. "Do not render an unfair decision in judgment." This warning is addressed to litigants who are not to try and secure favourable judgment by ruses. If this were to happen it would be considered an עול, an injustice, a perversion of justice. This is the reason the Torah addressed the prohibition in the plural form, i.e. litigants (pl).You may understand this as follows: עול במשפט, the injustice would occur during judgment the judges hand down seeing that the judge is obligated to arrive at his decision on the basis of the arguments presented by the litigants. This is also the reason that this commandment followed the directive not to place obstacles before the "blind." Usually the reason a judge arrives at a faulty decision is that one of the litigants has deceived him.

בצדק תשפוט עמיתך, “with righteousness you shall judge your fellow.” The verse speaks about the fairness to be applied in the judicial process. Justice must not be perverted. He who applies fair rules thereby strengthens the throne of the Almighty. It is said of G’d’s throne that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne,” (Psalms 89,16); if someone perverts the judicial system he thereby undermines G’d’s throne. This is a demeaning of G’d’s glory. The Midrash Tehillim 82 phrases the thought in these words: “if the judge judges righteously the Shechinah will be with him;” we know this as David said in Psalms 82,1: “the Lord is present in a community of true judges.” If the judges fails to apply these standards the Shechinah withdraws. We have another verse in Psalms 12,6 confirming this where it is written: “due to the groans of the plundered poor and needy, I will now act, says the Lord,” and the Holy Spirit is reported as exclaiming (Psalms 108,6) ”exalt Yourself over the heaven let Your glory be all over the earth!”.

And an abomination is called accursed and detestable. And an abomination is also called hateful as it says in parshas Re’eh (Devarim 12:31), “Because whatever is abominated by G-d, what He hates, [they have done].”

לא תשא פני דל THOU SHALT NOT RESPECT THE PERSON OF THE INDIGENT — i. e. thou shalt not say, "This is a poor man, and the rich man has in any case the duty of supporting him; I will find in favor of him (the poor man) and he will consequently obtain some support in a respectable fashion (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 2).

A poor man. Because if not so, why [command] “You shall not favor a poor man?” Are all these [cases] not included in “You shall not commit injustice in judgment”?

Another meaning of this verse is that if a litigant finds that the judge found in his favour although he himself is aware that such a ruling was unfair, he must not accept the judgment but must strive to have such a judgment set aside. This is another reason the Torah used the plural here, seeing that we deal with injustice to at least two parties.

ולא תהדר פני גדול NOR HONOR THE PERSON OF THE MIGHTY — thou shalt not say, “This is a rich man, or, this man is of noble descent (lit., the son of great people) how can I possibly put him to shame and be witness to his shame? There is punishment for such a thing!” It is for this reason that Scripture states, "thou shalt not honor the person of the mighty” (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 3).

Another interpretation: Judge your fellow [favorably]. [You need the second interpretation] because you might ask that once it is written “You shall not commit injustice in judgment,” one would certainly judge with righteousness. And according to the other interpretation you might ask that it should have said צדק (favorably). Why is it written בצדק (with favor)? Therefore you need the first interpretation of “According to its plain meaning.” (R. Yaakov Taryosh)

The verse also addresses the judge himself. If the judge himself feels that the judgment he is bound to hand down on the basis of the evidence presented is unjust, he would become guilty of perverted judgment. He is to hand down only the kind of verdict he himself will be comfortable with.

בצדק תשפט עמיתך IN RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALT THOU JUDGE THY COMPANION — Take this as the words imply (i.e. take the word צדק as what it usually implies: strict right). Another explanation is: Judge thy fellow man with an inclination in his favour (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 4; Shevuot 30a).

Favorably. I.e., you only need to judge him favorably if he is “your fellow.” But if he is wicked, judge him unfavorably. See the commentary of the Rambam in maseches Avos, chapter 1.

We also need to consider the vowel patach under the letter ב in the word במשפט. This definitive article reminds us of something we learned in Beytzah 16 that on New Year's Day G'd allocates to man his material needs for the new year, based on what he deserves. If a judge were to declare the guilty as innocent and vice versa he would pervert G'd's judgment. As a result, the victim would question G'd's fairness as it were.