The Gemara in Shabbos (33b) relates:
“R’ Yehudah, R’ Yose, and R’ Shimon were sitting together, and Yehudah ben Gerim was sitting next to them. R’ Yehudah opened the discussion and said: “How admirable are the deeds of this nation! They have established marketplaces, they have established bridges, and they have established bathhouses!”. Upon hearing this, R’ Yose remained silent, R’ Shimon ben Yochai, however, answered and said: “Everything they have established, they established only to serve their own needs. They established marketplaces to quarter harlots thereon; bathhouses to beutify their own bodies; and they built bridges to collect taxes”. Yehudah ben Gerim went and recounted their words to some of his associates, and eventually reports of the conversation were heard by the governing authorities. The authorities then proclaimed: Yehudah, who elevated the stature of the Romans, he too shall be elevated. Yose, who remained silent and failed to praise the Roman’s himself shall be exiled to Tzippori, and Shimon, who denigrated the Romans, shall be executed.”
The question is, why did R’ Shimon put himself in danger and speak badly about the Roman’s, surely he was aware of what might have happened, so why did he not just simply keep quiet? Moreover, there is an obligation: להתפלל במוראה של מלכות – to daven for the welfare of the government”? (The Chasam Sofer, Shabbos 33b; Maharit Shabbos 33b; and Dibros Moshe Shabbos 33b all ask these questions.)
The Madanay Asher suggests two answers to this question:
- The Achronim ask, how R’ Yehudah was allowed to praise the Roman’s, there is an issur de’O’raisa of “lo sachoneim”, which prohibits a Jew from offering praise about a non-Jew (see Avodah Zorah 20a). Perhaps when R’ Shimon heard R’ Yehudah violating the prohibition of “lo sachoneim”, he couldn’t cope and couldn’t hold himself back, as a result he spoke up and argued, saying “they have no good intentions, and there is nothing praiseworthy about them”. (This answers up what R’ Shimon was doing, but it doesn’t answer why R’ Yehudah was not concerned about “lo sachoneim”.)
- The Gemara in Avodah Zorah (2b) relates, that in future the Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to ask the non-Jew’s what good they did for the world, and they are going to say “Ribbono Shel Olam, we made many marketplaces, we made many bathhouses, and we made lots of gold and silver - all this was done so that the Jews could learn Torah”. Hakodosh Boruch Hu will then answer, “You fools, all that you did was for yourselves, you made marketplaces to quarter harlots therein, bathhouses to beautify yourselves, and gold and silver belong to me.” R’ Shimon didn’t want them to have any merit in the future, consequently, when he heard that they were being praised for the good they had done for Klal Yisroel, he immediately spoke up and said that their actions were for their own good.
[Perhaps this dispute between R’ Yehudah and R’ Shimon, as to whether the good the Roman’s did was a praise or not, depends on another dispute that we find between R’ Yehudah and R’ Shimon which we find throughout Shas (Shabbos 22a, 46b, Pesochim 25). R’ Yehudah is of the opinion that: דבר שאין מתכוין אסור – “something one does unintentionally is prohibited”, R’ Yehudah maintains that we look at the act a person carries out and not his thought’s, and as long as the act is significant the act is prohibited. Since R’ Yehudah always looks at the act, he praised the Roman’s, as in the end of the day, although they may have acted for their own good, something good came out of it. R’ Shimon bar Yochai, however, is of the opinion that: דבר שאין מתכוין מותר – “and act which one doesn’t intend to do is permitted”. R’ Shimon maintains that determine activity based on the thoughts of a person, and if one has no kavonah [intention], the activity is deemed insignificant. Therefore, by the Romans as well, although the result of their acts may have been good, since their intention was bad, they don’t receive any credit.
