Pirkei avot 4:8
Judging with Compassion
He would say: do not judge alone, for none may judge alone except One. And do not say, "accept my view," for they [the majority] are permitted [to do so] but not you.
We learned a similar principle at the beginning of Sanhedrin: monetary cases should be determined by at least three judges, but not by one judge alone.
The exception to this rule is God, “for none may judge alone except One,” – meaning God, “for He is singular in His world.”
Conversely, it is written in the Jerusalem Talmud regarding our mishnah, Rabbi Yehudah Ben Pazi said, even God does not judge alone, as it says, “And all the hosts of heaven stand upon Him from His right and from His left, these turn toward a favorable judgment and those turn toward a negative judgment, and even though He does not judge alone, He does sign [the verdict] alone.”
It is possible to reconcile the two sources by arguing that Rabbi Yehudah Ben Pazi is not attempting to disagree, but rather to explain that it is only the sealing of the sentence that is performed by God alone, without advisors or additional judges. If this is the case, however, what benefit do the heavenly hosts provide by deliberating with God?
To answer this question let us go back to the time prior to the creation of man. We find there the description of a “case” brought before God and the heavenly hosts.
Rabbi Simon said, At the time that God came to create man, the angels became divided into groups and factions, some said he should not be created, and some said he should be created.
There were angels of truth and peace who adopted the attribute of severe judgment and argued that man should not be created. Conversely, there were angels of loving-kindness and justice who argued in favor of the creation of man. What did God do? He took truth and cast it down to earth, creating a majority in favor of creating man, and man was created through God’s compassion.
If God had to make the decision about creating man “alone,” He would have had to make all the arguments for in favor of severe judgment by himself. In such a situation, as it were, he would not have been able overcome it. Hence, the point of having a panel of judges in Heaven is actually to make it possible to break the rules and to bring the attribute of compassion into the discussion.
If so, our mishnah teaches us that the reason a judge must connect with additional judges is to spread out the attribute of judgment between three judges—making it thinner and weaker. When this happens, “lovingkindness and truth have met, justice and peace have kissed.”
- JT Sanhedrin 1:1.
- Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura on this mishnah.
- JT Sanhedrin ibid. See Magen Avot and Melechet Shlomoh in their entirety.
- Breishit Rabbah 8:5.
- As it says in Bereishit Rabbah 12:15, referred to by Rashi on Genesis 1:1) for God wished to create the world with the attribute of severe judgment, but ultimately added the attribute of compassion.
