“Because bribery blinds the wise and distorts the words of the Tzaddikim” (23:8).
Rav Yitzchok Isaac of Komarna writes (Heichal HaBerocha Mishpotim 2:4) that according to our Sages in Kesubos 105a, even a complete Tzaddik who takes a bribe will be blinded. However, this statement is wondrous and strange indeed, says the Komarna. How can someone who takes bribes be called a complete Tzaddik?! The answer to this, explains the Komarner, can be understood based on the following true story about the Apta Rav, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel, mechaber of Ohev Yisrael:
In his younger days, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel was Rav in Kolbasof and served as a Dayan in the rabbinical court of that city and its environs. He once sat with two other judges to rule on a matter of some importance, when the other two had accepted a bribe to rule in favor of one of the litigants in the case. They tried to rule on this matter in favor of the man who had bribed them but the Ohev Yisrael kept insisting that their judgment was incorrect and inconsistent with the Halocha. The other Dayonim advised this man to bribe the Ohev Yisrael as well. The litigant, however, realized that it would not work because the Ohev Yisrael was a Tzaddik and would never accept a bribe from him directly.
They gave the litigant an idea – to place the bribe money secretly into the pockets of his Rosh Chodesh bekeshe, the long fine satin coat he wore in honor of Rosh Chodesh. The man filled the Rav’s pockets with gold and no one knew. When the Rav sat in judgment, he was amazed that all of a sudden he began to hear the “truth” in their arguments and that their previously false and skewed judgments now sounded correct to him. However, he knew it was wrong and so he kept pushing off ruling on the matter. The Ohev Yisrael was confused how his judgments could be so perverted and clouded as to agree to something he knew in his heart to be wrong and against the Halocha.
Then came Rosh Chodesh. When he went to put on his garments, he felt them to be unusually heavy. The Ohev Yisrael was dumbfounded when he placed his hands in his pockets and discovered them to be full of gold coins. He questioned his household and found out that the litigant had been spotted visiting his rooms. He realized that he must have been secretly bribed! Now he understood why his previous judgments were being perverted and how his mind was being distorted by the bribe that he had unknowingly received! He summoned the litigant and the latter admitted to his attempt to bribe the Rav. Immediately, the Rav handed him back the bribe money and removed himself from the case.
Now, said the Ohev Yisrael, I understand the pasuk that says bribes “distort the words of Tzaddikim”. Even a complete Tzaddik who accepts a bribe unknowingly will have his words and judgments distorted!
