You shall not subvert judgment. (Devarim 16:19)
Rav Acha said: Come and see. Shlomo’s throne had six steps, as it says, שש מעלות היה לכסא של שלמה (I Kings 10). And in this passage, six prohibitions are written. These are: 1 Do not pervert judgment 2 Do not show favoritism. 3 Do not accept a bribe. 4 Do not plant an asheirah. 5 Do not set up a pillar [for sacrificial purposes]. 6 Do not offer to Hashem your G-d an ox or a sheep that has a blemish. That makes six. (Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 5:10)
This Midrash says that on each one of the six steps of Shlomo’s royal throne, one of these six mitzvos was inscribed. This implies that these six mitzvos are connected to one another.
But how? Granted, the first three mitzvos are matters of mishpat, justice, and are in fact a king’s business. A king sits in judgment. But the second three mitzvos don’t seem to have anything to do with this. Don’t plant an asheirah (an idolatrous tree), don’t offer korbanos outside the Beis Hamikdash, and don’t bring a blemished korban. What does this have to do with the prohibitions on perverting justice? See what the Shelah has to say about this.
Chazal do say that anyone who perverts justice is considered as if he planted an asheirah tree. But this just begs the question. What does one have to do with the other?
We can understand it based on a teaching of the Maharshal in Yam Shel Shlomo regarding Roman officers who studied the entire Torah. They then came with questions: If the ox of a Jew gores the ox of a non-Jew, the Jew is exempt; but if the ox of a non-Jew gores the ox of a Jew, whether it was previously known to gore or not, the non-Jew must pay full damages. They wanted an explanation.
This halachah does not place non-Jews in a very favorable light. Indeed, Chazal tell us that it is not something we should mention to the government. But how did the Roman officers even find out about this halachah? Obviously, a Jew who was learned in Torah taught it to them. But Chazal said not to mention this halachah to the government! This is the Maharshal’s question. Why did someone teach this halachah to the Romans? Why wasn’t this person concerned about the decrees and destructions that could result from teaching it?
The Maharshal answered that they did so out of mesirus nefesh. They were ready to give up their lives for kiddush Hashem, in order not to change a halachah. Because what difference is there between a certain judicial law about a goring ox, and the entire Torah? To teach even one ruling different from how the Torah states it is like denying the whole Torah, and for that, a Jew must give up his life.
This is what Chazal meant when they said someone who perverts justice, in other words, he rules even one halachah contrary to the Torah, is like he served avodah zarah. Because denying the truth of one halachah is like denying the whole Torah. And, as the Maharshal wrote, this is something that calls for mesirus nefesh.
There are actually three ways in which justice can be corrupted. 1 Speaking falsely in the name of the Torah and thus overturning the words of Hashem. 2 Stating something contrary to the halachah, not to subvert justice, but to gain some personal benefit for oneself. 3 Perverting justice due to faulty understanding of the halachah. A person might have simply made a mistake when he was learning the subject, without realizing it.
And these are the three corresponding prohibitions: לא תטה משפט – “Do not subvert judgment.” This means what it sounds like. ולא תכיר פנים – “Do not show favoritism.” This is twisting judgment in order to gain personal benefit from influential people. ולא תקח שוחד – “Do not accept a bribe.” This is distorting justice through the blindness that is caused by taking a bribe. But the distortion itself is unwitting.
In all these cases there is corruption of judgment, for one reason or another. And, as we explained, this is tantamount to denying the Torah, because a halachah is the word of Hashem, and one who denies it is distorting the word of Hashem.
This brings us to the corresponding three additional prohibitions. Corresponding to “Do not subvert judgment,” it is written: “Do not plant for yourself an asheirah.” Subverting justice is bringing avodah zarah into the Mikdash, because one is bringing falsehood into the place of Hashem’s true word. “Do not show favoritism” is like the offering of a korban outside Beis Hamikdash. It is taking Hashem’s holy word, and, for a certain reason, placing it outside the realm of holiness. And the prohibition of “Do not accept a bribe” is like offering an animal with a blemish, because by taking the bribe, one blemishes the word of Hashem, the halachah under discussion.
