Avos 4:7-8

בס׳ד

אבות ד:ז-ח

Rabbi Ishmael his son says: One who hesitates to serve in court avoids hostility, theft, and false oaths; And one who is intellectually careless while teaching is foolish, wicked, and spiritually crude. He used to teach: Don’t render judgement in isolation, for there is only One who renders judgement in isolation; And don’t say “Accept my opinion!”, for they have the presumption of truth, not you!

רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל בְּנוֹ אוֹמֵר, הַחוֹשֵׂךְ עַצְמוֹ מִן הַדִּין, פּוֹרֵק מִמֶּנּוּ אֵיבָה וְגָזֵל וּשְׁבוּעַת שָׁוְא. וְהַגַּס לִבּוֹ בַהוֹרָאָה, שׁוֹטֶה רָשָׁע וְגַס רוּחַ: הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תְּהִי דָן יְחִידִי, שֶׁאֵין דָּן יְחִידִי אֶלָּא אֶחָד. וְאַל תֹּאמַר קַבְּלוּ דַעְתִּי, שֶׁהֵן רַשָּׁאִין וְלֹא אָתָּה:

        We have not seen such pointed words directed at judges since the teachings of Yehudah ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shetakh (Avos 1:8-9).  Why did Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose choose to pick up this theme after so many centuries? The reason, perhaps, is that the question of judicial behavior became pressing in his time in a new way.  From 180 CE onward, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi had begun to vastly expand his patriarchal powers, given him by Rome, to place Rabbinic disciples in central judicial offices.  Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose appears to have been appointed to such a position.  A story in the gemara (Bavli Kesubos 105b) reports how careful he was to avoid the appearance of accepting bribes.  In the two mishnahs before us, Rabbi Yose reflects upon the temptations of judicial authority.

        His first piece of advice seems odd for a judge - refrain from taking the office in the first place!  The pitfalls of judicial decision-making can ensnare you in all sorts of unpleasantness.  Disappointed plaintiffs will hate you, an incorrect judgement on your part might implicate you in the theft of another’s property, and you might become the occasion for someone swearing an ill-considered oath.

        In fact, as the continuation of Avos 4:7 makes clear, Rabbi Ishmael has no thought of advising people to avoid judicial responsibilities.  Rather, his goal is to remind the judge what is at stake in judicial activity in the first place.  This becomes clear in the continuation of the teaching.  The judge’s role as legal interpreter and posek places him in a position of enormous social responsibility. To undertake it without the appropriate gravity is not only a perversion of Torah; it points to a genuine perversity of character.

        In this sense, Rabbi Ishmael continues the tradition of his father, Rabbi Yose.  An inner respect and honor for HaShem and His Torah has its behavioral expression in a hesitancy to enter judicial conflict and a profound care in reaching one’s rulings (see Avos 1:1 and the words of Avtalion at Avos 1:11, for example).  Ideally, as the Midrash Shmuel points out, the judge should urge contesting parties to reach a mediated compromise that avoids the need for a judge’s ruling in the first place.

        Mishnah 4:8 continues the same point.  Even though it is halakhically possible for a single judicial expert to rule in some cases (Bavli Sanhedrin 5a), the temptation placed upon the judge is enormous.  Wielding an apparently absolute judgmental authority, the judge might be tempted to imagine his powers as “God-like.”  The judge should remember, accordingly, that the only True Judge is the Unique One.  Moreover, judicial wisdom must remain open to diverse points of view on the case at hand.  Your presumption must be that your own perspective is partial and flawed unless it takes account of other possible interpretations of the evidence, on the one hand, and the law, on the other.  To insist on the truth of your own point of view is to set yourself up as an absolute - a position only HaShem Himself can fill.

        Rabbi Ishmael’s teaching clearly influenced attitudes of later Sages.  Some, like Rava, would even recite a small prayer before entering court (Bavli Yoma 86b-87a): “When Rava would go out to render judgment, this is what he would say: ‘By my own will I place myself in danger of death lest I judge falsely.  And I shall do nothing for my private benefit, and shall return home without profit. May I be upon my return as free of sin as I am now’.”

&&&