Avot318

Today's shiur is dedicated by Jerome Kopelman
in memory of his father,
Joseph Kopelman,
Yoseph ben Avraham Zvi z"l,
whose Yahrzeit was on 19th Tevet.

42:
The sword comes to the world because of procrastinated justice, perverted justice and because of those who teach Torah improperly. Justice is procrastinated when a case which comes before the judges is not dealt with dispatch. While the judges certainly should not hasten to judgement, but consider the case which is before them as thoroughly as they can and need to do, they should, nevertheless, also bear in mind that the party or parties to the suit will suffer in several possible ways if they – the judges – allow their deliberations to extend beyond a reasonable limit.

43:
It could be that Re'uven owes Shim'on money which Shim'on needs; Re'uven has contested the debt. While the judges take their time to conclude that the debt is, indeed, valid, it could well be that the liabilities to which Shim'on is subject are increasing rapidly. His financial situation deteriorates because the judges take their time – unnecessarily.

44:
Or, it could be that Sarah is demanding damages from Rivka for some slanderous statement or other made by her. As long as the case is not yet decided Sarah suffers more and more distress as her good name is dragged through the mud of public comment.

45:
The complaint of our mishnah is not that the justices take time to deliberate a difficult case; the complaint of our mishnah is that they delay rendering their decision for reasons of their own convenience, or some similarly unworthy reason. Rabbi Ovadyah of Bertinoro, in his commentary on our present mishnah, puts it in a nutshell: justice is procrastinated when the judges have arrived at a decision and yet delay announcing it.

46:
Justice is perverted when the judges render a decision clearly erroneous. Rambam, in his commentary on our present mishnah, puts it most succinctly: justice is perverted when their decision clears the guilty or condemns the innocent.

47:
Similarly, those who teach Torah improperly are sages who mislead the people by declaring permitted that which is forbidden or forbidden that which is actually permitted.

48:
When we first began to discuss our present mishnah I suggested that it would best be understood in the light of the Toĥekhah, the Castigation, in Leviticus 26.

where the term covenant may be understood as a synonym for the Torah legislation as a whole. The prophet Isaiah [1:19-20] warns:

To be continued.