Day #318–Rambam DAILY Sefer HaMitzvos

[Music] is day number 318 of our daily study of RA mitz and in the three chapters of day study track of mish we have started saim the 14th of the 14 books of misho we're in the first section of that book which isin laws of the high court and the punishments that were given to them to administer chapters 161 17 and 18 we have today uh 1 2 3 4 five Mitzvah all prohibitions all negative Commandments - 279 Nega 279 is the prohibition against having pity on a murderer or even not a murderer but somebody who caused uh bodily damage bodily harm this is a Prohibition that is directed toward a judge that they're not allowed to say um maybe I can take it easy on this person especially let's say it was unintentional and why do we really have to make a big deal out of this and let's just sort of let it slide no um even if there are extenuating circumstances that make the person's situation pitiful it is not permissible to avoid carrying out whatever Torah dictates is the just verdict okayga - 277 is the prohibition against favoring a poor litigant guy comes to court and he's poor and you think to yourself you know you're the judge and you say you know I don't really think he's got a case but you know what I'll do is I'll rule in his favor even though I don't think really the facts dictate that I should and that way he'll win this uh this court case and he'll have an honorable living from that instead of uh being you know a beger or whatever it is that he is you're not allowed to do that you have to rule according to the facts and the way that Torah tells us to deal with those facts okay and we've been learning the very rigorous system of Torah law especially in the past couple of books and say for say for MIM there are rules how things have to be done so there yeah there you feel compassion yeah you can feel compassion but you're not allowed to distort Justice because you feel bad for one of the litigants all right negative commandment 275 is against favoring an important person let's say there's a prestigious guy a well-known person a celebrity uh a scholar um you know in the Torah World a scholar that's that's the the most prestigious person there could be and what do you do is you show him favoritism in court not that necessarily you're going to make the ruling come out in his favor but just you know you give him a little extra honor like we call it COV you give him a little extra C uh in court what happens that's totally prohibited what happens is it makes the other guy feel like chopped liver and he's not able to present himself properly he can't really artic his case properly you're not allowed to do that everybody has to be treated the same there are no favorites no favoritism everyone has to be given the same treatment okay um I should mention also included in this prohibition is the prohibition against uh failing to rule against this person uh the scenario would be like the judge would say you know what it would be embarrassing for him to lose a court case even though I know really he owes the other guy that the money what I'll do is I'll rule in his favor and then outside I'll go tell him by the way you know really you technically you lost so just you know on the side give him the money because you really you were supposed to give him we don't do that we don't do little side room deals if you're a judge you have to rule the way that Torah says to rule doesn't matter who the litigant are negative - 278 is condemning a litigant who is known to be a wicked person let's say there's a guy who has a reputation of being a sinner and he comes to court and his counter claimant is a guy who's not a sinner maybe even is known as a very upright moral person you're not allowed to say oh well I know who's guilty in this case of course it's that sinner you have to judge each case based on its merits you cannot come to a conclusion based on the character or the reputation of the litigants okay and finally -273 is the general prohibition against being unrighteous in judgment it is prohibited for a judge to distort Justice or deviate from Torah law in any way that is a Prohibition you have to rule the way the Torah says to rule don't play games even if you have some compelling reason why you feel like different scenarios where your heart goes out to a certain person or certain scenario it's all well and good but the law is the law if you're a judge you have to rule according to the law okay those are mitzvah for today we'll see you for more tomorrow God willing