פרשת שופטים תשל"א - "כי יפלא..."

If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, even matters of controversy within thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose.

And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth, and said: ‘My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on; forasmuch as ye are come to your servant.’ And they said: ‘So do, as thou hast said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said: ‘Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.’ And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And they said unto him: ‘Where is Sarah thy wife?’ And he said: ‘Behold, in the tent.’ And He said: ‘I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.— Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.— And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: ‘After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the LORD said unto Abraham: ‘Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD. At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.’ Then Sarah denied, saying: ‘I laughed not’; for she was afraid. And He said: ‘Nay; but thou didst laugh.’ And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said: ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.’ And the LORD said: ‘Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.’ And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said: ‘Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the judge of all the earth do justly?’ And the LORD said: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will forgive all the place for their sake.’ And Abraham answered and said: ‘Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.’ And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said: ‘Peradventure there shall be forty found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not do it for the forty’s sake.’ And he said: ‘Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’ And he said: ‘Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.’ And he said: ‘Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.’ And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left off speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.

דברי ריבה BEING THINGS OF STRIFE [WITHIN THY GATES] — i.e. that the scholars of the city (the judges) be of different opinions in that particular matter (cf. Onkelos), the one declaring it unclean, the other clean, the one sentencing, the other acquitting,

ימין ושמאל [THOU SHALT NOT DEPART FROM THE WORD WHICH THEY SHALL TELL THEE] TO THE RIGHT NOR TO THE LEFT, even if he (the judge) tells you about what appears to you to be right that it is left, or about what appears to you to be left that it is right, you have to obey him; how much the more is this so if actually he tells you about what is evidently right that it is right and about what is left that it is left (cf. Sifrei Devarim 154:5).

Right or left: "Even if he tells you about the right that it is left or about the left that it is right" - [that is] the language of Rashi. And its matter is that even if you think in your heart that they are erring, and the thing is simple in your eyes - [just] like you know [the difference] between your right and your left - do like they command. And do not say, "How can I eat this completely forbidden fat" or "How can I kill this innocent man," but rather say, "So did the Master who commands command me to do with the commandments, that I should do His commandments, according to all that those that stand in front of Him - 'in the place that He shall choose' - instruct me; and He gave me the Torah upon the understanding of their minds, even if they err." And this is like the matter of Rabbi Yehoshua with Rabban Gamliel about Yom Kippur that fell out according to the calculation [of Rabbi Yehoshua] (Rosh Hashanah 25a). And the need for this commandment is very great, since the Torah is given to us in writing, and it is known that the opinions are not [all] the same concerning all of its implications. And [otherwise] the disagreements would grow and the Torah would become several Torahs. And the verse set forth that we should listen to the High Court that stands in front of God 'in the place that He shall choose,' about all that they tell us concerning the understanding of the Torah - whether they received its understanding, one witness from the mouth of another, and Moshe from the mouth of the Omnipotent; or they say thus according to the meaning of the Scripture. Or its intention is that in accordance with their opinion does He give them (other [variants of the text]: us) the Torah: even if it is in your eyes like the replacing of the right with the left; and all the more so, when they say about the right that is right - that you must think that the spirit of God is upon the servants of His Temple, 'and He will not leave His pious ones, they will always be protected' from erring and from stumbling. And the language of Sifrei on Shoftim 154 is "Even if they show to your eyes about the right that is the left and the left that it is the right, listen to them."