Bribery Blinds Inner Vision
ברש"י ל"ת שוחד אפי' לשפוט צדק שא"א שלא יהפוך בזכותו
Rashi explains that the Torah's negative commandment, 'You shall not take a bribe' (Devarim 16:19), applies even to bribing a judge in order that he render a just verdict, for it is impossible that the judge will not be swayed to favor the one who bribed him.
Rashi teaches that the prohibition of bribery is so absolute that it applies even when the bribe is given so that the judge should issue the correct, just ruling.
וקשה כיון שהצדק עם זה הבע"ד מה בכך שיהפוך בזכותו
But this is difficult to understand: since the justice of the matter is in fact with this litigant, what difference does it make that the judge will lean toward his favor?
The Sfas Emes raises a question: if this litigant truly deserves to win, why should it matter that the bribe makes the judge favor him?
ובאמת נראה שאף שיודע גם מקודם שהצדק אתו אסור ליקח שוחד
In truth, it appears that even though the judge knows in advance that justice is on this litigant's side, it is still forbidden to accept a bribe.
He answers that even when the judge already knows that justice is genuinely on the briber's side, taking the bribe remains forbidden.
אך הטעם כי אין הקפידא של השוחד בעבור שיטה המשפט
The reason is that the Torah's objection to a bribe is not because of a concern that the bribe will pervert the judgment.
The Torah's concern with a bribe is not merely that it might twist the verdict away from the truth.
רק זה עצמו שיהפוך בזכותו על ידי הטיית לב השופט
Rather, this very thing itself, that the judge will be made to lean in the litigant's favor by means of the bending of the judge's heart, is what
The very fact that the judge's heart is bent and turned to favor one side, even toward the correct side, is itself the problem.
הקפידה תורה
the Torah objected to.
This bending of the heart is precisely what the Torah came to forbid.
וז"ש כי כו' יעור עיני חכמים שמקלקל לבו הישר
And this is the meaning of the verse 'for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise' (Devarim 16:19), that it corrupts the upright heart.
The verse says the bribe 'blinds the eyes of the wise' because it damages and corrupts the judge's naturally upright heart.
וע"ד הלצה עיני חכמים כי עיני בשר הגשמיים הם עיני פתאים
By way of a homiletic remark: 'the eyes of the wise' alludes to the idea that the physical eyes of flesh are the eyes of the simple,
In a homiletic vein, the Sfas Emes reads 'eyes of the wise' to mean that the ordinary physical eyes are really the eyes of the simple-minded.
רק הסתכלות הפנימיות בשכל האדם
while only the inner perception within a person's intellect
True seeing comes from the inner spiritual perception that resides in a person's intellect.
נקראים עינים מחוכמים
is what is called 'eyes of the wise.'
It is this inner vision that the verse honors with the title 'eyes of the wise.'
והשוחד יעור עיני חכמים הללו
And the bribe blinds these wise eyes.
A bribe blinds specifically this higher, inner vision, not merely the physical sight.
דיא קליגע אויגען:
'The clever eyes' (di kluge oigen).
He closes with the Yiddish phrase 'the clever eyes,' underscoring that the bribe blinds a person's keen inner sight.
Summary: The Sfas Emes examines Rashi's teaching that the prohibition against taking a bribe applies even when the bribe is meant to secure a just verdict, and asks why this should matter if the briber genuinely deserves to win. He answers that the Torah's objection to a bribe is not the fear that it will pervert the judgment, but rather the very bending of the judge's heart toward one side, even toward the truth. This is why the verse says a bribe 'blinds the eyes of the wise', for it corrupts the judge's naturally upright heart. In a homiletic insight he adds that the true 'eyes of the wise' are not the physical eyes of flesh, which belong to the simple, but the inner perception within a person's intellect. It is precisely this clever inner vision, di kluge oigen, that a bribe blinds.