The Subtle Corruption of Shochad

 Here is a devar Torah taken  from a shiur that Rabbi Wein ztz'l gave a couple years  ago on Shofetim, and summarized by Rabbi Paul Bloom.

One of the central themes of this week’s parashah is the danger of corruption — shochad. The Torah warns explicitly:

“לֹא תַטֶּה מִשְׁפָּט לֹא תַכִּיר פָּנִים וְלֹא תִקַּח שֹׁחַד, כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים וִיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִים”

“You shall not pervert judgment, you shall not show favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous.” (Devarim 16:19)

At first glance, the prohibition seems directed only at judges and government officials. But Chazal and Jewish thinkers throughout the ages have seen in this warning a deeper truth: shochad is not limited to bribery in the legal system. Rather, it is a human condition — a distortion of judgment to which every one of us is vulnerable.

Bribery Beyond the Courtroom

The Torah’s language is striking. It does not merely say that bribes are “unfair” or “immoral.” Instead, it teaches that bribery blinds even the wise and corrupts even the righteous. A bribe — whether large or small — undermines objectivity. Once we have a personal stake, we see reality differently.

This is not only about money changing hands. As I heard from my Rebbi, “the entire world is subject to shochad.” Today we might call it “conflict of interest.” And in truth, everything in life carries with it some degree of conflict of interest. Politicians make promises they cannot fulfill in order to win votes — and that too is a form of socially accepted shochad. But the Torah hints to something subtler: the biases that shape our perceptions. Our prejudices, our prior experiences, the way we are “programmed” to see the world — these too can blind us to facts and twist our judgments.

The Sensitivity of Chazal

The Talmud illustrates how deeply Chazal understood the power of shochad. The Gemara (Ketubot 105b) relates that the great sage Shmuel once disqualified himself from judging a case because one of the litigants had stepped aside for him on a narrow bridge, allowing him to pass first.

Was that a bribe? No money was exchanged. Yet Shmuel recognized that even such a small gesture planted in him a favorable impression. That was enough to compromise his impartiality. This story shows the profound awareness our Sages had of human susceptibility. Shochad is not always conscious. It often works subtly, below the surface. It is not about dishonesty — it is about the way our opinions are shaped before we even begin to weigh the facts.

Everyday Biases

This danger extends far beyond the courtroom. Leaders, teachers, rabbis, and parents can all fall prey to it. How often are our opinions about people based not on reality, but on instinct, appearance, or past impressions? A certain style of dress, an accent, a family background — all can bias us unfairly.

There is a famous story about Rav Chaim Shmulevitz. Even as a child, he was known for his strong personality. When he was five years old, his father pointed out the girl who had been designated as his future shidduch. “Do you know who her father is?” he was asked. Rav Chaim immediately responded, “Yes — and I already don’t like him.” The anecdote, though humorous, illustrates how deeply rooted our snap judgments can be.

A World of Madness

A parable captures the depth of this problem. A king was once warned by his advisors that the year’s grain crop had been infected by a fungus that would drive people insane. “Don’t worry,” they said. “We will set aside enough grain for you and for us, so that at least we will remain sane.” But the king replied, “If everyone else becomes insane and we remain sane, then we will appear to be the madmen! The only solution is that we too must eat the grain — but let us put a mark on our foreheads, so that when we see each other, we will remember that we are insane.”

So too with shochad. We are all affected by bias, prejudice, and personal interest. The wise person is not the one who imagines himself immune, but the one who acknowledges his own vulnerability.

The Torah’s Challenge

The Torah therefore gives us a dual message:

1. On a practical level — judges must not take bribes, no matter how small. Legal systems must guard against corruption.
   
   
2. On a deeper, personal level — each of us must be vigilant in recognizing how bias shapes our vision. Our “inner bribes” can blind us just as much as money in an envelope.

By admitting our susceptibility, we can strive toward clearer, fairer judgments of others, and of life itself.

Conclusion

The Torah’s warning against shochad is timeless. It is not merely a legal prohibition but a profound psychological insight: we are never fully objective. Our task is to cultivate awareness, humility, and caution — to place that symbolic “mark on our foreheads” reminding us that our vision may be clouded.

Only with that humility can we hope to approach true justice: “צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף — Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Devarim 16:20).