Sunday, August 20, 2017

Why Moshe Couldn't Judge Alone

לזכות שמחה בן נעכא גיטל
לאה אסתר בת פרימט
נעמי בת טובה

Yisro said to Moshe "מדוע אתה יושב לבדך וכל העם נצב עליך מן הבוקר עד הערב" -  "Why are you judging alone and all of the people are standing over you from morning until night". It seems that his complaint was that he was judging alone and it says in Pirkei Avos - אל תהי דן יחידי שאין דן יחידי אלא אחד. "One should not judge alone for only Hashem can judge alone". 

Moshe answered "כי יבוא העם אלי לדרוש האלקים"-  "When the nation comes to me to seek out Hashem". Meaning that they are not coming as two sides in an argument with each side making opposing claims but rather are in agreement and they just want to know what Hashem says [In איסור והיתר one may judge alone because there are not two opposing parties. Moshe said that even when people came for judgment it was like איסור והיתר]. That is why the pasuk says "כי יהיה להם דבר בא אלי" - "When they have a "thing" they come to me". Not דברים - plural but דבר singular. There is no contradiction or denial between the two parties and my job is "והודעתי את חוקי האלקים ואת תורותיו" - I tell them the word of Hashem. 

Yisro answers "נבל תבל וכו' לא תוכל עשהו לבדך" - "You are going to wilt, you can't do it yourself". You can't be sure that things will always remain like this and that there won't be cases of conflicting stories so you can't judge alone. Yisro concludes "אם את הדבר הזה תעשה וצוך אלקים ויכלת עמוד" -"If you do this and Hashem commands and you will be able to stand". He was alluding to the fact that the time has not yet come for sitting - that will only happen when Dovid Hamelech becomes king. [See here and you will understand]. This is what it says in Zvachim [102] that Moshe aspired to be king but it wasn't granted to him. Yisro was the father of converts and felt that is was Dovid, descended from converts, who would finally reach the level of sitting. So he told Moshe that he has to "stand" - ויכלת עמוד, meaning [as we explained in the post we linked] that his השגות are not yet קבוע. 

In the future we will return to a state where there is no conflict between the parties and thus Moshiach will be able to judge alone once again, this time with his sense of smell as it says והריחו ביראת השם - He will be able to smell the fear of heaven, and Chazal say מורח ודאין - He will smell and judge. [See here]. People will have such strong Yiras Shomayim that they won't contradict each other. 

Shmuel said that there is no difference between this world and the next except for political freedom, but there will be no drastic changes in nature. So even though Moshiach will be close to the level of Moshe, since even Moshe wasn't able to smell by judging, Moshiach won't either according to the Rambam [who paskened like Shmuel - and this explains the Kesef Mishna]. 
     
"אך צדיקים יודו לשמך ישבו ישרים את פניך" -  The Tzadikim thank Hashem and the straight ones sit before His face. This means that the ישרים strive to come to a place where their השגות in Hashem are בקביעות  which is represented by sitting [as we saw already in the linked essays]. 

['רזי לי מאמר כ]