Yeah, but the That's a that's a Gemara, no? The middle yeah. ל\"ח, middle of ל\"ח עמוד ב' about person taking shochad, about somebody taking bribery. So, we're holding down here. אמר רב אבהו, רב אבהו said, \"תא חזי,\" come and see, \"כמה סמויות עיניהם של מקבלי שוחד.\" Look how blinded the people who take bribery, how they are. He said, give an example. \"אדם חש בעיניו,\" a person hurts, his eyes hurt him, \"נותן ממון לרופא,\" he'll go and pay as much money as you can, he'll give up money to pay a doctor, \"ספק מתרפא ספק אינו מתרפא,\" and that's a safek whether he'll get cured or not. \"והם,\" and the same people, \"נותנים שוה פרוטה,\" all they take is a perutah, \"ומסמין עיניהם,\" and they make themselves blind. How much money were they How much money were they spending just to protect them from Cure them, and even that's a safek, and here, for a penny, to save yourself, to get an extra penny you're going to make yourself blind? That's like working on Chol Hamoed, they say that money you make It's not, it's not a berachah. Yeah, but here it's worse, because you're blind, שנאמר השוחד יעור פקחים. That means like mashal, I mean how do you say, it's a euphemism, it makes you blind, doesn't make you blind. No, it's talking about blinded, we're talking blind that you can't see the difference between what what you, how you should, you should punish. No, it makes you blind. Like that's what it means. Talking about doctors, eye doctors. Eye doctors aren't for to get you to see spiritually. You're blind to see justice, to think... No, that's true, that's besides the point, anyway, that's also for that. We're talking about dayanim. They

even tell a story of this, I forgot who it was, one of these big big gedolim, that he was a dayan in many taaniyim, and then he got blind. And people started talking, he probably must take shochad. Oh, yeah, and that's what his drop was. Yeah, and he was a he was a dayan, he was a known person, a great person. I forgot I had to remember the name. So, he got up, and he felt very bad. So, he got up in the דרשה שבת, and he said, \"רבותי, I know what people are saying, but I'm telling you it's not true. And I'm asking Der Eibershter, if it's not true, Der Eibershter should prove it by making me start seeing.\" On the spot, he started seeing. How did they know he was seeing? Because he started saying, \"Hey, this is Mr. here, you're sitting here, you're sitting here.\" Beautiful. So, it turns out those people saying what you It's sort of like the same thing with with the woman who drank the waters. Yeah, yeah, like Sotah. It turns out that's a blessing. Manny, what's that lady with the with the blindfold and the two scales? What's that the queen of justice? Lady Justice. Lady Justice? And she has a blind... Oh, why? Because you're not supposed to see one person is rich, one person is... Oh, okay, that's good. That's why it's...

זאגט די גמרא ווייטער, תנו רבנן, the רבנן have learned, כי השוחד יעור עיני חכמים, it says the shochad, bribery, will make blind the eyes of the חכמים, קל וחומר לטפשים, certainly it'll make tipshim, fools, blind. ויסלף דברי צדיקים, it'll make the words of צדיקים crooked, קל וחומר לרשעים, certainly לרשעים. פרעגט די Gemara, what do you mean? מידי טיפשים ורשעים בני דינא נינהו? Right? What could a a tipesh and a rasha could be a dayan? We're talking about dayanim. What do you mean certainly a dayan is a טיפש? So, the Gemara says like different, הכי קאמר, this is what he meant: כי השוחד יעור עיני חכמים, the שוחד will blind the eyes of the חכם, אפילו חכם גדול, a big חכם, ולוקח שוחד, and takes שוחד, אינו נפטר מן העולם בלא סמיות הלב, will not die without his heart becoming blind. It will affect him. And ויסלף דברי צדיקים, it'll crooked make the the words of צדיקים, אפילו צדיק גמור, לוקח שוחד, if he takes שוחד, אינו נפטר מן העולם בלא טירוף הדעת, his mind, he'll go crazy. It's not clear, it's not good to be a judge. טירוף. Yeah, that's I know it's not good to be a judge, that's for sure. But if it's another thing, it says don't take bribery. Right, don't take bribery. But it's but it's not only cash bribery. Well, the Gemara is going to go on. The Gemara goes on here, yeah, it's not only cash bribery. All these, yeah, yeah, yeah. And prejudices you make in your head, favors. It's difficult. סמיות הלב. What? Makes your heart blind. Means your heart doesn't stops feeling, it's You lose your hergesh in in Torah, mitzvot, you lose your hergesh, well. And the other one is בלא טירוף הדעת. But this is only a judge, otherwise, you could take bribery. You want somebody do you a favor, you can't give a bribe? Give give a police officer... In Russia that's how we operate. Yeah, but that That means you're not allowed to, but they because in Russia they... Yeah, yeah. But the story with the Rebbe, somebody came over by dollars, and asked the Rebbe for a brachah for something, and he told the Rebbe that, \"I support Lubavitch in my town.\" Right. So, the Rebbe looks, says, \"You want to give me שוחד?\" So, the guy says, \"Yes!\" The Rebbe smiled and gave him a brachah. That's great. And der emes is מעמד is that! Right! מעמד is bribery! Right. But there's no problem, you're not a judge. You're not judging anything. You're doing something to make him chayav. Sure. And now he owes you something. I mentioned this the other time that that's why when a goy, when you help, when a goy does you a favor, a lot of people used to have a minhag give him a pay him much better if you'd pay a Yid. Give him a tip much more than a Yid. Right. תפוס החבל, I have nothing to do with you anymore, because if you don't pay him enough, he still has a claim. You don't want him to have any claim, you don't have anything to do with it. Right. Yeah. כי

אתא רב דימי, when רב דימי came, אמר, he said, דרש רב נחמן בר כהן, רב נחמן בר כהן דרש'נט like this. מאי דכתיב, the פסוק says, מלך במשפט יעמיד ארץ, a king with משפט, he stands, he makes the the land stand, ואיש תרומות יהרסנה, a person of תרומות will destroy it. A מלך במשפט makes it stand, makes it firm, and he destroy, what does that mean? So it means like this: אם דומה דיין למלך, if your judge is like a king שאינו צריך לכלום, he doesn't need anything. You can't bribe a king. Doesn't need your money, he has plenty. So if a judge is like that, that doesn't need anything, יעמיד ארץ. Donald Trump should run his this campaign. Okay. But they're all but all of them are the outrages. ואם דומה, but if he's on the other hand a man of terumot, who's a man of terumot? A כהן שמחזר על הגרנות, like a kohen has to go around getting getting getting terumah and never handouts, if you're a guy that needs handouts, that means you're interested in people giving you, a guy like that, יהרסנה, you can destroy the world. They have to be wealthy. Ah? They have to be independently wealthy. A dayan should be, yeah. Unfortunately, it is not like that nowadays. But, giving you know giving a chance for the people to give to that's a it's a mitzvah for them to give to the kohen, no? Yeah. So okay, giving him a chance. No, we just said what, just said we should cause a a on the kohanim. Not bad, there's nothing bad with that, it's very good. But if a judge has to come onto tzedakah, he has to come onto terumah like others, then there's a problem.

אמר רבה בר רב שילא, Rabba bar Rav Sheila said, האי דיינא דשאיל שאילתא, a דיין who borrowed something from somebody, פסול למידן דינא, he can't be a dayan for him. ולא אמרן אלא דלית ליה לאושולי, that's only if he doesn't have to lend, in other words, he needed it, but he has enough, he could lend out. אבל אית ליה לאושולי לית לן בה, but if he has to lend out also, so it's only in other words, if a guy borrows things, so you can't be a judge klal, because you never know, you might have borrowed this, but if you lend out also, then it then it's not a pshat that you have its a special feeling, you leave it, you get. אמר רבא, Rava said, מאי טעמא דשוחדא? What's, why is it called shochad? No, what's the, what's the problem of shochad? כיוון דמקבל שוחד, מיניה, if you take bribery from somebody, איקרבא דעתיה לגביה, now you became very close to him. You have a certain קירוב הדעת, a certain closeness, והויא כגופיה, he becomes like you, ואין אדם רואה חובה לעצמו, and you can't see on yourself, you can't see anything negative, so you will not say anything negative to him. Yeah. מאי שוחד, here it says why is it called shochad? שוחד דשהוא חד, you become one, like you become one with the guy. אמר רב פפא, Rav Pappa said, We bribe the Oibershter. Ah? We bribe the Oibershter. The Torah says, לא יקח שוחד. That's, will not take shochad. But I heard a vort that But he does take shochad, tzedakah, tzedakah he opens. אמר רב פפא, Rav Pappa said, לא לידון איניש דינא למאן דרחים ליה, you shouldn't be a judge to someone who's your very close friend, ולא למאן דסני ליה, or somebody who's your close your big enemy. דרחים ליה, if someone's your friend, why? Because דלא חזי ליה חובה, you'll never see anything negative about him, דסני ליה, if you don't like him, דלא חזי ליה זכותא, you'll never see a זכות. אמר אביי, Abaye said, האי צורבא מרבנן דמרחמין ליה בני מתא, this תלמיד חכם that if the people of the town like him, לאו משום דמעלי טפי, don't he shouldn't think because he's so great, and they like him, you know why they like him? אלא משום דלא מוכח להו במילי דשמיא, because he doesn't give them any musar. That's why, that's if he'd give them musar. Right. אמר רבא, Rava said, מרישא הוה אמינא, first I said, I thought, and the בני מחוזא, he was a רב in מחוזא, then he became a דיין, but first, before he became a דיין, he said, I thought כולהו רחמי, they all love me. כיוון דאהבי דאהבי דיינא, when I became a דיין, אמינא, now I said, מינייהו סנו לי ומינייהו רחמי לי, not true, some like me, some don't like me. Which ones? The guys who I pasken is right, he likes me, the guy I פסק wrong doesn't like me. And this this not then, this goes on nowadays too. Right, it's obvious. When you when you're a דיין and you come with a פסק דין, so I said it that's when I was speaking in a likely conference call, I said, talking to me, I don't want to be in a בית דין, תורה anymore, so I said, cuz one thing is clear, if you sit on an ענין תורה, you're guaranteed to get one enemy. If the אויבערשטער is good to you, it makes you two enemies. You got both being enemies. So, who needs the headache? Anyway, so he says, I see that not everyone loves. What's the difference between שוחד and אונאה? שוחד, you give something, you bribe somebody, you want him to do something for you. Yeah, a judge, no? You're giving a judge money. That you guy is your judge and But you don't have to tell him you want him to do. Even if you don't tell him, it's automatic. But אונאה you tell him something. That is worse. You tell him, I'm giving you money, so you פסק like me. So, you help me out. Yeah, that's a direct bribe. Right, the guy's giving It's a bribe too. No, that's the worst bribe. That's worse if you if you give a judge money saying, \"I want you to to find me\" שוחד you don't say anything. שוחד you don't say, you just give the guy money. He gets the cash. And we've learned the other day that even if you don't know about it, the guy drops into your pocket, it has an effect. The

story with the one of the gedolim. Like, he didn't know who dropped it in his pocket? Ah? He didn't No, he found out. No, he's not he didn't see the money, he was having a דין תורה and his mind the whole time was going in one direction, that one guy is right, and the other guy is wrong, and they had a recess in the middle, they have to go, and then when he came back for the recess, he sat down and he started going over again, except his mind started working the other way. He found out later that this other guy dropped a coin into his pocket. Yeah, there's precedence for this He recused himself. But then it always says כיון דחזאי דמאן דמחייב לא יעתיב, then I realize not always the same guy is wrong, sometimes one guy I make חייב then I make him, and then I make him זכאי, I make him right. I mean, I said אי מרחמי כוליה רחמי אי מסני כוליה סנאי, which is not the פשט, some love me some hate me, I don't know exactly, or everyone loves me or everyone hates me, it has nothing to do with the guy the guy פסק'ing according because what I פסק. It's normal. It's normal. Yeah. But they hate you is normal for sure. Other famous vort it's a vort. The Eibishter told אברהם אבינו לך לך מארצך what will happen now? Make you big, ואברכה מברכך ומקללך אאר, whoever blesses you I'll bless, whoever curses you I'll curse. So, there is a kashya asked, if the Eibishter is giving him a bracha now, why can't he give him a bracha nobody's going to curse you? Why does he have to bracha whoever curse you I'll curse him? The answer is that cannot be. The moment you become in something involved in he made him and told him to go and spread Yiddishkeit, the moment you become an activist, askan, you have soneh. You'll have someone It's היפך הטבע that the Eibishter couldn't is not ready to do things against teva, you have to have. And what did the Eibishter, yes, I'll help you out, I'll bless him, I'll curse him. Askan's stubborn? It's action. Action.

תנו רבנן there's a פסוק ושחד לא תקח, don't take שוחד. אין צריך לומר שוחד ממון, doesn't mean only money, אלא אפילו שחד דברים נמי אסור, even bribery of words. And ראיה because it doesn't say בצע לא תקח, it doesn't say don't take money, it says don't take שוחד. היכי דמי שחד דברים? What's What's words of שוחד? What's the example? כגון דשמואל הוה עבר במברא, שמואל was crossing a bridge or river, אתא ההוא גברא יהיב ליה ידא, a guy came, rushed, helped him, gave him a hand. אמר ליה: מאי עבידתך? he says, \"Why are you here?\" He said, \"Why are you in town?\" אמר ליה: דינא אית לי. He said, \"I Here שמואל said to the guy, \"Why are you Why are you here?\" so, \"Because I came I I came to you for a דין תורה, I have a דין תורה with somebody.\" אמר ליה, he said, פסילנא לך לדינא. You gave me a hand, you helped me out, Right, right, right. אמימר another example, אמימר הוה יתיב וקא דאין דינא, אמימר was sitting and then sitting by a דין תורה, פרח גדפא ארישא, so a feather fell down on his head. אתא ההוא גברא, this guy came, שקליה, just took it off. אמר ליה, he said to him, מאי עבידתך, \"Why are you here?\" אמר ליה: דינא אית לי. \"I have a דין תורה.\" אמר ליה: פסילנא לך לדינא. I'm pasul because you just did me a favor. מר עוקבא הוה שדי רוקא קמיה מר עוקבא once there was he's standing in a place and someone spit, and there was spit on the floor, which is disgusting, so he went and covered it. אתא ההוא גברא כסייה, a guy came and and he covered it. אמר ליה: מאי עבידתך? says, \"Why What are you doing here?\" אמר ליה: דינא אית לי, \"I have a din Torah.\" אמר ליה: פסילנא לך לדינא. \"The fact that you covered it in front of me in order to\" Showed you a good middah. \"Show a good middah, showed me something, you helped me?\" What What were the three things, that you got a hand, a feather, and a and a Spitting. A spit, okay. Okay, fine. Shmuel bar Abba Shmuel bar Abba? שמואל בר אבא, הוא הוה רגיל אריסיה דהוה מייתי ליה כל מעלי דשבתא כנתא דפירי, he had an aris, he had a field, and there was a worker in the field. And every Friday, the worker would bring him a basket of fruit, from his. It was actually Rav Yishmael's fruit, no problem. This guy used to come to the city to bring it. יומא חד, once, אייתי ליה בבי חמשי בשבתא, once he brought on Thursday. אמר ליה: מאי שנא האידנא? He said, \"Why is now Why did you bring me today? You usually bring me Friday.\" אמר ליה: דינא אית לי, \"I have to come to you for a din Torah. ומינא דאייסי, I said אגב אורחא אייתי ליה למר.\" So So by the way, I'm coming anyway, I might as well bring it. לא קביל מיניה, he didn't take it. אמר ליה, he said to him, פסילנא לך לדינא. I can't sit by din Torah. And he didn't take it. It's not even, even though he didn't take it. אושיב זוגא דרבנן דקא דיינו ליה, so he got other chachamim, right, dayanim, and they started to sing the And he was sitting on the side, I guess overheard. והוא היה קא אזיל ואתי, while he was going in and out, Who was sitting on the side? The guy who took himself, recused himself. Yeah, the guy who's recused. It's Rav Yishmael. So, when he was coming in and out, אמר, he said to himself, he overheard the what they were saying, he said to himself, אי בעי טעין הכי, if he I think if he would be smart, he would ta'anah this, and if he'd be smart, he'd ta'anah that. אמר, he said, תיפח נפשם של מקבלי שוחד, let the people that take bribery get blown up. מה, אני מה דחזי, שלא נטלתי, I didn't take, ואם נטלתי, had I taken, שלא ניטלת, it would have been mine, because he brought me mine, and he didn't take it, he didn't give his. כך, automatically that he brought to my mind already started working, oh, helping him, he can ta'anah this and this. Mekablei shochad If the people that really take שוחד על אחת כמה וכמה. For sure they did, for sure they they did that. Another story, Yishmael ben Elisha, Yishmael ben Elisha, אייתי ליה גברא ראשית I guess, he was a kohen. Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't do something because Moshe Rabbeinu, they, he said, \"I, I can't be it because they said they came of of a compliment.\" Nice thought, Haas. Nice thought, Haas. Yeah, that's it. They said to him about their father, he didn't he wasn't בעדת קרח. In other words, he never is like went against you. Yeah, just one word. So Moshe said, \"Too bad. I gotta recuse myself.\" Yeah. So nevertheless, Rabbi Yishmael, but Rabbi Yishmael was a kohen, so this guy brought him ראשית הגז, the first shearing of the wool you have to bring to a kohen. אמר ליה, he said, \"מהיכא? Where are you from?\" אמר ליה, \"מדוך פלן. I came from this and this city.\" So he asked him, \"מהתם להכא לא הוה לאותובי? At least kohen, at least to give it, why you had to schlep it all the way here, there was no kohen in the middle to give it?\" אמר ליה, \"דינא אית לי. I have a דין תורה.\" I mean, I said, אגב אורחאי, I said on the way, well, I'm coming anyway to you, so I might as well bring it to you. אמר ליה, \"פסילנא לך לדינא.\" I'm פסול. לא קביל מיניה, he didn't take it. אותביה לזוגא דרבנן וקדייני ליה. So he brought the chachamim and other rabbanan, and they did they did the דין תורה. After, the same thing, after it, אזיל ואתי, while he was waiting, אמר, he said, \"אי בעי טעין הכי, אי בעי טעין הכי.\" Same thing in his mind, he said, \"Claim this, claim that.\" And he said the same thing, \"תיפח נפשם של מקבלי שוחד, that those that take bribery, let them blow up.\" What, what was he doing there anyway? מה אני שלא נטלתי, what, I, I didn't take, ואם נטלתי שלי נטלתי, had I taken, it was ראשית הגז, I had a right to take it, כך, מקבלי שוחד על אחת כמה וכמה, those that take shochad for sure.

What was he doing there anyway? He's still watching the בית דין, was it a public forum or? It wasn't part of the, he recused himself, oh, I didn't know. Yeah, מעמד was always. המעמד, yeah. Oh, yeah. People would sit in this like a court, להבדיל, now you have people like a jury, like a jury, not a, not a jury. No, but not a real no, a jury, people come, audience. Yeah, audience. But the question is, why didn't he take it? See if really what this is, \"I'm not gonna be your judge, but I'll take the terumah.\" See what they say.