In this week's Parsha, Shoftim, the Torah warns our judges "Do not pervert justice; do not display favoritism; and do not accept bribery, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts words that are just." When the Torah says "for bribery blinds the eyes" it is clear that a judge can be swayed, by accepting a bribe, even if he intends not to. In the same fashion, the words "blinds the eyes of the wise" refer to a judge who may accept a false statement as true, and "distorts words that are just" refer to a judge who will dismiss words that are true.
Our sages explain that judges are not only warned against accepting physical bribes, but they must also avoid situations that will cause them to unconsciously "display favoritism." If a rich man, dressed in expensive garments(ie. Banan Republic), and a poor man in rags (ie. Old Navy) come to be judged, the judge is forbidden to preside over the case until the rich man provides the poor man with suitable clothes comparable to his own, or dresses in rags like that of the poor man. Our sages knew that even the the highly regarded judges of Am Yisrael, would be unable to deliver a fair decision if one plaintiff's words appear more attractive than the other's.
We can extend this basic teaching and apply it to our own lives. We constantly find ourselves torn between doing what we know is the right thing, or doing the impulsive thing that, although may not be right, will give us momentary physical pleasure.
“VH1 – Behind the Avairah”: The yetzer hatov (good inclination) and yetzer harah (evil inclination) present themselves to battle for their respective sides. The yetzer harah promises immediate physical pleasures that can be realized now and that our body can relate to. He appears to us as the attractive choice, as the rich man in expensive clothing. In contrast, all the yetzer hatov can promise is a distant spiritual reward, that though we are told is much greater than the immediate reward offered by the yetzer harah, will not be fully realized for a long time. Not to mention the nature of this reward is entirely unclear to us. His plea seems to us very unattractive and he is like the poor man in tattered clothes. The Torah advises us to dress up the poor man, the yetzer hatov. Make his argument seem as attractive, before we make our judgment. If we are unable to do this, we dress the rich man in rags and examine how the claim of the yetzer harah is really just a fleeting illusion.
With this we can better understand a famous Gemarah in Berochos (5a), " a person should battle his yetzer hatov against his yetzer harah. If he succeeds, good, if not, he should involve himself in Torah study: if he succeeds, good. if not, let him read krias shema: if he succeeds, good. If not, let him remember his day of death". Again, in line with what we are saying, when a person is confronted with to decide between his two inclinations and he feels that his judgment is clouded, he should learn Torah. The beauty of the Torah makes the yetzer hatov's claim seem more attractive. This is comparable to dressing up the poor in rich clothes. In a similar vein, If this does not work, he should read Krias Shema. Krias Shema discusses the immediate material rewards we will receive when we follow the Torah. Though obviously, this is not the main reward for our service, and is far inferior to the true reward, this is more immediate and tangible to our physical senses. Lastly, if the above two ways fail, we are told to remember our day of death. This will remind us that in the end, all the materialism that the yetzer harah presents to us, will not only be of no gain, but will be a source of supreme embarrassment when we are judged. This is like dressing the rich man in rags.
During the month of Ellul, an amazing opportunity exists to do teshuva (repentance). We can use this advice and take it even further. When we find ourselves in a state of temptation and all else fails- in order to dress the rich man in rags, we need not look all the way forward to our day of death, but only a few weeks into the future. How will we feel asking for forgiveness on Yom Kippur knowing that we did not do all we could when we had a chance to correct many of our faults the month before. If we make the right judgements with ourselves, by honestly leveling the playing field, we can be confident of the outcome on the Day of Judgement as well.