Thursday, October 27, 2016

Don't suppress the truth of Torah - even regarding your own rebbe or gedolim

Recently a prominent rav told me that it is critically important not only to keep the Torah but also not to be afraid of any man in reporting the truth - and that I should keep up what I am doing


Devarim (1:17) states, you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s. Rashi (Devarim 1:17), Lo Saguru - Do not be afraid of any man. Another explanation is one should not hold back your words before any man. The Tosefta (Sanhedrin 1:8), What is the sources that says that if you are sitting before the judges and you know a merit for the poor and and liability for the rich that you can not remain silent? Because the Torah say, You shall not be afraid of the face of man (Devarim 1:14). That means that you should not hold back your words before any man. Sotah (47b), When they who displayed partiality in judgment multiplied, the command you shall not be afraid [of the face of man] became void and you shall not respect [persons in judgment] ceased to be practiced; and people threw off the yoke of heaven and placed upon themselves the yoke of human beings. The Yerushalmi Sanhedrin (1:1), When two litigants come before you – one who is powerful and one who is weak – prior to hearing their claims it is allowed for a judge to say he doesn’t want to deal with the case out of fear that if he finds the strong one guilty it will make the strong one his enemy. However once he has heard their claims it is not allowed to say that he doesn’t want to deal with the case because it says in Devarim (1:17), Do not be afraid of any man and suppress your views against him. Rather the judges need to know who they are judging and before Whom they are judging…

Sifri Devarim (17): Do not be afraid of any man. Perhaps a judge will say that he is afraid that one of the litigants will kill his son or burn down his harvest or destroy his crops – the Torah say, Do not be afraid of any man because judgement belongs to G-d… And that includes one’s own teacher as it states in Tanchumin (Mishpatim) What is the source that says if a student is sitting before his Rebbe and he sees a merit to the poor and an obligation to the rich that he should not be silent? Because it says in the Torah, Do not be afraid of any man.

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