As R' Frand has restarted his Thursday Night shiur I am again providing a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand began the vort by comparing a pasuk in this week's parsha with a pasuk in Mishpatim. In Shoftim there is a proscription against taking bribes in Devarim 16:19 which warns that וְלֹֽא־תִקַּ֣ח שֹׁ֔חַד כִּ֣י הַשֹּׁ֗חַד יְעַוֵּר֙ עֵינֵ֣י חֲכָמִ֔ים. However in Mishpatim, the Torah phrases the warning different as the Torah states in Shemos 23:8 that וְשֹׁ֖חַד לֹ֣א תִקָּ֑ח כִּ֤י הַשֹּׁ֨חַד֙ יְעַוֵּ֣ר פִּקְחִ֔ים.
R' Frand then quoted the Gra to explain the difference between a Chacham and a Pikeach. He stated that a Chacham is someone who knows a lot of Torah. But a Pikeach is not just book smart. Instead, he has a keen power of observation which he can use to discern the truth in a factual dispute.
R' Frand closed this vort by saying that a Dayan needs to have both characteristics. He need to be aware of the Torah, Shas and all the Piskei Halacha. But he also needs to be able to observe and understand the people who bring the Din Torah before him.
R' Frand said a second vort on the concept of bribery. He quoted the Gemara in Kesubos 105 which states that even a bribe of words can cause the disqualification of a judge. He gave the example of telling a judge that he is wearing a nice suit, or telling a Rav that he gave a wonderful shiur can be enough that the person cannot sit as a judge.
R' Frand gave examples from the Gemara, including how Shmuel was crossing a rickety bridge and someone gave him a hand. When he found out that person was supposed to be a litigant before him, he said that he could not hear the case. Similarly Amemar had something on his head and a man came and removed it. Amemar told him that he could not hear his case. A third example involved a man who covered spittle which was on the floor in front of Mar Ukva. He too said that he could not hear that man's case.
R' Frand then asked - were these people so easy influenced that the smallest good deed which was done for them could influence their ability to adjudicate their cases?
R' Frand answered by quoting R' Paam who explained that the problem for these Rabbanim were that they had tremendous HaKaras HaTov for whatever people did for them. After experiencing the good deed, they felt that they needed to recognize the actions of the doer and that would prevent them from impartially hearing the case. R' Paam remarked that if in our generation there was such a high level of HaKaras HaTov, there would be a lot less Shalom Bayis issues.
R' Frand closed the shiur by telling a story about R' Kook. R' Kook used to spend summers in Latvia in an area where other Rabbanim frequented as well. One day he was at a location where R' Bengus (sp?) was trying to gather a minyan as he had Yahrtzeit. When R' Bengus went outside and saw another group gathering for a minyan he asked one of the participants to join him, not realizing that he had reduced the minyan to less than 10. When the person organizing the minyan saw that he was now short he began to berate R' Bengus. R' Kook came outside and smacked the man across the face. The man went to the authorities and asked to have R' Kook arrested. They came to R' Kook and asked him to apologize, but he refused as he felt that this man's haranguing of R' Bengus was an afront to the Torah.
Eventually the charges were dismissed and R' Kook was never prosecuted. Years later R' Kook came to the United States for a visit and he was met by the same man...who proceeded to give him a gold watch. He asked why? The man replied that after the incident took place he was a marked man and he could not do business with anyone. So he moved to the United States where he was not known and he began to build up a business which was very successful, to the point that he became a millionaire. As a showing of his HaKaras HaTov, he wanted R' Kook to have the gold watch.
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