אי יליף לילף כולה מהתם זקניך ושופטיך למה לי אלא וי"ו ושופטיך למניינא ורבי שמעון וי"ו לא דריש
'Elders' [indicates] two; [similarly,] 'judges', two. And as a court must not be evenly-balanced, another is added; hence there are five: this is R. Judah's view. R. Simeon says: 'Elders' indicates two, and as a court cannot consist of an even member, another is added, making three in all. Now, according to R. Simeon, what purpose is served by the words 'thy judges'? — It is needed, in his view, to indicate the necessity of choosing the most distinguished of 'thy judges'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., members of the Great Sanhedrin.
');"><sup>27</sup></span> And R. Judah?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whence does he deduce this?
');"><sup>28</sup></span>
Shemirat HaLashon
This, too, shall he see [to do]. Not to take upon himself any appointments, if not for mitzvah matters. For [if he does] he is very likely to stumble into the sin of lashon hara. And he should fulfill in himself the dictum of Chazal (Sanhedrin 14a): "Be lowly and live." In general, one who wishes to be "complete" in his ways should avoid the company of men as much as he can. And even if he is a businessman, who sometimes must meet with men who are not reputable at all, to do business with them, still, so long as it is not absolutely essential to join them, he should distance himself from them.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
According to the Kabbalists the Heavenly objective was to wipe out the residual guilt of the brothers which had not been atoned for when they sold Joseph. We can find numerous allusions in our פרשה, which relate to the manner in which these Ten Martyrs were killed. According to tradition, Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava had three hundred לונכיות, lances, stuck into his body. The word ויתנכלו להמיתו, in 37, 18 is an allusion to this; the letters are simply a re-arrangement of the word לונכיות.
