Musar for Taanit 5:11
ותו הא דתניא ר' יהודה אומר משום בן בתירה העובר לפני התיבה ביום טוב האחרון של חג האחרון מזכיר הי בן בתירה אילימא רבי יהודה בן בתירה הא אמר בשני בחג הוא מזכיר
of the Plain of Beth-Hawartan,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Perhaps Beth Hawran, east of the Jordan. V. Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 50.');"><sup>12</sup></span> the laws concerning the Ten Young Trees,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' All work in a tree-planted field had to be discontinued thirty days before the end of the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle; but where ten saplings are spread over an area of fifty square cubits they may be cultivated right until the end of the sixth year. V. Sheb. 1, 6.');"><sup>13</sup></span>
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
Following this injunction, the Torah warns that one should not place obstacles in the path of the blind, an allusion to attempts to bribe judges whose sense of fairness would be blinded by acceptance of a bribe, such as Moses has repeated in Deut. 16,19. There are other dimensions to such bribes, i.e. attempts to trip up the blind, such as the advice given in Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 3,6 "to honour, i.e. send gifts to your physician before you are in need of him." People who do this know that sooner or later they will be in need of the services of a physician, and they want to ensure that they will then get immediate attention. The same is true of someone who is in the habit of sending gifts to a judge. He knows that if ever he will need to have to appear before a judge in litigation, he can choose this judge knowing he will be favourably disposed towards him. The Torah therefore ends the verse with the injunction to fear the Lord your G–d, i.e. that G–d is quite aware of our machinations. This fear of the Lord is something within the province of one's heart.
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