Parshas Kedoshim

“You must judge your friend with righteousness!” (Vayikra 19:15)

It is a positive commandment to judge with righteousness as it says “You must judge your friend with righteousness!”, and Chazal explained that the judges are commanded to treat the litigants who come before them equally. This means to say that the judges must not honor one of the litigants more than the other. The judge must not allow one of them to say all that he wanted, and ask the second one to shorten his arguments. They must not allow one of them to be standing while the other sits. Also included in this commandment is the obligation upon every member of Klal Yisrael who is wise in the Laws of the Torah and honest in his ways to judge with the laws of the Torah between litigants if he has the power to do so. According to the strict letter of the law, even a single person may judge, but Chazal warned that a person should not judge alone.

In this commandment is also included the fact that it is correct for every person to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, and only interpret the deeds and words of his friend for good.

The root of this commandment is revealed, for only with impartial justice can the world be inhabited, and if a judge will honor one of the litigants more than the other, he will be scared to mention all of his arguments, and the judgment will be incorrect. And in that which we have said that included in this commandment is the obligation on every man who is wise in Torah and is also an honest man to judge the litigants there is also a purpose, for a wise honest man will give the correct verdict, whereas if he declines to judge, other people who are not wise will judge, and will inadvertently give an incorrect verdict. And in the obligation to always give the benefit of the doubt can also be found the same idea, as this causes peace and friendliness between people. It is therefore apparent that the whole purpose of this commandment is to help the coexistence of people by having impartial justice, and to ensure peace between people by the removal of each person’s suspicions about his friend.

This commandment applies in all places and at all times, to men (who are obligated to judge) and not to women. However, women are also obligated to give the benefit of the doubt, which is one of the parts of this commandment as has been explained.