Parshas Mishpatim: Pear Pressure

 

 

Torah Parallels: Parshas Mishpatim

By Daniel Listhaus

💭 A Thought on the Parsha: Pear Pressure                 This passuk says, “You shall not go after the many to do bad; and you shall not respond to a dispute to tilt after the many.” This passuk alludes to several laws relevant to how the sanhedrin and beis din must conduct themselves. There are a couple of different views as to how to learn this passuk. Rashi explains that when the passuk says, “Do not respond to a dispute...”, the word for 'dispute' (ריב) is written without the letter yud (as רב) to teach us that a judge cannot argue with someone greater (רב) than him in the court. For this reason, the sanhedrin would start voicing their opinions “from the side”; meaning starting from the lesser members of the court.                   Rashi in Gemara explaining this passuk seems to start off explaining the same way as he does in Chumash, saying that the passuk is coming to teach an issur of arguing with the greatest member of the sanhedrin. However, Rashi then continues to write, “And this is why the sanhedrin starts voicing their opinion “from the side”, from the least of the members of the sanhedrin, in order that one should not hear one of his colleagues declaring a judgement and agree with him.”                   This Rashi seems to be self-contradictory. What is the reason that the sanhedrin would start from the lesser judge? Is it so that he could not contradict the most prestigious member of the court, or is it because we do not want him to hear what his fellow judges have to say?                   The Mahar'shal comes to address this issue and explains that Rashi is bothered by the following question. Granted the passuk teaches us (according to Rashi) that one is not permitted to argue with the head of the sanhedrin, and therefore he could not be the one who gives his view first; but still, why not start with the second most esteemed member of the sanhedrin? This is what Rashi is coming to answer with his further explanation that not only is there a reason we do not start from the greatest, but there is actually a reason why we start with the most junior member: in order that there should be no pressure to sway and agree with others on the court. We therefore start with the least prestigious member of the sanhedrin.                   Let us stop a minute and think about who exactly we are talking about. We are dealing with the sanhedrin. The sanhedrin was comprised of the most outstanding people. They were not only experts in all of Torah, they were also first-in-class ba'alei middos and yirei shamayim who had conquered their strongest desires. The judges of sanhedrin had to meet a specific set of qualifications which demonstrated their perfection of their middos. This select group of Dayanim represented a small percentage of k’lal Yisroel, literally the cream of the crop. Certainly, even the “least” among them was tremendously great in his own right. Was it really necessary for the Torah to demand of the sanhedrin to start from the least among them in order to ensure that one will not just copy what someone greater than him said? How could a member of the sanhedrin, with all his incredible qualities make a decision not based on his own true conclusions based on his s’varos and Torah expertise?                   Perhaps the answer to this question could be learned from a pear.  If you ever have an unripe pear that you would like to ripen a lot faster than it wants to, there is a simple solution. You could take a ripening banana and put it in a paper bag with the pear. The reason this works is because bananas produce a lot of Ethylene, the chemical that stimulates fruits to ripen, when ripening. So, if you put a ripening banana in the same bag as a pear, the pear will benefit from the extra supply of Ethylene in the air and will start to ripen as well. It is incredible. Just by being in the same bag as a ripening banana, the pear will start to ripen as well. The “pear pressure” is just too great to bear. Whether the pear wants to start ripening or not makes no difference, it will find itself unconsciously start ripening under the pressure of its fellow fruit.                   Perhaps this is what the Torah is trying to teach us as well. Of course the sanhedrin consisted of the best people in the world. However, in the end of the day, being in the same room as others, especially when others are greater or one side has more members in agreement, presents an incredible pressure which affects us subconsciously and tells us not to think for ourselves and to instead follow the crowd. The rationales start to kick in and then mistakes could, G-d forbid, be made. This is a concern even for the greatest members of society. The members of the sanhedrin were each expected to bring their Torah and s’varos to the table, so the process had to be designed in a way to mitigate the potential to be swayed by others.                   Peer pressure is something which affects us whether we like it or not. We are influenced by our family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Like many things, however, this pressure could be used for good or bad. The mishna in Pirkei Avos states that Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer are of the opinion that the proper ways a person should cling to ensure reward in olam haba'ah are by making sure to have a good friend and a good neighbor, respectively. However, the opposite holds true as well. Being around a bad friend or living in a community with bad values is the worst thing for a person. It will subconsciously change him as a person and affect him in every decision and aspect of life.                   This is the power of peer pressure. We cannot ignore the fact that people must live and interact with others. At the same time, we must also realize the influence this exposes us to and be sensitive to it to prompt us to design our processes to prepare for the inevitable situation where we will have to face a peer pressure. The only way that one could prepare oneself for this is if one learns the lesson from the sanhedrin. Just like the smallest of the sanhedrin must state his opinion first before hearing those of his colleagues so that his decision not be swayed, we too must make sure that we solidify our values, beliefs, and opinions so that we could have a proverbial bar setting our standards.                   Of course, the powerful force of peer pressure could be used for tremendous good. One who deliberately chooses friends, neighbors, and associates who will challenge him to grow will become an even greater person. Environments of influence certainly have an impact whether we be a person or a pear.