[Avodah] Threats against a Judge

[Zev Sero]

Harvey Benton wrote:
> RZSero wrote:
> Nor is kibush ha'aretz listed, and yet it's completely obvious that it does override pikuach nefesh.  The same applies to lo taguru; by its nature it's obvious that it requires mesirut nefesh.  The three listed exceptions are those that don't require mesirut nefesh by their very natures, and indeed bnai noach are *not* required to be moser nefesh for them, but Jews are.
> 
> HB:  There are exceptions to kibush haaretz, such as being afraid, etc.

Kibush ha'aretz is a milchemet mitzvah, and therefore nobody is exempted,
even a bride and groom.  But even in a milchemet reshut, the Torah says why
a coward is sent home, and it's not because he's in greater danger than
others, but because he will infect others with his fear.  He's sent home
for the same reason that he'd be sent home if he had infectious TB -- so as
to keep the other soldiers healthy.  (Which raises the question of why he's
*not* sent home in a milchemet mitzvah; perhaps in a milchemet mitzvah we're
assured that Hashem will protect us from this particular danger.)
 

> Perhaps there are exceptions here too; depending on precieved threat levels, and the case being judged.  Does someone have to give up his life for a 20 dollar judgement?  Is he allowed to pasken wrong, and then give the agrieved party the 20 dollars back?  Or must the judge stand his ground and give the correct psak no matter what?

On the contrary, a judge must treat a case of a prutah just like one of
10K dinar.  "Kakaton kagadol tishma'u".


> Also there is an issue of putting OTHER lives in danger, e.g. his familys.  Does his obligations to fullfill a mitzvah, to the letter of the law, justify someone else possibly dying?

The Sifri says explicitly "lest he kill my son".  The only question raised
by the poskim (as discussed in the article I linked to) is whether a judge
may recuse himself from the case, and not pasken at all.  Nobody even
suggests that he may give a false psak.


-- 
Zev Sero                    A mathemetician is a device for turning coffee
zev at sero.name               into theorems.                   - Paul Erdos