Judges Who Loved Bribes and the Widow's Unheard Plea

"Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves" (Isaiah 1:23). Bar Kappara said: chiefs of doves who armed thieves. "Your princes are rebellious" (ibid.) -- for they all loved robbery. "Companions of thieves" (ibid.) -- for they all associated with thieves. Rabbi Berekhyah said: It happened that a woman's kettle was stolen, and she went to the judge to lodge a complaint about it, and found it set upon his stove. It happened that a man's cloak was stolen, and he came to lodge a complaint about it before the judge, and found it spread upon his bed. Rabbi Levi said: It happened that a woman honored a judge with a silver lamp, and her adversary went and honored him with a colt of gold. The next day she came and found her case reversed. She said to him, "My lord, let my case shine before you like that silver lamp." He said to her, "What can I do for you? The colt has overturned the lamp." This is what is written, "Everyone loves bribes" (Isaiah 1:23) -- for they all loved robbery -- "and pursues rewards" (ibid.) -- pay me and I will pay you. "They do not judge the orphan, and the cause of the widow does not come before them" (Isaiah 1:23). Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Yochanan differed. Rabbi Eleazar said: At first, when a man would die in Jerusalem, they would appoint guardians over the orphans, and a widow would claim her marriage settlement from the orphans, and they would go to the judge and find him in collusion with the guardians. Rabbi Yochanan said: At first, when a man came up to plead his case in Jerusalem, the judge would say to him, "Split me two logs of wood, fill me two jars of water," and his resources would be used up, and he would leave there crushed in spirit. The widow would meet him on the road and say to him, "What was done with your case?" And he would say to her, "My resources are spent and I gained nothing." And she would say, "If this man, who is a man, gained nothing, how much more so I, who am a widow," to fulfill what is said, "They do not judge the orphan, and the cause of the widow does not come before them" (Isaiah 1:23).