“You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.”

There are three discernments here: 1) justice, 2) partiality, 3) bribe.

The Torah explains only bribe but does not give any reasoning to justice or partiality. We should understand the difference between justice and partiality.

According to the work, first we should understand justice, and the dispute, who are the litigators, and who is the judge. The thing is that when a person wants to walk in the way of the Creator, he must believe that the Creator is good and does good. Hence, the question is, Why does man feel suffering? At that time, he has a litigation with Providence, since “a judge has only what his eyes see.”

If one feels suffering, it is hard for him to overcome and say that it is all mercies, since he sees and feels unpleasantness, and he must not lie—that this is not suffering, meaning that he understands that Providence is concealed. This is the meaning of “You shall not distort justice.”

At the same time, one should believe above reason that this is absolute benefit, and that “You shall not be partial,” meaning not to want the state of “face,” namely knowledge, called “wisdom” and “face.”

Rather, “You will see My back, and My face shall not be seen.” This is precisely by not taking a bribe, since a “bribe” means that a person wants to receive pleasure for himself, meaning he wants to exert only where he sees self-benefit.

At that time, he is unfit to see the truth, “for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise,” since only when he is in a state of “You shall not take a bribe,” but everything will be for the sake of the Creator, he will be able to be rewarded with wisdom, meaning open Providence. Otherwise, it “blinds the eyes of the wise,” meaning that he will only have concealment, since the light is present only in a place of bestowal.