Even a Tzaddik Is Blinded by a Bribe

On the pasuk "Because bribery blinds the wise and distorts the words of the Tzaddikim" (Shemos 23:8), the Komarna writes that, according to Chazal in Kesubos 105a, even a complete tzaddik who takes a bribe will be blinded. This is wondrous and strange, he says, for how can someone who takes bribes be called a complete tzaddik? He explains it through a true account of the Apta Rav, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel, author of Ohev Yisrael. As a young Rav in Kolbasof, he sat as a dayan with two judges who had taken a bribe. A litigant secretly filled the pockets of his Rosh Chodesh bekeshe with gold, and the Rav suddenly found the false arguments sounding correct, though he knew in his heart that the ruling was wrong. On Rosh Chodesh he found the gold, learned who had placed it, returned it and withdrew from the case. Even a complete tzaddik who accepts a bribe unknowingly, the Komarna explains, has his mind and judgment distorted.