לקוטי שיחות חלק כ״ד - כי תצא ד

On the verses, “If there is a quarrel between men, and they approach the court, and they judge them, and they vindicate the righteous and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked one is deserving of lashes, they shall cause him to lie down…,” it must be understood: Seemingly, the words “and they vindicate the righteous and condemn the wicked” are superfluous. Why, then, does Rashi make no comment on this?

This can be understood by first considering Rashi’s explanation at the beginning of the verse:

“If there is a quarrel: In the end they will come before the court. From this you may conclude that no peace results from a quarrel. Who caused Lot to separate from the righteous one? You must say: this quarrel.”

At first glance, it must be understood: What is the deficiency in the fact that “in the end they will come before the court”? In the Sifrei it states, “Who caused this one to be flogged?” whereas Rashi changes it to, “In the end they will come before the court.”

The explanation is that Rashi is troubled by the word “quarrel.” In several places in the Torah, a dispute between two people is called a “matter” — “If they have a matter,” “Whoever has a matter.” Why, then, is it called here a “quarrel”?

Therefore Rashi explains that “no peace results from a quarrel.” In other words, the verse is speaking of a dispute that has developed into an actual quarrel, and regarding this Rashi says that no peace emerges from it even through a judicial ruling. This is similar to what happened with Lot: because there was a quarrel, they ultimately had to separate from one another.

This, then, is the meaning of the verse, “and they shall vindicate…” The intention of the litigants is not to achieve peace or compromise; the judgment is only to vindicate the one who is righteous and to condemn the one who is wicked.

There is an additional point here:

One might say that since there is a quarrel and dispute, the court should not judge between them at all, but should instead punish both of them, since both are parties to the dispute.

Therefore the verse says, “and they shall vindicate the righteous” — even though with regard to the quarrel itself both are wicked, nevertheless, they must vindicate the one who is righteous with regard to the actual law.