Deuteronomy 16:18 Appoint judges and officers for all your gates in your cities, which יהוה your Elohim gives you, tribe by tribe: and they will judge את־ the people with righteous judgment. C-MATS
Question: What kind of judges must be appointed? The mere appointment of persons to staff the courts is not sufficient; they must be qualified and righteous, so that they will judge honestly and correctly (Rashi). The court must treat everyone equally. If a judge shows more respect to one litigant (the person engaged in a lawsuit), the other feels at a disadvantage (Rashi). Chumash
Question: What life lesson can we learn from this law? The Torah says to appoint judges and officers at the gates of our cities to protect them and maintain justice. We can also learn from this to carefully guard what we allow to pass through the ‘gates’ of our bodies – our eyes, ears, etc. – and start to take control of what we allow to influence our precious hearts and minds. Whatever we allow ourselves to see, hear or otherwise let into our bodies and minds is going to have an effect on us and we should value ourselves enough to set up guards, our good judgment, to make sure whatever we don’t want in – stays out.