The story beyond the verse: “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice.” (Exodus 23:2)
We all know that it is customary to make decisions following the opinion of the majority. So what is the meaning of this Bible verse?
A very insightful and interesting Midrash {מדרש} (an ancient Jewish tradition) tells us the following story:
A group of evil people from a small town gathered together and walked up to the leader of the town, saying: “How come you are making all the decisions,when it should have gone by rule of the majority?”
So the town leader replied: “One time all the organs in the body joined together and told the head – ‘this is not fair that you are calling all of the shots and you are not consulting us. It is written in the Torah one should “side with the many”.
The head answered them back: “This verse from the Torah refers to a case of ‘many heads’ that are CAPABLE of making their own decisions and in that situation they should indeed follow the opinion of the majority. But in your situation, there is not a single ‘head’ around and that is precisely the meaning of ‘You shall not fall in with the many to do evil and siding with the many, so as to pervert justice’…