I heard the following story from Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman, the beloved Mashgiach of Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim in Queens, quite a few times:
There was a fifty-year-old man whose health had been becoming progressively worse for a few years. His eyesight was blurred, and his hands and legs became less coordinated causing him to lose his balance, even as he walked in the street. Finally, his doctor told him and his wife his grim prognosis: he had a debilitating disease and only six months to live.
As can be imagined, they were extremely distraught. The wife called a young man whom she knew had a relationship with the previous Skolya Rebbe, Rav Dovid Yitzchok Isaac Rabinowitz zt”l, and asked him to please speak to the rebbe on their behalf.
When the young man recounted to the rebbe what the doctor had said, the rebbe became very agitated. When it says, “He shall provide for healing” (Shemos 21:20), the Gemara (Berachos 60a) explains, “From here a doctor was granted permission to heal.” A doctor only has permission to try to heal someone. But who gave him permission to rule on death? The rebbe asked the young man if the patient was an eved Hashem. When the young man replied in the affirmative, the rebbe said, “In that case, there is a verse in the Torah that applies to him. ‘You shall worship Hashem, your G-d, and He shall bless your bread and your water, and I shall remove illness from your midst’ (Shemos 23:25). Tell the patient’s wife to prepare for him a piece of bread and a glass of tea. He should recite a blessing and eat them, and G-d will bless him with longevity.”
So they did, and soon after the man he began to feel better. With time he regained most of his eyesight and the use of his hands, although he never really regained the usage of his feet.
Rabbi Finkelman would conclude the story by saying, “I don’t know what happened to the doctor. But I know that the patient is still alive, still going to shul each day and learning Torah.”
In Av 5771, Rabbi Finkelman’s father, Mr. Shmuel Finkelman, passed away. In his hesped, Rabbi Finkelman recounted this story and then added: “I never related who the story was about for fear of causing an ayin hara. But now I can say that the patient in the story was my father, and I was the one who went to the Skolya Rebbe at the request of my mother. My father lived 35 more years after the rebbe’s blessing.”
Moshe Rabbeinu instructed the nation, “Judges and officers you shall appoint for yourselves” (Devarim 16:18). Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein notes that to some degree every person naturally craves a sense of subjugation. It gives a person a certain measure of comfort and security knowing that he can turn to, and has to answer to, a higher authority. It is also comforting for a person to have someone to guide and instruct him, so that he does not feel alone. Although we all crave independence and chafe excessive authority, too much freedom can lead to anarchy if it’s not harnessed and controlled. When a person becomes completely lawless and “free,” he feels wild and animalistic and cannot attain inner fulfillment.
This is a very poignant concept in education. Children resist authority and struggle against structure, chores, and rules. But deep down they feel loved when they are granted guidelines and limits. Conversely, children who are granted too much freedom and lack structure are emotionally unstable and lack self-confidence.
Thus the obligation to appoint judges and officers is not only for the sake of maintaining peace and judicial law. It is also so that one has mentors and teachers to whom one can turn to for guidance and direction.