The Roman Officers Who Studied Torah
The government sends two officers to study the Torah in a yeshiva. They find one law objectionable, but out of gratitude for their warm welcome they keep it secret.
The Gemara recounts a story where the government sent two officers to a yeshiva to study Torah. The government wanted to find out if there was anything objectionable in the Torah. The yeshiva had no choice but to accept these new students. After the officers felt they had studied enough, they declared, “We have studied your entire Torah and found nothing wrong except for one matter. Your laws state that the Jewish owner of an ox that gores a Canaanite-owned ox is exempt from paying for any damages. However, a Canaanite must pay full damages if his ox gores a Jewish-owned ox.” The Meiri explains that the Canaanites were not careful about damages to anyone’s property but their own. Still, these two officers found that law to be objectionable. However, because of the warm and gracious treatment in the yeshiva that they experienced, the two officers stated that they will keep this matter a secret.