The city of Fez, which was in Morocco, approximately 1,000 years ago, had the great Rabbi Rif, who, of course, has a commentary on the Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud). The Rif was the head rabbi of Fez, and whenever a case came before him in his Jewish court, he would never show favoritism to any side, as is commanded in the Torah.
One day, there was a very wealthy man of Fez by the name of Khalifa, who was very connected to government officials. He had a case against his neighbor, who was a poor, impoverished Jew. The case came before the Rif, and the Rif looked carefully at it, investigating it with his rabbinical counsel. He came to the conclusion that the poor, impoverished Jew was the innocent party and Khalifa, the wealthy Jew of Fez, was guilty.
Well, to say the least, Khalifa became enraged. He turned to the Rif and told him, “If you don't change your decision, you will be sorry.” All the students were very worried by this threat because they knew that he was well connected and that his threats were real. The Rif looked at him and told him, “In the Torah it says, ‘When you are a judge, do not fear any human person, but judge correctly and favorably to the party who is innocent.’ I am sure nothing bad will befall me.”
At these words, Khalifa became even more enraged. Without any hesitation, he went to the government officials and said things about the Rif that, of course, were untrue. The Rif was now in danger. The students and the Jewish people of Fez knew this very well, and they surrounded the Jewish neighborhood with guards to watch over the Rif and make sure no harm would come upon him.
Sure enough, a few days later, in the middle of the night, the students who were on watch heard the horses and soldiers of the king coming toward the Jewish neighborhood. They knew they were headed for the Rif's house to arrest him, put him in jail, and perhaps even execute him. Quickly, they sent a message to the home where the students were standing watch over the Rif in the middle of the night, telling them, “The soldiers are coming.”
Sure enough, the Rif picked himself up the minute he heard, took his tefillin (phylacteries) without even putting on his shoes, and ran out the back door, where a wagon was waiting for him and his family. The wagon driver quickly took the Rif to the port city of Tangier. At Tangier, they loaded onto a boat, and from there they escaped to Cordoba, Spain, where the Jews of Cordoba received the Rif with great honor and promised him that they would support him for the rest of his life.
The Rif, at that time, was 70 years old, already an elderly man, and Baruch Hashem (Blessed is Hashem), he settled in Cordoba until the end of his life. Back in Fez, Khalifa, who was bedridden, fell ill with craziness that very year. Quickly and surely, he left this world, passing on as a crazy person.