Exodus 22:27

Sons of Israel My people, ye shall not revile your judges, nor curse the rabbans who are appointed rulers among thy people.

THOU SHALL NOT CURSE ‘ELOHIM.’ Onkelos translated it as referring to a judge, that one is not to curse him if he should hold him guilty in a lawsuit. Lo takeil [Onkelos’ rendition of the Hebrew lo t’kaleil — thou shalt not curse], is the Aramaic expression for “cursing.” Thus: “Meikal l’hu (they curse him): May the Eternal cut off to the man that doeth this, him that calleth and him that answereth.” There are many similar expressions, in the language of the Talmud Yerushalmi.

NOR CURSE A ‘NASI’ OF THY PEOPLE — nasi means the one who is “lifted up” above his people, namely, the king. He thus mentioned that one is not to curse him in case he declares him guilty in a trial before him.
In the opinion of our Rabbis in the Gemara, Thou shalt not curse ‘Elokim,’ constitutes an admonition against blaspheming the Name of G-d, even by one of the substituted names [such as: Gracious and Merciful etc.]. Thus He warned against cursing the King on high, blessed be He, and also the monarch that reigns on earth. The Rabbis have also said in the Gemara that included in the term Elokim, is the Glorious Name, as well as the judge who sits in the seat of G-d on earth. But it has not been explained whether the term nasi includes the head of the Great Sanhedrin, who is called nasi in the Gemara. Harav Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon said that he is included under the term of this prohibition. And so it also appears to me, on the basis of a question that Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi so that [in the time of the Sanctuary] the law of a special sin-offering for the prince (see Leviticus 4:22-26) applied to him as well, since he was the nasi of the Sanhedrin, or perhaps because he had his counterpart in the Diaspora — the Exilarch — his authority was no longer unique as that of a king, and therefore his sin-offering is to be like that of any individual Israelite. It is thus obvious that the office of the Chief of the Sanhedrin as such is included under the term nasi. asked about himself: “A person in my status, am I to bring a sa’ir, Verse 28). etc.?” If so, He is stating: “Do not curse any ruler of the people, who holds a position of supreme authority over all Israel, whether that position be in the secular sphere of government or in the rule of Torah,” for the head of the Sanhedrin is the highest position in the authority of the Torah.

אלוהים לא תקלל ונשיא בעמך לא תאר. The Torah again selected the most likely scenario of someone cursing people in authority. People who lose in litigation are apt to curse the judge ruling against them. We find a similar verse in Kohelet 10,20 where Solomon writes: “don’t revile a king even among your intimates.” Another verse in which the Torah refers to a spectacle arousing curses is found in Deuteronomy 21,23 where the Torah refers to the body of a judicially executed person being buried by nightfall. The reason given is that seeing such a body evokes curses against the judges who had convicted the victim.

אלוהים לא תקלל, even though you may feel that the judge has judged you unfairly, you must not curse him. The reason is that no individual can judge his own guilt or innocence objectively.

ונשיא בעמך לא תאור, cursing the legitimate authority of a country, its official rulers, will frequently result in the whole population experiencing the negative fallout of such curses. Compare what Solomon has to say on this in Proverbs 24,21 “fear the Lord my son, and the king; do not associate with those who keep changing.” [the author appears to read into above verse that hereditary royalty is to be obeyed in preference to elected rulers who are elected only for a limited period of time, and can be replaced by the will of the people even during their term of office. Ed.]