Parashat Mishpatim - Hearing what cannot be Seen

רפואה מן התורה

Healing from the Torah

Parashat Mishpatim

Exodus 21:1-24:8

By Adam Ruditsky

     

    Rabbi Jonathan Sacks refers to this parsha, Mishpatim, as Israel meeting with “God in the details” of the commandments they received at Mt. Sinai in Yitro.  Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz teaches this parsha is also an outgrowth of Mt. Sinai that is about מנוחת הנפש, m’nuchat hanefesh,  translated to mean “equanimity,” or the balance of character within one’s self.  The relationship between Yitro and Mishpatim for Rashi is אף אלו מסיני, or “so these too, are from Sinai,” making them mutually related.  Per last week, this is the other side of the mountain, which begins with giving laws about behavior.
     Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz writes that the laws of Mishpatim include “all sorts of human ills and remedies,” laws that cover the areas of “murder, property damage, theft, self-defense, loans, judicial process, and more.”  While sure those laws reflect the story of Jews from another age, with the values of their time, they are applicable for us simply because law governs society, or we have chaos.  But for Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer it is not just about law, but “the central laws and judgments that are required of the Jewish people are not presented in a biblical book called ‘Laws,’ but rather they appear as an integral part of the story about the departure of Egypt,” which are in a book called “Shemot,” or names, making it about people.  There are a few laws that are not included in this section of Torah that would seem even more central in defining a person’s behavior.  From Leviticus 19 we read, “Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD” (cf. Lev. 19:18); or, “Thou shalt rise up before the silver head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD (cf. Lev. 19:32).  Can we really say that the laws of Mishpatim are about do’s and don’ts whereas the laws of Leviticus are about the ethics of a person’s middah, or their innate character, in the treatment of others?
     In Mishpatim we read a ‘do and do not’ law that says, “And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (cf. Ex. 22:20).  Turning back to the “ethical character” laws of Leviticus 19 we further read, “The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (cf. Lev. 19:34).  In this case while the laws of Mishpatim are more so about do’s and don’ts, the above verse about strangers from Leviticus can teach us that do’s and don’ts themselves are rooted in the ethical nature of character.  In the Talmud, Berachot 33b, we read that having compassion in prayer is like having mercy for the bird’s nest, the nest representing lives that should be preserved.  If caring for the stranger is merely a matter of law above the ethical character of mercy then the law itself is ineffectual. We see this today, whether on the southern border of the United Sates or immigration laws for particular select countries, hence law’s that are not tempered with mercy as well as order can lead to dire circumstances.
     Appealing to the Talmud once more, in this case Bava Metzia 59a, we read “It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: For what reason did the Torah issue warnings in thirty-six places, and some say in forty-six places, with regard to causing any distress to a convert?”  We can glean from this that in Mishpatim a people freed from tyranny need to be reminded of their freedom from slavery, or perhaps they would return to a slave-like-behavior mentality in their treatment of others who are now strangers in their midst.  Tikkun HaMiddot, or the fixing of characters, needs laws, but law without mercy is like slavery all over again.  Here in Mishpatim when we read, “a stranger shalt thou not oppress; for ye know the heart of a stranger,” is that so?  Do we recall being oppressed (whatever that means to you) when we treat others that way, allowing our treatment of another to be no more than words on a page?  Don’t hear that wrong, the law is the law and words on a page are important.  Yet, Torah based law is not just about adherence out of obligation, but ultimately it illuminates ones middah that will reflect the nature of their good character; the opposite being that without a moral or ethical law it also illuminates ones middah but in a negative way.
     To end, I want to quote Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer once again who says, “many of the things that happen to us in life are not optional, but we do get to choose whether we want to remember them.”  Here, we remember law as opposed to chaos, freedom of will as opposed to the slavery of being, and a character that treats others in a way that we want to be treated ourselves.  R’Yanklowitz said that Mishpatim in relationship to Yitro is about מנוחת הנפש (m’nuchat hanefesh) in order to achieve “balance” of middah, a balance that is also between our encounter with the sacred and our daily behavior.   In so doing we learn to hear the inner voice of our middah that cannot be seen, but its impact to self and others will be felt, both for the good but if neglected for the bad.

Shabbat Shalom!