summary

In last Shabbat's Torah portion Moses made the journey up Mount Sinai, where the Torah tells us, he received the Ten Commandments and then stayed for forty days during which - following a traditional understanding - the remainder of the written and oral Torah was revealed to him, the written Torah being that which we read on Shabbat mornings, otherwise known as the five books of Moses, the oral Torah being the sum total of the remaining authoritative, in Orthodox terms, Jewish wisdom from the beginning of time to the present day.

This is of course a process which Liberal Judaism sees somewhat differently, understanding revelation as being a process in which God and humanity are partners in the development of rules to live by, seeing no sense or advantage in trying to trace all wisdom back to a single individual even one of the stature of Moses, recognising that to be authoritative law needs to be just and even handed with a good dose of compassion relying on its good sense rather than on its purported source for its validity! This week's Torah portion, Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18), is presented in the Torah as a continuation of the revelation to Moses.

In this week's Torah portion, God tells Moses, "These are the rules (mishpatim) that you shall set before them". These rules deal with a wide variety of issues - how one should treat slaves, strangers, widows and orphans; punishments for killing or physically hurting other people; personal liability for injuries caused to animals; how to treat people fairly; rules about loaning money; and specific directions on how to perform certain rituals. We are also directed to show consideration to enemies.

Rules about Shabbat (Exodus 23:12), the three pilgrimage festivals (Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot) (Exodus 23:14) and kashrut (Exodus 23:19) are also mentioned this week. God tells the people that if they serve God, they will be blessed and they famously respond,"All that God has spoken we will do" (Exodus 24:3 and 24:7). The parasha concludes with Moses going up Mount Sinai and remaining there for forty days and forty nights.

commentary

1. How many mitzvot did God give to the Israelites at Sinai?

Rabbi Simlai who taught in Palestine and Babylonia during the 4th century CE, declared that Moses received 613 commandments at Sinai: 248 positive commandments (miztvot aseh - and corresponding to the 248 parts of the human body) and 365 negative commandments (mitzvot lo ta'aseh - which corresponds to the days of the solar year).

2. Why laws / rules / commandments?

R. Simlai (bMakot 23b) - to guide human beings in the use of all their physical powers during each day of the year.

Issi ben Akabia (Mechilta Ex 22:30) - Each commandment adds holiness to the people of Israel.

Rabbi Abbahu (Exodus Rabbah 30:9) - to preservethe survival of the world. We are God's gardener and the comandments are God's instructions as to how to tend the garden.

Rambam (Moses Maimonides in Mishneh Torah bk. 9 ch. 4) - to suppress the human being's natural tendency...to correct our moral qualities and to kep straight all our doings.

Rambam (Yad, Shabbat 1180, 2, 3) - To promote compassion, loving-kindness and peace in the world.

Ibn Ezra (on Deut 5:18) - to make the human heart upright.

3. Some commentators also divide the commandments into those which concern ritual or religion: commandments between human beings and God (mitzvot bein adam le-Makom) and commandments between fellow human beings (mitzvot bein adam le-chavero). Neither category is seen as more important than the other and performing a commandment from one category may inspire the performanceof one from the other category e.g. making a Pesach seder may lead to one inviting 'all who are hungry to eat.' In today's world, most of us would sign up to the morality suggested by the mitzvot bein adam le-chavero. What is the role for in our mitzvot bein adam le-Makom lives?