Parashat mishpatim
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? |
