Mishpatim – Peninim on the Torah

ויאמר ד' אל משה עלה אלי ההרה... ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה. ויקם משה ויהושע משרתו

Hashem said to Moshe, “Ascend to Me to the mountain… and I shall give you the stone Tablets and the teaching and the commandment… Moshe stood up with Yehoshua, his servant. (24:12,13)

Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to ascend the mountain, so that He could teach him the Torah and give him the Luchos. Moshe left together with Yehoshua, his trusted servant. What was Yehoshua doing there? He was not asked to attend – nor did he have any function at the mountain. This “party” was for Moshe alone. Rashi explains that Yehoshua accompanied Moshe out of a sense of loyalty. He waited for forty days at the foot of the mountain for his revered Rebbe to return. Chazal teach us that it was this fidelity to his Rebbe that earned Yehoshua the…

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ויבא משה ויספר לעם את כל דברי ד' ואת כל המשפטים. ויען כל העם קול אחד ויאמרו כל הדברים אשר דבר ד' נעשה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Mishpatim, 5774

Moshe came and told the people all the words of Hashem and all the ordinances, and the entire people responded with one voice and they said, “All the words that Hashem has spoken, we will do.” (24:3)

Accepting the Torah was not a simple undertaking for the Jewish People. Here was a people that had previously been living in a country whose citizens were infamous for their profligate decadence; they had been slaves to masters who had redefined the meaning of cruelty; these were a people who were quite distant from religion of any kind, let alone ready to accept a Torah which would totally transform their lives. Yet, when the Torah was offered to them, they accepted it with a resounding declaration of Naase v’nishma, “We will do and we will listen.” What motivated their acceptance?…

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אם חבל תחבל שמלת רעך עד בא השמש תשיבנו לו. כי היא כסותה לבדה הוא שמלותו לערו במה ישכב והיה כי יצעק אלי ושמעתי כי חנון אני

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Mishpatim, 5774

If you take your fellow’s garment as security, until sunset shall you return it to him. For it alone is his clothing, it is his garment for his skin – in what should he lie down? So it will be that if he cries out to Me, I shall listen, for I am compassionate. (22:25,26)

Rarely do we find the Torah explaining the reason behind a mitzvah so thoroughly as it does in this case. Theoretically, the Torah is presenting an argument for returning the borrower’s garment before nightfall. Indeed, the Torah goes so far as to give three reasons for returning the garment: it is his only garment; “it covers his skin”; “in what shall he lie down?” One would expect the rav who was making an appeal on behalf of the less fortunate members of his community to emphasize these points. This, however, is not the Torah’s way. It presents the law without…

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כי תקנה עבד עברי שש שנים יעבד ובשבעת יצא לחפשי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Mishpatim, 5774

If you purchase a Jewish bondsman, he shall work for six years; and in the seventh he shall go free. (21:2)

The term mishpatim, ordinances, aptly describes the core of the parsha: to list many of the social ordinances found in the Torah. It is, therefore, interesting to note that the first law detailed in the parsha is that of the eved Ivri, Hebrew slave. The terminology the Torah uses to describe the slave’s nationality and religious affiliation is inconsistent with the manner it uses throughout the rest of the Torah, in which Jews are referred to as Yisrael – not Ivri. The Shem MiShmuel quotes his father, the Avnei Nezer, who is bothered by this question. In order to answer…

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ויאמר ד' אל משה עלה אלי ההרה... ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה. ויקם משה ויהושע משרתו

Hashem said to Moshe, “Ascend to Me to the mountain… and I shall give you the stone Tablets and the teaching and the commandment… Moshe stood up with Yehoshua, his servant. (24:12,13)

ויבא משה ויספר לעם את כל דברי ד' ואת כל המשפטים. ויען כל העם קול אחד ויאמרו כל הדברים אשר דבר ד' נעשה

Moshe came and told the people all the words of Hashem and all the ordinances, and the entire people responded with one voice and they said, “All the words that Hashem has spoken, we will do.” (24:3)

אם חבל תחבל שמלת רעך עד בא השמש תשיבנו לו. כי היא כסותה לבדה הוא שמלותו לערו במה ישכב והיה כי יצעק אלי ושמעתי כי חנון אני

If you take your fellow’s garment as security, until sunset shall you return it to him. For it alone is his clothing, it is his garment for his skin – in what should he lie down? So it will be that if he cries out to Me, I shall listen, for I am compassionate. (22:25,26)

כי תקנה עבד עברי שש שנים יעבד ובשבעת יצא לחפשי

If you purchase a Jewish bondsman, he shall work for six years; and in the seventh he shall go free. (21:2)

YEARS

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