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“You shall not revile G-d, and you shall not curse a leader among your people.” (22:27)

Words are cheap, and emotions, at times, run high. We might accidentally say something that we will regret later on. What we do not understand is that words have an effect and they might cause irreparable damage to another person, as the following story illustrates: A certain rav in Yerushalayim, a Slonimer chasid, did not have children for twenty-four years after his marriage. Ultimately, following a miraculous incident he and his wife were blessed with a child. He related that as a young man he was a student at Yeshivas Slonim in Yerushalayim. The woman who came nightly to clean…

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“Distance yourself from a false word.” (23:7)

Integrity is much more than a virtue, a good character trait – it defines a human being. Indeed, there is no other negative command/transgression in the Torah where there is a  special warning to distance oneself. Falsehood can swallow up a person, overwhelm him. We try to justify our lack of integrity, saying it is not really a falsehood; it is for the purpose of a mitzvah; nothing really bad will come out of it. While all this may be true, the end result is that the person has lied. A white lie today becomes a major falsehood tomorrow. Horav…

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But if the bondsman shall say, “I love my master…I shall not go free…” and his master shall bore through his ear with the awl. (21:5,6)

There is no sin in the Torah for which a similar punishment is meted out. Chazal say that the ear is bored because it was the ear that heard Hashem say on Har Sinai, “To Me shall the Jewish People be servants” (Vayikra 25:55), and this individual then went and acquired for himself a (human) master anyway. The question is glaring: If the issue is becoming a slave, why is his ear pierced – after six years of servitude? It should have been done immediately when he sold himself as a slave. Why is he punished now, after all of…

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If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep, and slaughter it or sell it, he shall pay five cattle in place of the ox, and four sheep in place of the sheep. (21:37)

The Talmud Bava Kamma 79b distinguishes between a ganav, thief – who steals surreptitiously – and a gazlan,  robber,  who fears no man  and  steals  publicly.  The ganav pays keifel, a fine of double the value of the principal, and arbaah v’chamisha, four and five times the principal depending on whether it is a sheep or an ox, in the event that he sells or slaughters the animal. The students asked Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai why the Torah is more stringent concerning the ganav than it is toward the gazlan. Rabban Yochanan replied that the gazlan has equalized the respect he…

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Distance yourself from a false word. (23:7)

The admonition  against uttering a falsehood,  is quite different from other  prohibitive mitzvos. Nowhere does it state that one must distance himself from the aveirah, sin. Proximity to the sin, or area which might bring one to sin may not be advisable, but there does not seem to be a specific exhortation against it. Falsehood, however, seems to be very dangerous. It has such a strong gravitational pull that simply being in its immediate environment is dangerous and can influence one to sin. Why is it different than maachalos asuros, forbidden foods, which do not carry such a stringency that one…

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He took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the earshot of the people, and they said, “Everything that Hashem has said, we will do and we will obey!” (24:7)

Our greatest moment in history was when we received the Torah. Our nationhood became fused with our acceptance of Hashem’s Word. The anthem of our faith for all time was our resounding declaration, Naaseh v’Nishma, “We will do, and we will obey!” We set the standard of priorities for Jews for all time: we do/we act. The reason will come later. If we understand – good. If not – also good! That is what being a Jew is all about: uncompromising faith; unequivocal commitment. Yet, over time, people have strayed and alienated themselves and their descendants from the Torah. We can…

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“When you will buy a Hebrew servant.” (21:2)

Parashas Mishpatim deals primarily with civil and tort law. It begins with the laws regarding the eved Ivri, Hebrew slave. The Sefer HaChinuch explains that as a preamble to the laws of social justice, the Torah details the laws concerning the eved Ivri. We are to derive from here that, in order to achieve the necessary level of sanctity, the citizens of our emerging nation must exemplify compassion and act with kindness towards our fellowman. This begins with the slave whom we are to treat with extreme kindness, according him the respect a descendant of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov deserves….

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“You shall not persecute any widow or orphan.” (22:21)

One tear. Who can estimate the value of a tear shed by a lonely man, weeping over his sorry lot in life? Who can imagine the power  and  influence  of  a  tear  shed  by  a  poor  widow, bemoaning her fate, grieving over her loss, which is magnified every time she senses that vacuum in her life, the loneliness and feeling of helplessness that have now become her partner? Indeed, we cannot begin to calculate the value, the power and the influence which the tears of the broken-hearted generate. Every tear pierces through the heavens and is gathered before the Heavenly…

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“You shall not revile G-d, and you shall not curse a leader among your people.” (22:27)

Words are cheap, and emotions, at times, run high. We might accidentally say something that we will regret later on. What we do not understand is that words have an effect and they might cause irreparable damage to another person, as the following story illustrates: A certain rav in Yerushalayim, a Slonimer chasid, did not have children for twenty-four years after his marriage. Ultimately, following a miraculous incident he and his wife were blessed with a child. He related that as a young man he was a student at Yeshivas Slonim in Yerushalayim. The woman who came nightly to clean…

Continue Reading

“Distance yourself from a false word.” (23:7)

Integrity is much more than a virtue, a good character trait – it defines a human being. Indeed, there is no other negative command/transgression in the Torah where there is a  special warning to distance oneself. Falsehood can swallow up a person, overwhelm him. We try to justify our lack of integrity, saying it is not really a falsehood; it is for the purpose of a mitzvah; nothing really bad will come out of it. While all this may be true, the end result is that the person has lied. A white lie today becomes a major falsehood tomorrow. Horav…

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