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Home -> 5771 -> Mishpatim

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Mishpatim, 5771

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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Home -> 5771 -> Mishpatim

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Mishpatim, 5771

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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Home -> 5771 -> Mishpatim

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Mishpatim, 5771

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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Home -> 5771 -> Mishpatim

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Mishpatim, 5771

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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