Mishpatim Summary:
In last week’s sedra, G-d gave us the Ten Commandments. This week’s sedra of Mishpatim fleshes out the details of what He expects from us as Jews. Whilst Judaism is often seen as a religion of rituals, this week’s sedra balances out the picture. Most of the mitzvot in Mishpatim are interpersonal mitzvot, which form the basis of a civilised society. We are told not to exploit the less fortunate, whether as masters of servants or in court cases or as an employer or creditor.

It is interesting to note that of all the many interpersonal mitzvot in the Mishpatim, the first law deals with that of the Hebrew servant, surely the lowest ‘class’ in Jewish society. The reason is that our recent release from the Egyptian bondage should drive home to us the necessity of compassionate treatment to the disadvantaged in society.

We are also told to lend money to the poor without charging interest, not to withhold the pledge of a poor person and not to withhold an employee’s wages. There are a number of laws in the sphere of damages: financial compensation for injuring another whether directly or via one’s property, or for stealing or damaging another’s property and severe punishments for kidnapping or for a person who curses or hits his parents.

Point to Ponder:
We are told to restore lost property and to help people in trouble. But the Torah demands more than that:

“If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone you hate lying under its load, you might want to refrain from helping him, but instead you must make every effort to help him.” (23: 4-5)

We note that the Torah focuses on the property of our enemy. One person upsets another and a ‘broiges’ sets in. The consequences of resentment emanating from disagreements are often as tragic as they are unnecessary.

In such cases, the Torah in Vayikra 19 tells us not to bear a grudge. In the above passage we are told to go even further. Not only may we not bear a grudge, but also when the other person is in some form of trouble we have to help. Just as the Torah instructs us to be happy on a Yomtov and serious on Yom Kippur, even if we don’t feel in the mood, so the Torah here urges us to step out of ourselves and to rise above our negative feelings towards the other person.

The Talmud takes this idea even further. If there are two people in need of help and one is an enemy, while the other is a friend –you have to help the enemy first in order to fight against our negative feelings towards that person.

The path to real peace among us requires courage and the ability to rise above our egos. This is the meaning of the verse we say when we put the sefer Torah away: “deracheha darchei no’am vechol netivoteha shalom – its ways are the ways of pleasantness and all its paths lead to peace”.

Shabbat Shalom