Parshas Mishpatim Divinity in the Details - New Wed. Night Shiur at Scheiner's for Teens

I really appreciate every single person who make the effort to come out here um this week is parasim which uh we're going to get to which is called divinity in the details. Okay, divinity in the details. So there are many people who struggle to develop a relationship with Hashem and I think that this is especially true when it comes to halaka. Um, and I'm just curious. I don't know what what you know I I want to put it out to you guys is what is it specifically about hala out of all things? There are many people that have have religious trauma from different things from different aspects of Yiddish kite. I'm just curious what what feelings come up for you when you hear and why you think possibly hala is especially difficult for for people um in general. God's way or the highway is like how people make it seem that if like if you don't keep this all up then automatically you're you're you're not like fully not only reaching your potential but like there's something that's that's going off the path not necessarily like perfectly in line with what God wants you to do. So that's >> I I like to think about it as guidelines like kind of grooves in the road that you can get into that groove and and it'll help take you forward. But I feel like it's It's been associated so much with don't follow al you're not Jewish or you know you're a bad person or you you're not doing good things if you're not following. I think I mean it's important to stay by but it's also there to help you. It's not there to haunt you. >> No. So the creates labels based on what like how how often you uh how often you pull out a which is also I don't think that's >> right. That's a that's a definitely that's like also part of a whole another that's a whole another trauma. that's a whole another drama. >> So what I want to try to do tonight is look at halaka through a different lens is to reorient with hala but I think that you guys were all touching on different points of hala um which are very difficult for people to keep. I think you know we live today in in really in a liberal world, right? And part one of really the foundation in which liberalism stands on is the ability to to become to to be who you want to be, right? Authentically, which is a beautiful value, right? Because it really gives every person a space to figure out what their own relationship is with Hashem. But also it makes it extremely difficult when you feel like okay I have there's this other side in which I feel like I'm forced into I can't express myself the way that I want to express myself because I have to conform right and I think it's especially difficult when it comes to high schoolers in particular because generally speaking we spoke about this I believe week one about developing selfidentity it's a time when people are very much focused on like becoming themselves in a natural way and something about hala feels very unnatural right something someone might even compare it to like putting on a parents pair of pants that's just like too tight, right? It's something that feels like it's it feels like it's it just there's no space to breathe, right? There's no there's no movement and there's no you're constricted in a sense. And so what I want to do tonight is try to reorient you using this week's para to really get into what halaka is at the root. Okay. So before we get in here, I didn't put it in the sheet because it was a super last minute edition. Um, but I actually first want to begin very quickly. I won't go through it because not everyone has um this in the source sheet. I have it on the last page, but you guys don't have it in here at all. Rabbi Mutan Torah R pay lesson 280. So, we first have to get to the core of what Torah is. What is Torah? So, like you were saying, it's like it's it's guidelines. Torah comes from of mo of a teaching of a of a guideline of where you're supposed to go when there's an aspect that's true to that. But also what Torah is is the way in which Hashem communicates to the world. Right? So meaning to say is that before the world was created, Hashem was infinite and there was no way for us to even have some sort of relationship with him because he's infinite. And what Torah does is Torah communicates is Hashem's communication to the world in a way that we can understand it so that he can have a dwelling place in this world. And ultimately this so therefore we've already expanded the definition of Torah because Torah is not just the written Torah. Torah is also in a sense everything that happens to us in our personal lives that Hashem's communicating with us based on our own unique circumstances. That's also Torah because at the root of it it's communication, right? It's communication with us. Um, and the same thing is true in everything that we do in our lives is that Hashem is communicating with the world. So, Rabman explains that anytime a person has a court case because he did something wrong in business, we we just heard some people talking about doing wrong in business. >> So, this is the Torah itself, the fact that he has to go to court is itself a punishment and a rectification for what was done wrong. So, he says here continues to say because Torah because everything that we do physically is also Torah. How is it Torah? So based on what we just explained, if Torah is communication with the world, so it can happen through Torah and it could also happen through us interacting with the world in a way in which that reveals that there's meaning and there's purpose in the world and doing things in an exact way. So either a person could bring do that and bring that into his life by dealing with others properly, right? not cheating, doing business in a straight way, or what happens is is when a person doesn't, he often finds himself in a court case where someone's like suing him because he did something wrong. And he says that therefore that he has to go back to court, which is called a din Torah. Why is it called a din Torah, a court of Torah? Because when he goes back to court in the moment, it looks to the world like this person is not revealing Hashem in the world cuz he's just doing his own thing. when he goes back to Dorah and Dora says this is the okay you have to give the money back it's a re it's really Hashem reintroducing himself back into the world again through this through this court case it's showing that there's that even though these people didn't act in the proper way this is ultimately there's justice and Hashem will sometimes even reveals himself in an even greater way because in the moment when a person just doesn't do the right thing and people act in this decently people always ask, you know, how could it be that such evil has happened in the world, the Holocaust, right? Things that pe such tremendous evils that people have committed, how could God exist, a God who's transcended, who cares about every single detail? And so what happens with a dorra is a dorra in that moment when someone swindles or does something he's not supposed to do? So then there's a lack of God's communication with the world. Now what happens is when he goes back to din Torah so now there's rectification of that and shows that even in a moment when it looked like there was no justice in the world in reality at the end of the day hashem is involved in everything and that's what den tora is that's why it's called a din tora because it's a din alp tora means it's reintroducing communication back to the world again and therefore rabbi naklin is teaching us that Torah is not limited to the base medish Torah is not limited to how I my the learning and learning the I do It is in every single action a person interacts with this world with his friends with business with in business. Every single interaction is an interaction of Torah of communication. Hashem communicates through us just like he does through the Torah. And therefore when we act in a way which demonstrates that okay it's very clear how there's God in the world. But if not, right, that's when diner comes in and shows that no, even though it appeared in the moment, people act terribly all the time. At the end of the day, even in in a in a terrible situation, Hashem still reveals himself into the world. So with that, we're going to dive into this week's para cuz I think it's a good introduction. This week's para matim speaks completely about halahos. It's it's the ultimate para of uh religious trauma in a sense, right? It speaks about all the details of our relationship with Hashem. a lot of inter interpersonal laws about how we have to interact with other people. So this mishbam is speaking about someone who's a share a show someone who gives someone something to someone else else to watch onto them. He's going on vacation and then what happens he comes back and he sees that he's missing that thing and so the person is telling him I didn't I didn't take it. it was stolen from me or a freak accident happened and this person say no you did take it and so that on that the pus says I'll call them pes on any matter of wrongdoing I'll shore on an ox alamar on a donkey I'll say on a sheep ala on any garment that this person says this is a situation where the person returned one of the two things but didn't return the other and he says also this you owe Elohim until that situation it's referring to before judges both of them should come the one in which the court decides is guilty he has to pay double to his friend. Now if anyone noticed anything interesting about this puk the puk lists a lot of specific things. So it begins by actually first saying something general. A called pasha means on any wrongdoing. Then it lists a bunch of very specific items and then it says I'll call on anything that you lost. So what is the Torah? We know the Torah doesn't have any extra words. What is the Torah trying to convey to us? So the Garitsia says that we learn from here this is called the there's a general rule then there's specifics a list and then there's a general rule. And what that teaches us is that the general things theal is it has to be like those those things that are listed explicitly. And like Mar says just like all the things in the middle are property that have intrinsic value. So too the only way in which this situation is brought up is in a situation when someone steals something that that has money that has intrins that that is a movable object and has intrinsic value. Means that the item itself is worth something. It's not just something that people attribute value to but it's something that they are that something that has intrins there there's some value that this thing is bringing. So that's on the surface. Okay. Now we get to the level of pinata what's happening on the inside what's happening beneath this. So NASA touches on the deep deeper aspect bes behind this. And so he explains this right in in in the third paragraph there. So was the primary of and his whole Indian his whole thing his whole mission in the world was revealing how the deep esoteric ideas that was speaking about we can find it in shan itself. So that they're not two disparate realms. It's not that oh I live like an esoteric spiritual life and then I interact with people differently but showing how that actually shows up in our day-to-day life. And he explains this is why the Torah was precise. The Torah is revealing to us and making known to us. It goes in a general way, a specific way, and in a general way. Now, what does it have to do with the way that Hashem relates to us? is Hashem also relates to the world in a general way, a specific way and in a general way, right? Because you first have let's say Hashem's interaction with the entire world which is in a sense it's there's nothing it's not differentiated, right? Hashem interacts with the world in in general rules of tea and then you have an each and every single person's life is a prop, right? It's it's a specific way in which Hashem interacts with with what's happening for them. And we really need both is we have to first we have to get to the principles thearim right which the RA right about like the 13 um principles of belief. There's general principles but then there's also of how it applies in my specific life and it's only when a person understands how it applies in their specific life that they can then understand the general way in which Hashem runs the world. Okay. So in all things that are in the world there's godliness in those things that give life and establish that thing. Right? As we say in the mornings you give life to everything. What that means is Hashem is constantly sustaining the world in every single detail of the world. Even though the world looks like it's the same every single moment and Hashem just created at the beginning and just left it behind as some of the early philosophers believed. um Aristotle and the concept of determinism which is that things are determined in cycles and there's nothing really we can do to in order to change those cycles when in reality he's constantly renewing the world. Um, so everything has Hashem's giving life force to bring back anything that appeared to be random and it appears to be run by nature back to Hashem. So meaning to say as follows. When a person goes ahead, when a when a person in business does something wrong to you, in that moment, you're wondering like, how is this a moment that Hashem could actively create right now? Hashem loves me tremendously. How could he create a world in which I'm experiencing this thing? And there's there's an experience where it appears like they're two separate realms. Even if you do believe in Hashem, there's like Hashem's realm and then there's people's realm. And in the people's realm, there's injustice, there's immorality, there are terrible things that happen in this world. It looks like it's a realm devoid of Hashem. So what happens is is that as Rabbi Nakman explained through din Torah that Torah is communication because what happens is is that even though technically speaking there's a physical Torah that always exists when people aren't acting that way there's something that's inherently lacking in communication. It looks like we're living in two different realms. There's like Hashem doesn't involve himself in this world and it's clear because people don't act justly. And our whole job is is to bring everything in our life and use that and see that as communication. And so that's what's rectified through din Torah specifically. When there's den Torah, that's a reminder that even though people aren't acting morally, but then you have other judges, judges who are ensuring that Hashem's will is revealed in the world. And therefore, communication is in our eyes. Although the communication is always there, but it's restored because I now see Hashem back in my life again. And I see that there that there is no injustice that goes unnoticed. And so that's the whole idea of a of a clu is that clal is like okay I believe that hashem exists but he exists there like somewhere else the pr is this right and and therefore I feel a lack in what's happening here and now pro is now seeing in the details how hashem is present in every single detail of my life and that happens through din tora and ultimately then we get a deeper understanding of the clal which is the fact that he's constantly communicating the world even in times when we don't see And so I actually just want to share a quick story. Um I heard the person before sharing a quick story. I'm going to share a quick story as well. So about last year I went to I went to an AA meeting, an alcoholics anonymous meeting, okay? And someone got up there to share his story and he was sharing his whole journey with his struggle with alcohol and like how he um really struggled for many years. And he was first speaking about how as a kid there was a lot of dysfunction in his house, right? And he said, "One of the main things that I really really struggled with was was believing in God. The fact that there was a deeper meaning to all of reality, right? Alcoholics anonymous usually tends to take more of a spiritual lens of a higher power." He said, "That's really what I lacked." Now, why did I not believe in God? He said, "Because every single person in my life treated me in a way in which they they they deceived me. They took advantage of me. They didn't treat me in the right way." And he said it was such a powerful thing when it hit me and it was something I really thought about for a while. He says if people who I can see are physical things don't are not acting in a faithful and a and a in a way in a way of justice how then can I even believe that a god who I can't even see his physical presence in a sense he's even harder to attain. How can I then even believe that he exists right in a faithful and and and in a way that is is loving and kind? And so in a in a deeper sense, this really actually made me appreciate Mishbatim a little bit more because Mishbatim about interpersonal rule rules, they don't really seem to have anything inherently with like God, right? It's just like how are you supposed to act in relation to other people when in reality what these specific details are teaching us is that the only way in which we can have some sort of perception of Hashem who is harder for us sometimes to perceive is only if we are in an environment where we feel safe and we see that people are treating us this way. And if we don't see that, then we would never even make it to the level where we see someone who who's so who's beyond everything and believe that that there's faith and there that there's trust there. And that's the first step when it comes to halahos is that halahos halos. You have halahos and then you have the general Torah. Halos are like the pr. Let's focus on the pro like how do I deal with I was learning today in kiter about like you know when a person eats a fruit like what brahos does he make if he eats like a half a kazaya this a half a kazaya that and in a sense it doesn't really h doesn't seem to have at least on the surface any inherent meaning when in reality there's deeper appreciation we can have for hashem specifically through the details because we see that just like hashem is involved with the details meaning every single second of creation so he's asking us in a sense to also be part of this journey with him in every single detail of our life as much as possible for that person. Right? And so in a sense the fact that we have hala is in a sense the greatest honor possible because if let's say Hashem just created the world at the very beginning of time and just sustained it just by it happening itself and didn't require ask of us to be focused on every detail. So then that would be an indicator that okay just like Hashem did it one time left it behind okay so long as I have belief which is often found by the way in Christianity which is also a very big struggle in in that whole culture because it very much is just purely belief oriented as opposed to like not there being like okay how do I live my life and part of the whole reason that that whole movement sort of drifted off was because of the quoteunquote legalistic aspects of Yiddish kite that they seem to be like okay these details have no meaning but in a sense the fact that we have itself shows us that just like Hashem is involved in every single moment in a sense he's asking us to be conscious in every moment and co-create the world with him. So just like Hashem is constantly interacting with the world in every single moment we also reveal Hashem specifically not just by affirming Hashem's faith in general. That's a good thing. We need that as a start, right? To first have the yudim and say there are certain principles we believe but in the details that actually reveals even deeper aspect of hashem and that comes out specifically in a court case because the whole idea of a court case is focusing on the smallest details and figuring out where do we find godliness here. How do we find godliness in a situation where two people right if they find themselves in this situation it probably means that there was a lack of consciousness or a lack of focus on the details of things and that's what led to the situation we find ourselves now and to rectify that through so with that let's just conclude with this last paragraph here okay and through this we see that everything in the world is Torah is communication Right. Redefining Torah as communication. So meaning to say is there is the middle parts of that are are very specific. These things were taken and it's surrounded by a general and a general meaning to say is only once we let's say take this approach of trying to to look through the details of our life and trying to find Hashem there we'll then have an even greater understanding of what it mean what Hashem's transcendence is and because transcendence is hard for us to understand like we don't understand what it means for Hashem to be beyond this world and helps us see that paradoxically. So to know to let known everything in the world everything Hashem is malubash mubash is of a garment right because the whole idea is is that why did hashem create the world in the first place why didn't he just have us just know him in a in a in a different kind of realm the reason he conceals himself it's it's paradoxical but he conceals himself so that we get an even deeper understanding of who he is Right? So for example, take an example of a king. The king is the person who is the or the president someone who's like the high the highest esteemed person. So if you would think how does the how should the president present himself to the world. So you might say well he's the greatest person so he should just reveal himself the most authentically way possible. He should just walk around naked. He should just walk around without any clothes on. But in a sense the the honor of that person is actually specifically revealed through clothing. [snorts] Right? So even it's it it's a crazy idea but in essence clothing is that what is actually what gives our honor to the world even though it's concealment in reality it's a revelation because without it it's just too much too overwhelming and therefore this world there's a lot of darkness and there are a lot of situations we don't see Hashem and the reason it's that way is because if everything was clear and everything always made sense it's almost like Hashem just revealing himself and just going like just going down to his undershirt and underwear and that's it. And so it's specifically Hashem does that, but it's actually our job. We are the Torah, right? And I actually just want to add on it's very interesting is that Adam so Rabin explains elsewhere that ma the word ma which means what refers to the Torah because we say invar is the and the is these the Torah is comprised of all these things but ma interestingly enough is also gamach is also 45 because just like Torah is communication and that's more of a direct way but Adam is also Torah Because Hashem needs us in our the way that we perceive the world. Hashem needs us to reveal them in the world. And that happens when we try as much as possible to use every single detail and trying to be as precise as possible. So again, >> those tiny details about like a half kaz of an apple, let's say, like you said before, those are the tiny details that that you have to do to like co-create with Hashem. >> Exactly. It's it's being >> Why that why? So we again that's part of what pimeis hat does is show yeah we could spend the whole suga the depth of like understanding why what the in of a kazayas is right and trying to get to the essence of what of of like the shim and and and these various details but the very first thing before you even get into a deeper understanding of why every specific situation is by first trying to be as mindful as possible. So instead of looking at as a is a framework towards mindfulness in a sense where it's like even though let's say I'm not ready to keep the entire again I also personally I see maybe I could be right I could be wrong I see alaka more as a guide to work towards than it is uh are you keeping today or not because at the end of the day even the greatest person in the world not everyone keeps every single first of all there numerous mllin about how we end up revealing Hashem in the world and which way is right or wrong and even in clear even the greatest person does not keep every single it is impossible. So if for the greatest person in the world, you know for a fact that they're not keeping like it's interesting people always ask me like about people, oh does he keep does he not keep? like I I don't think that language of keeping is really the right language because it's not about keeping it's a matter of using it as a framework for more consciousness for more mindfulness and by us trying to be as mindful as possible whether it's it could be in but it actually also applies is really just things that we apply to ourselves things that we create for ourselves to also help us be more mindful and like do things in a more precise kind of way and that way we we reveal Hashem in a way that just being general [clears throat] just saying I believe in Hashem and not taking any course of action would be a little bit harder to do so. Okay, so let's conclude these last few lines here. Um Elohim and it needs to be returned to Elohim. Now Eloim in this context means the judges. But why does the Torah use the the word Elohim? >> Why? So Elohim is God, right? Why don't we just say Bezd? you should bring this case to Bezdon because in reality what what the Torah is alluding to us here is that while yes Bezdon is taking the place of Hashem in the world in a sense is that they're in this lack of justice they're coming in and showing that no really Hashem does exist here therefore they're referred to Alohim and in a deeper sense just to go a little bit deeper there are various names of Hashem and this is by the way basic everyone has to learn because it's like we say it numerous times throughout the day the line of Israel So what's the difference between Hashem the Elohim? So is of giving a way of us times in our life when Hashem is appearing to us as if things are just flowing things are just going well. Elohim is specifically associated with the midoro or the sphere of gura. Why? Elohim is gamatria nature. Now nature is the opposite of believing that God is interacting with this world because what that is saying is like even if you want to believe Hashem created the world okay but now he just let it to exist on its own. So therefore, what's happening here, the reason it's using this, it's using the name of Hashem, but also more specifically Eloim, that specific name is because we're returning what appears to be nature, what appears to be the void of Hashem. And the judges are showing how Torah is and communication is happening specifically through me. They're reintroducing Torah in everything. Okay. So just to conclude, I think one of the major shifts that we've undergone tonight or we've discussed tonight is this shift from hala as commandedness of like I have to live like in this and this way to a person acting more intentionally and using that as a framework to make it there right because when a person acts in just he doesn't want to follow hal completely and again I feel like yeah follow it's a strong word but the the explains comes from the where's the word come from? So he explains it comes from it comes from walking from traveling. And he he connects this to something we say at the end of Shabas morning. Um someone who learns every single day, he's going to be a ben. What does this mean? Why is it that someone who learns is going to be a benhaba? So they're on the level shot. What it's saying is someone who's learning is likely that they're going to live their lives in the best way possible and therefore of course he's going to be a ben. Now the lady says that he reads this as means it means to teach but it also means to change. So which means a person who changes their ways every single day based on the way that they need to walk. That's a benaba because he's already living in Alhaba, right? Because he's seeing how Hashem exists in every single moment of his life. And so really what is is it's trying to cultivate a reality, right? You can say, "Yes, I believe in Hashem." And that would almost connect to a conception where just like you just okay, you've built the beginning of your relationship with Hashem. So too, Hashem created the world and left it to be. the fact that we have halaka that we're working towards, we're striving towards. We're never we're never going to be perfect in this area, but like we want to try to like even learn a little bit more even if we're not even we're not ready to keep it yet. But even learning is the awareness of the precision precision just like he's creating the world every single day. He's asking us to be a co-creator with him. And in this situation when a person acted improperly towards other people not using which now shows Hashem is not involved in this world because I don't see godliness here. All I see is evil people. So we're making that. We fix that specifically by being very precise and therefore it's called a din Torah. It's a den that's now revealing in the world that Hashem exists even even in these places. And so that's a big shift. It's a shift. So we began using this um muscle of like halaka being not fitting right. And so what I want to suggest is a is a consciousness shift is in the beginning we almost envision halaka being like a pair of pants that's too tight and therefore it doesn't fit. I want to envision it as a pair of pants that's way too big that we're trying to grow into. So in both situations it's uncomfortable to be wearing it in the moment because it's like I this just doesn't fit where I am right now. I have my own sense of self and I want to express it in a certain way. As opposed to when a person looks at himself, right? Like that mash with the pants and the pants are too big on him. He can both be himself because he has freedom to move his legs to figure out to make mistakes to try to figure out like how to get close to Hashem in his own way, but it's within it's within a hopefully growing into as much as possible just trying to live consciously. So it's not merely just communicating okay you must do this and this but a way towards consciousness and I give everyone a a blessing that we should all try as much as possible to live consciously and not just because okay we need you know we need to reveal Hashem in the world he needs us to reveal him and that happens by by interacting with the world in a conscious way but in terms of our own quality of life right is when we when we act intentionally with things and it's not just like oh I'm living my life and and waiting for how where the dominoes fall and where I'll end up. You know, at the end of the day, it has deep meaning. It has deep purpose um because I'm engaging in every single moment with what's happening in front of me right here and right now. And when we do that, hopefully um we won't just have the best lives possible, but we'll we'll be satisfied and it we will both be satisfied with our relationship with Hashem, but also be looking forward to many more days, months of, and years of continued growth.