Mishpatim 5786

So the p begins, the para begins [clears throat] usually a para does not begin with the word and these are. So Rashi comments on this and Rashi says you usually when the T uses the word means these as opposed and not those but the and these are which means we just finished in which the terror he explains in great detail how the reban came down to hari and the the fire the mount was on fire etc. This was obviously from the rebanelam. This is what rebanelam spoke to us as kal Israel unique among all the religions that we can say that uh of 600,000 men and more than a million people men and women and children all saw this. They they heard from God. as opposed to other religions. It's uh this is what uh Muhammad had a dream and uh uh Yoshka was uh you know this is he was deified but there wasn't this event. So my just like were explicitly from these these of parasim which have to do with you know technical things my oxorox etc etc those type of these are also from and also the parishim has a lot of the how we have to treat somebody how we have to be kind to uh uh widows and and orphans, how we have to how we have to talk, how we cannot lie, etc., etc. A lot of between man and his fellow man. So the terrorist emphasizing that this is all the same. It's all the same just like so if an ox goes another man's ox. So this is also and certainly how to treat each other, how to treat people, how to talk etc etc that is also the same for the classic parish onto writes in the beginning of on the says the ra known as the rav writes enemy. It's a it's a ma in in sh but yet it's not like typical mas that are based on a lot of it is muser and how to talk and how to act a person's meas person's how he acts how he how he deals with people and secular society all religions have you know books of ethics and how to treat people etc which they invented from their own heart or their own minds how a person has to deal with his fellow says the so the prelude to is that this is all from to tell you that the which means the ethical teachings And the mus you know the characteristics of a human being the did not think of this on their own but they were said as well from our and this is what this rashi goes ahead and tells us and that is to say what is saying for instance there are there in in in this para about uh there's a lemon for lash and har. So the concept of lash and harah is some is something that is uniquely Jewish. I you'll tell me what do you mean? Uh even the secular world is concept of gossip. You're not supposed to gossip about somebody. But most people understand gossip as it's being not true. It's just gossip. It's just rumors. when you go ahead and to tell a a non-Jew or a non religious Jew that there's an issue called lotion har you're not supposed to be evil about somebody else they'll say well that's true if it's true it's not gossip well it may not be gossip but it's lash and harah now how was this invented in the in the secular world this concept of you're not allowed to say something about somebody that's bad even though it's 100% true that's uniquely Jewish Or the other is example um the which again we learned out in this week's para that uh you know if your if um if if your ox is your your ox is in to your friend's ox is in trouble and you have two two people you can help. One is your friend and one is your enemy your sworn enemy. The is you have to go ahead and help your enemy before you help your friend. In order to go ahead and to overcome your mus you know you shouldn't hate anybody and therefore to go ahead and to reinforce that you go ahead him help him. I mean, imagine that. You know, you're driving around the road and there are two cars that have flat tires are within 50 yards of each other. And one person, one of the flats is a person that you cannot stand. He's your enemy. And the other person down little down the road is your friend. Who should you help? Well, you help your friend. You know, this guy can fix his own head for that. No. So, the tyrant goes and says, "No, you have to go ahead and help the enemy. in order to go ahead and to overcome your natural instincts and and and to work on your meas that even my person I don't like I'm going to go ahead and help. So these are examples these are examples of of uh of the halas that these are mi only the could go ahead and demand this from us not to speak evil about someone even if it's true or to go ahead to help someone you don't like before you help someone that you do like you know the example that I cite I cite for this is another example and that is the concept of hashova which means there's the mits in this week's para of returning lost objects. So I mean you'll say well of course in society uh they also have you know it's a good being a good Samaritan you know returning a lost lost object you know you know even though you know the common uh concept of uh finders find losers finders keepers losers weepers etc. But you want to be a good Samaritan. You should return something. Even though you know you could go ahead and keep the wallet and all the money that's in it, but you shouldn't do that. You should return it. That's in the secular world as well. But Hashveda in the Jewish world is uh much more than that. You know, there was a person his name was his name was Dankner. He lived in he lived in the Tel Aviv and he was a um he was a reporter for one of the secular newspapers in uh in Erit Israel. Um he uh what is I think it was the Hamia or Mahariv I don't know which one it was. Um so he was given an assignment to go and interview Rav Shaka the great God Panovich Rashiva Rivero man. So it's not a big drive from Tel Aviv to uh Benet Brock and he goes ahead and drives there, pulls up to the yeshiva and walks into the base medish and says uh I would like to speak to Raf Shak. So uh they're not going to let this guy get with 100 yards of Rav Shak. So so so sorry he's not available. They wouldn't take him to Ravshak. That's what Rashak needs. a a secular reporter from a anti-irating newspaper and anyway okay so the guy fig well I can't make that you know I have to come up story so I starts walking around the the yeshivville you know just looking around he he goes to the the bulletin board and um and he looks on the bulletin board see what what's hung there and he says he sees um lost uh buttons from a shirt. Three buttons. If this is yours, then come to room so and so. Or found a a a big pen [clears throat] again where you can where the person has it, what his room number is, etc., etc. So he comes back to his office in in Tel Aviv and he has to write a story and you know he says you know going to yeshiva going from from uh Tel Aviv to Ben may be just a few m kilometers or miles or whatever it may be but it's a world apart it's literally like going to a different planet there's so many things that to write about how how different like you know you anybody who's been in a base medish he says how can you concentrate everybody's yelling at each other the noises you know I'm used to a library where you can hear a pin drop so there are many things to report but what did he decide to report the bulletin board with the lost and found items shirt buttons big pens and such trivialities as this he says in a university that I went to if there was a big pen pen lying on the floor, people would not have been bent over to get it because what's a big pen? How long how much does that cost? Not worth it. But that people can be so so important or careful about another person's money that they take they do the trouble of putting up a sign for a big pen. That's something that we don't have in our world. And that is what the bartanuro and what rashi is saying that these laws of how to treat another human being they're divine. They come from the and not something that is invented by convention of people that come up with these thoughts on their own. All this is the terror messi the terror.