Mishpatim - 5th Portion

Join as we learn Kumish together for paras Mishbatim Thursday the fifth Torah reading of Paras Mishbatim chapter 23 verse 6. Yesterday's Torah reading we read about the different laws pertaining helping another person not saying false witness and as well to not collaborate with wicked people. Today we continue with laws pertaining to the judges of how they should rule as well as it tells us about the laws of the sabbatical year and other prohibitions and commandments including the three major festivals. Chapter 23 verse 6. You shall not pervert justice for your destitute countrymen in his lawsuit. What does that mean? As Rashi explains, the word means a person who's destitute comes from the word, a person who desires and he's missing and therefore he's looking for anything that he can get his hands on. So here the Torah tells us that just because the person is destitute, you would think that maybe I should make him win the case. The Torah tells us not to pervert the justice because of it. Continuing now with verse seven, you should distance yourself from saying any falsehood. And you shall not execute a possibly innocent individual or an acquitted person. For I will not exonerate the wicked. Because if a person is indeed guilty, there are many ways that Hashem will make sure that he gets the punishment that he deserves. As Rashi explains, Rashi explains what this means as follows. How do we know that if a person, what is this telling us? That of course if a person's innocent and guilty, he should not be killed. So therefore, we have to understand the verse as follows. How do I know that if a person comes out of out of bedd out of court and they and the court says that he is guilty that he's liable of capital punishment and somebody comes along and says yes I can find a merit for this individual I can find a way that he should be innocent how do we know say that we bring him back to the best we bring him back into the court to hear the uh argument of the person that says that he can make him innocent The person therefore the Torah tells us and the innocent should not be killed. Meaning a person who's innocent from any sin, we should not kill him even though he may not be acquitted. He's not so righteous. He has not necessarily been acquitted and it was already uh ruled that he should be liable of capital punishment. still in all he is cleansed meaning he is cleared from capital punishment because you have an argument for his benefit to make him meritorious how do I know that if a person walks out of the court and it's ruled that he is innocent when somebody comes along and says one second how you making the guy innocent I have a way that he can be found guilty that we do not return him back to and say, "Okay, now let's hear the complaint of the individual to make him guilty." Therefore, the Torah says, "And a righteous person, an already acquitted person should not be killed." This is of course, what do you mean that a person is righteous should not be killed? over here. The Torah is telling us because even though there's another person that comes along and says that he should be liable of capital punishment. However, he was found acquitted for in the court he was shown proven that he is correct in Bezdon in court and being that he was ruled that he is uh for the merit that he should not be killed. Therefore, he is not liable for capital punishment. So, so the Torah says because I will not exa exonerate the wicked. What does this mean? What's the reason the Torah continues? Why don't you have to bring this person back into the court? You don't have to bring him back for the person's complaint? Because if this person is truly liable of capital punishment, he's not going to get away with it. Even if he came out of your court innocent, meaning even if he made it out of the court here in this world innocent, but he is actually guilty, God says, I have many different messengers who are willing to do the work to give him the capital punishment that he is responsible for. Verse eight, you should not take bribery. You should not take a bribe even from a party who is right. As we'll soon see Rashi says because what does bribery does? It blinds it blinds the clearsighted people distorts and it perverts the words of the righteousness. You see over here something unique about bribery that not that it's saying the people aren't righteous that even though this person is a righteous individual but the automatic fact of a person taking bribery that distorts his words doesn't allow you to have a proper clear mind and it creates a bias. Rashi explains even if the person's taking bribery and he says I'm still going to rule correct how much more saying I'll to take a bribe in order to sway the the court to sway the judgment against the person I the doesn't have to tell me the verse doesn't have to come and explain to me and tell me I'm not allowed to sway the judgment of course I'm not allowed to sway the judgment that already said in the previous verse in verse six why then does it tell me about bribery. Meaning that even though you're going to say, you know what, I'm going to take the bribe, but I'm going to walk in and do the court case honestly, what does the Torah tell us? Impossible. The moment you take a bribe, it blinds the way of the of the um of the clearsighted and distorts the way of the right, the words of the righteous. As he says, even if a person's an intelligent, smart and knowledgeable individual in study of Torah, but he takes a bribe, end result is that he'll forget his Torah learning and he will become uh and he won't be able to rule accordingly. Here it also tells us about a curse that will happen to him that because of that his eyes he will lose his eyesight. he won't be able to see. Meaning that not only is the Torah telling us that this causes the person to speak incorrectly, but eventually this causes a this is a curse that bound this individual that if he takes it, this is what's going to happen to him eventually. What does the word mean? And it rules, it distorts. The words of the righteous, meaning the words that are meant to be correct, correct judgments, right? Correct words, beautiful words, right words are automatically now not said correctly because of the bribe that was taken. Verse nine, you should not oppress the foreigner because you know the feelings of the foreigner. Why? Because you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. In many cases, the Torah, this is not the only time that the Torah warns us about being respectful and not to hurt a foreigner's feelings. And in many cases, the Torah tells us about it because this is a this is a difficult thing because the nature of how the creation of the individual is that he tends to uh do things which are evil. And therefore the Torah even though it said it already once before, the Torah has to remind us about it again. Meaning you know about what it means to be a foreigner. You also know what it means and how hard and how difficult it is for a person, for a foreigner when he is oppressed, when he is made fun of and when he is hurt. Verse 10. Now we move on to the sabbatical the laws pertaining to the sabbatical year. Six years you may sew your land and you will gather its crops. Rashi verse 10 is bringing it into the home taking all the crops that are gathered all over the field and you take it and you bring it into your house. Verse 11, but during the seventh year you must leave it and you must make it be unattended to. And who then is going to eat it? And because you're going to withdraw from it, then the needy amongst you that if poor people will come to eat it, the leftovers the beast of the field will eat. So to Yeshua applies to as well to your vineyard and to your olive grove. What does the word mean? Why does the Torah say twice you will must leave it unattended and withdraw from it? So the Torah says what does it mean? You have to withdraw leave it unattended meaning to work with it and then you have to withdraw from it you can't eat from it after the time that you have to get rid of all those fruits. That means they're only allowed to be eaten at a certain time. After that they're even forbidden to be eaten. Another explanation of why the double terminology you have to leave it unattended from doing actual work for example like plowing plowing and sewing and then you have to withdraw from it even from other types of work which are seemingly uh which make the produce even better for the coming year. for example from putting uh down fertilizer and take and moving around the ground and this is preparing it for the year to come. So not only you're not allowed to work with it for taking out fruit from this year or dealing with the field for this year but also not allowed to prepare it for the year to come. The leftovers the animals will eat. What is the Torah telling us and why does compare the two? This is to compare to and the reason why he juxtaposes the two of the poor person eating and the animals eating is to show that they're the same. The same way a wild animal or any animal can eat from the food and they don't have to tithe before eating from their food. So too the poor people that eat from the field do not have to tithe. From here the sages have learned is that there's no tithing by fruits that come from the sabbatical year because the first part of the verse is talking about a regular field a field that is you plant wheat and and all other kinds of stuff. So therefore over here he comes to tell us that this is talking about uh of a vineyard as well because it says before about planting your field. Verse 12, six days a week you will do your work and on the seventh day you'll rest. So this way your um so this way your ox and your donkey and the bondswoman and the alien meaning the vag the the resident alien should also rest on that day and they should be able to be refreshed enough that they should be able to be refreshed which refers to the people working for you as well. Verse 12 Over here the Torah is telling us meaning that we're being that we're talking about now the sabbatical year tells us that even in the year of the sabbatical year so too you still have to observe the shabas meaning one shouldn't say being that the whole year is already considered a sabbatical year and it's considered shabas maybe I don't have to observe the shabas so therefore the Torah tells us shabas is observed even in the sabbatical year as Give them some rest. Give them a relaxation to allow the ox and the donkey that they can just take uh and the grass from the ground and the person is not commanded only is not commanded not to feed them but only telling them that he's not to make them work. Or is this also referring to is this meaning that also you should hold them in the house and they shouldn't do anything. Therefore, you could have said pulling the animals into the house. That won't be any refreshing for the animal. That's only going to be painful for them because since they're not going to be able to have it. Therefore, the Torah uses the terminology that they should rest, meaning that they're allowed to have the food at the time. Who is referring to the son of your maidervant? This is talking about a non-Jewish slave. Who's the foreigner in this case? The alien. This is an alien meaning a resident foreigner meaning a a non-Jew who is allowed to live in the land of Israel because he accepts upon himself the seven laws. This is what we would call a verse 13. And you shall be viligent to in everything that I've instructed you and you should not mention the names of other gods. They should not be heard on your they should not be heard on your mouth. You should not be saying them. What does it mean that everything I told you you should keep is meaning that you should make sure to keep every single mitzvah as well not only to uh protect the mitzvah which is the negative commandments don't do the negative commandments but also to be careful to observe the positive commandments anytime the Torah uses a terminology you should guard you should keep like we find by the matas and so on it's telling us about a mitzvah which is uh a positive commandment and it's there instead of the negative commandment One should not say don't use the idolatry as a place of reference saying I'm going to keep this on the side of the idol or meet me at this idol or this place or meet me at this destination and this location where the idol is located. Another explanation of what this means that everything that I told you you should observe in the name of other gods you should not mention. to tell you this is to teach you that the idolatry is as equal as all other commandments one who is careful in making sure they don't commit idolatry is as if he keeps all the commandments. This is practical today. Many different people should not give uh cross references or c or uh sections or when they want to say a um a landmark they should not use any type of idolatry or things of that nature. There are some people go especially as far as to not even to say church avenue or things of that nature and we find that in many different other circles where they change the names of for example Salem is not a place in Hungary it's it's a place that was called by a idol or cross and therefore they called it and so on should not be heard on your mouth that means this is even from the non-Jew that he shouldn't make an oath based on his idol worship because of you meaning because of usually do not become a partner with a non-Jew and therefore he will make an oath to you and swear make his contract to you based on his idolatry but basically you're causing the nonju to mention his idolatry because of you. Now, the Torah tells us about the three major festivals. Verse 14, three major festivals you should celebrate during the year. Three times we find this by he uses the same terminology that he you hit me these three times. Verse 15, what are the three festivals are as follows. Now these are the three festivals that one is obligated to make pilgrimage to the holy temple and that's why these are considered three festivals using the terminology regulum according to some that they would go up meaning that the times that they would go up to the holy temple when is it number one it's verse you should observe the festival of the mas seven days uh seven days you should eat matas like I commanded you at this appointed time in the month that's beginning of the spring because that's the time when you left Egypt shall not appear before me empty-handed. What does it mean the month of spring or ripening? The reason why it's called because that's when the wheat becomes ripened. Another explanation of comes from the word a which means father meaning the first it's the first month of Nissan which is the first month of the year for the counting from the months as well. It's the time when the fruits become ripened. You should not come empty-handed. You should not see me empty-handed when you come to see me during the time of the festivals. Make sure you don't come empty-handed and bring offerings with you. Verse 16, as well as the festival of harvest. When you will bring then the produce of your labor that you swed in the field and the festival of gathering that will be at the end of the year when you gather in your produce from the field. Verse 16. What is this festival of harvest? That is the festival of sh which is done at the time of the harvesting of wheat. The first of your fruit at the festival of shu is when they brought the bikurim because the two breads that were brought as a sacrifice. The only time was brought in the holy temple was on and that was this would exempt this would now allow the new wheat to be brought for the meal offerings as well as the new fruit that were brought to the holy temple and we read this later in the book of numbers. As we know the kadesh the new wheat had to be only wheat that was cut from after the 16th of Nissan the second day of Pes only that wheat was allowed to be used and brought what is this festival of gathering that is the festival of because throughout the summer the wheat would be drying out in the fields and then when it came to the time of the of the era of the year of they would bring everything in because the rain was about to come and that's when they would bring it all into the warehouses. The Torah then continues verse 17. Three times a year all your menfolk should appear. All males should appear before me. God the master of the world. Meaning the master of the world is being that we finished talking about um the sabbatical. Therefore, he has to tell us that even though we're talking about the sabbatical year, still in all, he tells us that these three major festivals continued to stay the way they were, even though they were at times when it was based on the agriculture, meaning the spring when the wheat began to ripen the uh when it was when they would start the harvest and the gathering. One may say, well, here I'm not doing anything with the field. Even though you're not doing anything with the field still that you have to come to the holy temple in those three times make pilgrimage and bring an offering doesn't mean all the males means as follows the males amongst you have to come verse 18 you should not sacrifice my Passover blood sacrifice in the presence of leaven bread and the fat portion of my festival offering may not be left over until overnight until the morning. Over here the Torah is telling us two uh two prohibitions. Prohibition number one which is on the 14th day. That means on the eve of P from midday. We know we're not allowed to have anymore. We already do beforehand that we get rid of it. So we should but by midday one's not allowed to have from this verse that tells us that when you bring the pascal offering the should already be gotten rid of outside the altar until the morning meaning that even if it's already being it's already on the altar it should become uh it should it should not be used if it was stayed overnight. Therefore, we have another verse that we learn later on in the book of Leviticus that if it's on the altar and it's burning, then it's fine. We're talking about that if it's not on the altar and you have your fats at your home and you haven't yet brought it to the altar and it stayed overnight, that's a prohibition. What does it mean overnight? When does it considered unfit or when do you transgress the obligation of making sure there's nothing left over is only once it hits dawn? Because it says until the morning, but you have a whole night to take it off the floor and bring it to the altar and make sure it gets burnt appropriately. Verse 19, you shall bring the first ripened fruit of your land to the house of Hashem. You shall not eat a young animal cooked in its mother's milk. even in the sabbatical year you have to bring the first fruit therefore he tells the first of your fruit how does a person bring the first of his fruit how does he know which one came first so Rashi explains what they would do person would go into his field as they start to sprout he sees a fig that it starts coming out he say puts like a rubber band around it he ties string around it that he knows that this is the first one makes it and sanctifies it. The only thing that you bring the first fruit from is from the seven special kinds of the land of Israel other things you do not bring from. So therefore the Rashi gives the example of the fig how we would see it ripened designate it dedicate it and bring it this is to talks he mentions a goat but this is doesn't only mean a goat but this refers to any kosher animal in this case a calf a lamb are all part of a goat over here when he uses the terminology a goat is talking about one that nurses from its mom so therefore refers refers to any soft animal. We know this because in other places in the Torah where it uses the word and then the Torah has to elaborate that we're talking about goats like he talks about in the book of Genesis. The very fact that in those three places that we just mentioned when it says the word giddy which usually means a kid or a goat it therefore it also adds on to say the goats meaning any other place where it just says plain it means also a calf or a lamb. The Torah says three times one should not cook a kid in its mother's milk. Why does the Torah tell it this three times? One to tell us the prohibition of eating milk and meat together. one to tell us that you're not allowed to even have pleasure from mixing from milk and meat together and one to tell us that you're not allowed to cook milk and meat together even though you may not be eating it. So therefore though the Torah uses the terminology do not cook but this is how the rabbis infer and say the fact that the Torah tells it to us three times is telling it us because it applies to all kinds of prohibitions. This concludes that the fifth tow reading of