Parshat Mishpatim 5784 (2024) by Rabbi Baruch Taub

okay good evening there are more pages of gamor on par Mish than any other par in the Torah all three of the Babas Baba Tama Baba Mia Baba Bas topic of of those three M okay so I have three items actually one two three four or one item and then five and then six so first we're going to do a moral the gur but just some introduction with some of theim that are necessary for our discussion so in our Para you uh are we are commanded to lend money to our people only to the less fortunate person we have to who needs it l kosha loo kosha don't don't run after him as a you know to get the money love don't don't push him right so Rashi on this it says very important the word IM right which can be translated as if right soash doesn't mean uh it it means if if you lend somebody right except for three in the entire Torah where IM does not mean if it means when there's no choice about lending money to a poor person im here does not mean if you want to but if you have the means for it when you do it right now this takes us back to the last p in parro last week in number three similar this is one of the two of the one of the the second of the other three PUK if you make an altar of stone for me don't use a metal instrument to build it because that makes it no good okay we don't need the last part that last part that's the second last P so Rashi uh we're going to skip Rashi we're going to go right to the Mar in number four these this means this on this week's this is on this on this when the word IM is used IM if you build a m it doesn't mean IM it's when you build a m yes we have to explain in these three Pim where it says IM and we'll see we'll review the three Pim the first we saw is lending money to the poor the second is building a to serve right so if it means when you do it you have to do it so why does the Torah write which generally means if you do it even though there's an obligation to do these things the third is about bringing a Corban bringing a sacrifice so you giving giving charity to the poor St to the poor building him his b to do to AEM and giving a corbon right it all says Im so IM definitely means ker when the question is why does the Torah write it as IM that it's an it's R it's optional I'll tell you why says if they do it that you have to do it it's as if you're doing it because you have to do it God doesn't want that he doesn't want that we do things because I have to do it I'm afraid of punishment I have to do it I'll do it wants us to do the MS of the Torah because we want to do it then this is acceptable this is what this is the desire an action which is which is mandatory and obligatory you have to look for a reason why I'm doing it right I'm doing what God wants me to do if you do these three things because I'm doing what God wants me to do that's not a big deal for example to build an altar this is serving him to offer a Corb I'm only doing because he told me to do it that's not that's not serving God serving it has to be coming from the heart from your desire then a person is called a servant of but if it's mandatory or obligatory that's not a real that's not an that might be a or someone you know you pay to do work for you but that's not how we serve a that's one this example in our par last week's par the first we brought a Number One Lending money I'm doing because Tor says you know I have to lend money I'll lend him money mitvah that's not a mitzvah lending a poor person a less fortunate person money has to be from your will from with a good heart you you shouldn't your heart should not be hard and the third is when you offer a Corb it says right but it's not IM it's when shalom we cannot eat the new crop until we bring that rabis explain clouds rain he takes back there's no do he brings the clouds he brings the rain he brings the the do in order that we should have beautiful fruits and grain the rabbis explained and we give a gift back to for all of that he did the world of nature that he provided to give us food we give the to him as a Thanksgiving to a all of this is to to make known he is the one that he's the one through the process of nature gave us our food to eat that requires a heartfelt thanks not okay I'll bring the Corbin om and I'll thank him okay thank you right not like an Earthly King who forces a person that he should submit to his kingship but he has to thank him and admit and submit with his heart from him and from his hand he gave us everything if I give that corbon of Thanksgiving because I have to that's not thank you it's not thanks to God that he did it all he has to do it as if it's optional that's why the Torah says so now he explains all three of these items charity building a to Ser to offer a corbon to give the Corban Homer the Thanksgiving offering to hem saying thank you all three of these items even though they are obligatory Tor doesn't speak about them as an obligation building an altar says somewhere else in the there were another another place that were given the Commandment to build of stone here the is not coming here don't build it with metal it has to be built not not from a war material a killing material right it has to be done with love when you give money if you give money the main thing here is not to be a guy who acts like he's a he's a a preditor go chasing the guy so it has to be from the heart that's not the main Mitzvah car the main mitzah is to give it make it from certain fres grain here we say if as if God is telling us if you do this when I tell you when I command you to do it don't make it with with metal which is a a hard military killing instrument the sword all of them the same thing when the says he adds a fourth if if you walk in my statutes he wants you when you walk in my statutes right it's an obligation to do the MIT right if you walk in my you do my Torah that's what I want so this is a brilliant presentation from the moral these three and then he adds a fourth items which are Central Central to our being of the Hashem serving God doing Torah MIT are presented with the word even though it's an obligation if you do it because that's the way Theon wants us to perform these Mitzvah okay let's go to number five this number five deals with the first Mitzvah that's given in the para this is the para of mish laws between man and man and strangely enough the first one in the list is the evid the Jewish slave the Jewish servant now let's be clear um there's no place there is a place in law for a Eid a Jewish servant uh to perhaps to to um to repair a certain sociological uh and sinful activities of a person but it's impossible really to be a slave in this world to anybody for a Jew because a Jew is free from any exter external force and power right so let's so let's see what's going on here so there's something what so what's a foot here about this D of evid iy if really we're not supposed to be we're not we're not beholden to be a slave to anybody so why does the Torah set up this system of being a slave let's say if someone has no money he has no he has to no choice he has to hire himself out to a Jew or in order to to repair certain a that he did so here it is when you purchase he's poting his father theer who asked a question everywhere else in the Torah is Jewish called is Isel how come by the mid of he's called a Jewish servant where does that come from was my father Tau says right we lived so he's the C just without translating it it means that the Jew lives on the other side of the world we march to a different to the beat of A Different Drummer the Jewish world is a Jewish history is a parallel universe to what's going on in the world shame I what does that mean where I were on the other side who shame aahar like Abraham Abraham was Abraham I because Abraham was on one side of the world and the rest of the world is on the other side abam was really the Paradigm a Jew a Jew really is no obligation to to be to be subservient to external forces and Abraham was the Paradigm of this right he created a system of monotheism that we are only beholden to ourish right so what's going on here is and God speaks about the essence of the Jewish people it's about our internal spirituality a world of Freedom he's not really an is not really a servant the Jew who comes from the world of Freedom that's a Jew it okay so now the Torah sets up a system of Rehabilitation right because of societal problems right it creates this system temporarily sh for six years Shah why six years what's unique about the number six says Shain the six directions of the physical world right up down north south east and west those are the six basic physical directions of the world the seventh Direction sh which is the internal which you can't see the internal part of the world the spirituality of the world that's when you return that's chabas we spoke about last week when we returned to the real essence of the physical created World which is created with the six directions of physicality but the seventh is the the the the internal spirituality the essence of the world six years representing physicality but ultimately he's not really enslaved and therefore he has to go out in the seventh year that's why it says he's an iy the Jew is an iy because it is is pointing us to the reason of this Mitzvah Rehabilitation that he has to recognize and come and come back in to to the world of his being different not that he misspoke himself he Mis misdeeds and acted like someone in the world but he has to act like a Jew again and that's the whole process of Rehabilitation and therefore he has to go for six years and in the seventh year he becomes free now what happens okay on page two in what happens if he doesn't want to leave what happens if he doesn't want to leave uh now by the way you have to understand that this the life of an evid iy is not what you think you know he has to be treated like a member of the household if the uh if the the master sleeps in a bed with a pillow the ever has to if the master only a bed and a pill he has to give it to only one he has to give it to the EV he's he's treated even like more than an eagil right he's not he's treated like a a very special person like a a a member of the Jewish house right which is part of the whole Rehabilitation right so why Dil does he go out why does he go out in the 50th year right why why he goes out on the 50th year right if if he if he refus ches to go out right and we we do the n we we put an all Mar in his ear to the door the you know the the ear did not that did not hear at Mount Haren didn't listen to the fact that we are a not an EV to people right so this is part of his punishment so you don't want to leave you don't want to leave then you're going to stay for until the year in the seventh year and say I want to get out I'm ready to go I'm ready to go to back back to my life of a of being a Isel right and he has to wait till y why because he has not he has not learned the difference of his jewishness to be a Jew and someone who does not have Torah does not have the spirituality and that's why the Torah says you know I love my wife and I love my children now he doesn't want to leave who's his wife and children this is not really his wife and his children after the truth is this is not his wife they're not his children he has to leave them after he leaves it looks like there it's his wife and his children near but they're not gave him to him so he they would he would have a family to serve him to serve God he has no real relationship beyond the physical relationship he has with them says why it says right but not not his wife and his sons the fact that he calls him my wife and my children he is he is defining himself NE negatively he's still going after the externality of life in this world right Al AB therefore he has to be an evid but he goes out in because the because the end of the 50 years that is the end of all physicality everything is returned to a bread he has to return to his to his proper Jewish lifestyle so that's the essence really uh of the Evy okay let's go to the last piece here and this is from the P from of hutner and um this is as you see there's a much longer essay here because I only have alive b giml z and there's much more to it uh it happens that in Mish is the yite of rant who was rev salant Rus salant was the founder of the musim movement uh the Muslim movement opened up a tremendous psychological uh section of the Torah to us to work on our ethics and our morals he had group therapy he would set up a muser room that the students would come into this room and and discuss their inconsistencies what they can do to you're familiar with right in fact group therapy today has its source in the methodology he what he did for for misses between man and man so he writes here many of the Great students of they always say it's not an accident that his side comes out during the essence of his his Discovery was in the work of between man and man bettering our interpersonal relations clearly this is very nice but it's only something very nice it's not hitting the point that being said we see from this they're missing the the essence of what re really really gave us there there's there's something missing here he found an empty space and he fenced it up it's true it was not enough emphasis on right by the way that's why it says M right to tie it to parro so the giving of the Torah was not just the mes between man and God it's also the Miss between a man and man but this is not enough to really understand what gave us according to this Torah really what he taught us is something that applies to the entire Torah there's something much more is not simply one part of Torah but there's something else here that we're going to try to flesh out when the Torah mentions the two tablets of stone we had last week the Ten Commandments the word is spelled in the Torah missing spell missing the last V we when we read it we say the tablets too but when we when we understand it when it's written and it's one the tablet singular the rabbis explain coming to teach there was an equity an equity we're still in the darkness we don't know what do we know what is this Equity that they one on they're really one on top of the other not one is greater than the other but they're really one the understanding of this is a very deep concept let's go to the gimmel the event of the receiving of the Torah was not only that we received the Torah but we' entered into a covenantal relationship with a the covenantal relationship of har Torah is the following words what was the Covenant of the Torah right in other words we receive the the words of the Torah is also a covenant but there was also a a symbolic actual Covenant that was created right there was the words of the Torah that's the D the words of the Covenant but there was an act of a Brit besides the words of the Brit besides the Mitzvah right in our Moshe took the blood he brought a corbon he took the blood and he took half of the blood and put it in vessels which he was going to sprinkle on the Jewish people and half of the blood he sprinkled on the to God he said mosha took the D and he and he sprinkled it on the people this is the D this is the D of the Covenant which God made with you all of the all the words of the Brit which is the Torah other words half to God half to us right but it's not just the Miss it's not the D half of it's a covenant between God and and the Jewish people half and half this is the ceiling of the Covenant this happened at now don't make a mistake remember the the two tablets of stone also there's d double one's tablet is mites between man and God and the other is misses between man and man that's the the d That's the covenantal relationship of the words of Tor but there was also a covenant an act of COV a marriage so to speak between God and the Jewish people which is on an equal footing that's what he's talking about also the Torah there's a bridge how does it work the Miss between man and man and the Miss between man and God they're not two departments two compartments of Torah one tablet has the Mitzvah between man and God and the other has the tablets of between man and man that but they're they're equal they're the same they're one understanding that and and appreciating that is a lifetimes experience of Hari that was the the the Covenant that was made at Hari besides the Covenant of the Torah in other words let me give you an example a husband and a wife they're married and one of them is Unfaithful right they've gone against the divis are they still they're not married anymore no the marriage the marriage is they're still married the marriage is the Cris of bris the covenantal relationship that was made the div brace the contractual relationship of the bris that's the mitzvah of the Torah whether it's misses between man and man misses between man and God if I go against one of those I've gone against the divis but I'm still married to God how do I know because there was a covenant made in Hari Not only was the Covenant of the of the Mitzvah the laws given to us as a bris but there was a covenantal relationship that cannot be broken and that is the marriage between the Jewish people and so if I go against the Mitzvah from unfaithful to him so what I'm out of the picture no right I'm still married to him and I've got to deal with that right that is what rev taught us that there was a covenantal relationship not only in the words of the Torah that the word the Torah is M between man and man and man and God but they're really one and they're interchange they're interchangeable and they they cannot Escape them that relationship between man and God that we have to him also relates to what we do between man and man and if we're Unfaithful in any of those areas we still are are connected to him that's the brisk that's the Covenant and we have to we have to restore that relationship with him one of the ways of doing it is what we talked about before is the Evy so that's the uniqueness of what rabus salant gave us that is the uniqueness of the covenantal relationship the two covenants the covenants of the word of words of Torah and the Covenant of the relationship to God in the Torah okay we're gonna end a little early tonight thank you all