Rabbi Roodyn

The dust has barely settled on G-d’s once in a universe appearance to mankind and it’s down to business. Parshas Mishpatim gets right down to the nitty gritty of the laws and principles that govern our inter-personal behaviour and professional relationships .

Rashi notes that the very letter of the sedra, the vav of va’eleh connects this week’s reading with last week’s. This becomes all the more interesting when we read the final chapter in this week’s sedra and are transported back in time to the narrative of what happened BEFORE the revelation.

Clearly the laws and principles that are outlined in this week’s parsha are being presented as an integral part of the revelation at Sinai. In fact the Maharal in his commentary on Rashi claims that whilst the Bnei Yisrael received the majority of mitzvos over the forty years in the wilderness, they received both the Ten Commandments and the laws of mishpatim immediately.

Perhaps this can be understood in light of the opening mishna of Pirkei Avos. The mishna famously starts with the narrative of how Moshe received the Torah on Mount Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua who in turn transmitted it to the elders etc. This would have been an appropriate preamble to the Mishna in general and as such could have been a great opening line to Maseches Brachos. One possible  reason for it being saved until Pirkei Avos is because one could easily see these statements of the sages as being common sense or man-made. There are many wise aphorisms available and these appear to be more of the same. The Mishna starts with the narrative of Sinai to inform us that this is Divine wisdom that has its source in the revelation at Sinai.

In a similar vein, our sedra, which deals with all the technical details of the laws of damages and the like, could be perceived as mere common sense. After all, all societies have some form of justice system, which serves a vehicle for those who feel aggrieved to seek redress. The essential difference here is that those laws are largely man made and a necessary function of social contract theory. To paraphrase another mishna in Pirkei Avos, without the government, anarchy would reign supreme. By way of contrast, our mishpatim are not another set of man-made laws, they are a manifestation of Hashem’s will. Through observing and living by these mishpatim we forge relationships and build a society that lives by Hashem’s will.

Moshe Rabbeinu was never meant to stay at the top of the mountain. He returns to earth and immediately teaches us how to interact with each other. The other mitzvos get rolled out over the next forty years, but the laws of human interaction are in force with immediate effect. Through living with a sense of justice, according the mishpatei Hashem, we bring the Torah down to earth.

Wishing you a Good Shabbos.