“And all the people saw the thunder, the lightning, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they were shaken, and stood afar off. And they said to Moshe, You speak with us, and we will hear: but let not G-d speak with us, lest we die” (Shemot 20:1516).
Divine revelation was overpowering. How could it not be? The people feared that had they been exposed to the Divine any longer, they would be no longer be able to exist in this world. Such is the power of the Divine encounter.
And so it was to be. The power and grandeur of Sinai is followed by the mundane of everyday life. Parshat Mishpatim contains law after law discussing the nitty gritty of life; torts, lost objects, creditor-debtor relations, bailees, animals, fires, property rights, treatment of immigrants, social obligations and much more. While much less exciting than Sinai, it is in many ways much more important.
Our Sages portray the Divine revelation at Sinai as the wedding between G-d and the Jewish people. Just as what happens in marriage is much more important than the wedding itself, the day-to-day practice of Jewish teachings are more important than the “marriage” of G-d and the Jewish people at Sinai. At the same time Jewish law puts great emphasis on bringing joy to a chatan and kallah on their wedding day. One is to put aside all other commitments so that one can attend and bring joy to the bride and groom. It is this joy which we pray will serve as the template for their life together.
Similarly, the aseret hadibrot are the template for Jewish living. Many of the commentaries see all other mitzvot as sub-categories of the aseret hadibrot. The many laws relating to monetary dealings, for example, are an elaboration of the command Lo Tignov, do not steal. A quick scan of parshat Mishpatim will demonstrate how the parsha should be read as an extension and elaboration of the Ten Commandments. It may be lacking the thunder and lightning and the Divine voice but it is no less powerful.
The aseret hadibrot open with G-d “introducing” Himself and the Lord who took us out of the “house of slavery”. Most fittingly Mishpatim opens with the laws of how a master must treat a slave. While at this point in history it was not yet possible for the Torah to ban the institution of slavery, it did revolutionize it. There were no longer any “houses of slavery”. The slave was to have the same living conditions as the master of the house. He ate the same food, had similar accommodations and rested on Shabbat. So well was he to be treated, that the Torah has to discuss what to do “if the servant shall surely say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free’” (Shemot 21; 5). While the Torah allows such it clearly is not what the Torah prefers; freedom is central to the Jewish ethos.
Interestingly, the Torah then follows discussing the punishment meted out to one who kills another – death (in theory) if done deliberately and fleeing to a city of refuge if done accidentally – elaborating on the command of Lo Tirzach. Instead of reading the commandments vertically from 1-5 and 6-10, it “reads” them horizontally across the “two tablets” on which the Ten Commandments were written.
The Torah follows by proscribing the death penalty for one who hits or even curses one’s parents, elaborating on the fifth commandment of kibud av v’eim, honouring parents[1]. In between these two verses the Torah notes that one who kidnaps and sells someone is also to be given a death penalty, corresponding to the command of “Lo Tignov” which our Sages explain refer to stealing a person i.e. kidnapping[2].
The Torah then follows with many, many laws relating to financial obligations of one to another, which can be seen as an elaboration the command of Lo Tignov understood in its plain meaning of do not steal and of Lo Tachmod, do not covet. Pretty much all forms of improper dealings of money and property have their root in the jealousy of man.
After this long series of monetary law the Torah discusses the case of a man seducing a woman, an extension of the seventh command, Lo Tinaf, do not commit adultery. The prohibition of cursing G-d, Elo-heem lo tekalel (Shemot 22:27) is a tragic example of taking G-d’s name in vain. The back-to-back prohibitions not to “pervert the judgment of thy poor in his cause” and “from a falsehood stay very far away” (Shemot 23:6-7) are practical applications of the ninth command, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”. The Torah in parshat Mishpatim notes that the purpose of Shabbat is “lema’an[3], so that ox and thy ass may rest; and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Shemot 23:12). We are prohibited from mentioning other gods (Shemot 23:13) affirming the second of Ten Commandments, not to have other gods before us.
With Mishaptim – and much of the rest of the Torah – an elaboration of the aseret hadibrot the parsha ends with a further description of the events at Sinai. “And the Lord said to Moshe, Come up to me to the mountain, and be there: and I will give thee the tablets of stone, and the Torah, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayst teach them… And Moshe went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain: and Moshe was in the mountain forty days and forty nights” (Shemot 24:12,15). And it is here, at the end of parshat Mishpatim, that we find the Jewish people saying na'aseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen, taught to Jewish children as the response of the people when asked if they will accept the Torah.
Rashi notes that the opening verse of the parsha, “and these are the laws that one shall place before them [the people]” teaches that it is not enough to teach these laws two or three times such that people know them verbatim. Rather the laws must be presented in a way that all understand the reasons for and the explanations of the mitzvot.
The aseret hadibrot contains within it the seeds of all of Jewish law. It is our task to understand them and apply them in each generation so that they are relevant, meaningful and inspiring.
[1] They are not discussed in the same order as parshat Mishpatim has its own internal structure. Once the parsha begins by introducing this idea the rest of the dibrot are elaborated upon based on a different pattern, one worthy of study and comparison to the order of the aseret hadibrot.
[2] This derasha, additional layer of meaning, is due to the fact that Lo Tignov follows Lo Tirzach and Lo Tinaf, do not commit adultery, both of which carry a death penalty. Our rabbis thus posited that Lo Tignov must also be a capital offence and hence can only be referring to kidnapping.
[3] The Biblical word lema’an means for the sake of. We sit in the Sukkah lema'an so that future generations will know G-d protected us when He took us out of Egypt (Vayikra 23:43). We wear tzizit lema’an so that we will be motivated to do all the mitzvot of the Torah (Bamidbar 15:40). Reuven suggested Yosef be thrown in a pit lema’an so that he could come back and save him (Breisheet 37:22).