2.6 Parshas Mishpatim Review: The Laws

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:08 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody to the weekly Parsha review. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Mishpatim. Mishpatim is the sixth portion in the book of Exodus and the eighteenth portion from the beginning of the Torah. There are 118 verses, 1462 words, 5,313 letters. There are 53 mitzvahs in this week's Parsha, 23 performative mitzvahs and 30 prohibitions. There are only three portions that have more mitzvahs, and that is Parsha's Amar, which has 63, re'e, which has 55, and Kitei Tsei, which has 74 mitzvahs.

00:53
This Shabbos is also called Parsha's Shakalim. It's the Shabbos before Roshchodesh. Adar, which is going to be this coming Monday, is going to be Roshchodesh and on Shabbos we're going to bless the new month. We'll talk about Shakalim a different time. Right now, let's get to the Parsha.

01:17
After the Jews received the Revelation at Haricinai at Mount Sinai of the Ten Commandments, hashem gives us an outline for proper conduct. The 53 commandments in this Parsha are the essential do's and don'ts of Jewish life. There are 14 different topics that are discussed in this week's Parsha. We'll begin with the first, and that is about servants how to properly treat servants. The Torah is very specific about how we treat a servant. That is when we become a servant to begin with. If someone doesn't have money to repay for what he stole, he is sold for repayment. So if you'll sell him for $100 a day so that money goes to the person he originally stole money from as repayment, the master must treat the servant like a member of his household. They get the same food, they wear the same clothes, they get the same bedding and in fact, if they only have one pillow, who gets the pillow? The servant, for the servant and his wife and kids. And the servant stays till Shemitah year when he is set free. Now, if the slave wishes to remain, he gets his ear pierced at the door and stays forever. And then the servant and wife one of the things we learn about how we treat a wife. Our sages teach us from the way we talk about a servant how he must treat his wife, and that is a Jewish man is minimally obligated to provide shelter, clothes and physical intimacy for his wife.

03:00
Criminals a murderer, a kidnapper or someone who hits or curses a parent is punished with a death penalty. Someone who injures their fellow pays five damages the limb value. So someone breaks an arm. How much would someone pay not to have their arm not broken. All right, how much is someone worth with a functioning arm and how much is someone worth with a non-functioning arm? That difference is what they pay. They pay for pain, they pay for the medical bills, they pay for lost wages and embarrassment. So all of these are determined by what would someone pay in the marketplace to not have these or lost wages is obvious. He can't go to work now for three months. He lost his salary for three months, embarrassment. So what would someone pay not to be embarrassed like that? It's embarrassing for someone to have their foot tied up to the ceiling for whatever injury they were.

04:04
Now, again, this is not referring to an accidental. It could be that even accidentally, you'll be responsible to pay. This is, if so you heard someone intentionally, definitely, but accidental, you might also be obligated. One who accidentally kills someone runs to one of the six cities of refuge and he is exiled there. Now, it is an exile, it is a punishment, but it's also a life-saving measure, because if he's not in that city of refuge, the family of the murdered can seek revenge and kill the person.

04:38
Animal damage If an ox kills, gores and kills somebody if the animal is known to do this, the owner is responsible. If a pit is left uncovered and an animal falls in and dies, the digger must repay the full value of the animal. Again, how do you know the full value of an animal? How much would someone pay for such an animal in the marketplace? What's the market value? It's like a car. How do they estimate the value of a car after an accident? They see how much of someone willing to pay for a car like this had it not been crushed.

05:12
If one steals an animal and kills or sells it, so depending on the type of animal if it's an ox or if it's a sheep he has to pay back four or five times. A thief who still has the stolen items repays double. So that's a punishment. That Toyota tells us if I steal your watch and witnesses come and say yeah, we saw him steal the watch, and I'm like no, I don't have the watch. And then I swear in front of a court that I did not steal the watch. And then they go into my house and they find the watch there. I don't have to pay only one watch, I have to pay two watches. Why A punishment? If someone knows they have to pay double fine, then they'll think twice before doing it again.

06:05
Watchers there are five different types of watchers. Every person is responsible to watch the items and their possessions that belong to someone else, depending on what type of watcher. There's an unpaid watcher, there's a paid watcher, there's a borrower and there's a renter. The level of recourse is different if negligence or error occur. So if you rent a car, you're responsible to pay for damages. If you borrow a car, you're responsible to pay for damages.

06:35
But if it dies, for example, if I borrow your stroller, you know you're out of town. I borrow your stroller and then the stroller breaks over Shabbos. You know where the weekend I'm pushing my children and a stroller cracks in half, do I have to pay you for a stroller? So if it was in middle of regular use, it was used the way it would normally be used. You do not need to repay. If you borrow someone's donkey to plow your field and it's regular, ordinary work. It wasn't extraordinary, it wasn't very hot, it wasn't, you know, difficult work for the animals this is normal work and the animal dies. It's called mesa mach, mas malach. It dies in the course of its regular activity. You're not responsible to pay Okay.

07:29
So this is talked about in great detail and if you go to any court of law, they will use the Torah as a reference. No, they won't. But sometimes they'll give credit to the Torah. But the Torah gives us the basic measure of the proper way to conduct life Self-defense if someone comes to harm you, you must defend yourself. By the way, this is also an important rule. We're going to talk about this in the important lesson segment. But the best answer for kids who get bullied is sign them up to karate class. They won't get bullied again. This is a halachic ruling. Your kids get bullied in school. Teach them to fight back. They won't be bullied again. Okay, be nice.

08:18
The Torah commands us to treat converts, women and orphans with dignity, with gentleness. You have to be extremely gentle. Why to a convert? We'll see soon. Because we were all strangers in a foreign land. That's what someone who converts to Judaism. They're a stranger in a foreign land. They don't have parents, they don't have siblings. Everyone disowns them. Oh, you went to the dark side. They don't have the family. That's why we need to be extra welcoming and extra loving and caring for them. The same applies to a widow and an orphan. They don't have the mainstay of their life with them to defend them. These defenseless people require special care and kindness.

09:03
In lending money. It must be interest-free. Also, collateral for the loan must be returned before nighttime. If someone says, you know, I want to borrow a hundred bucks and you say, okay, I'll lend you a hundred dollars but I need some collateral, they bring you their pajamas, so they bring you their pillow, or they bring you whatever it is that they need for work their hammer you have to give it back to them. You have to give back their collateral so that they can use it for their ordinary living. So if it's their nighttime clothing, they have to get it back. If it's their hammer for work, they have to get it back for work. And when they're done work, they bring back the hammer and you hold on to the collateral.

09:45
We are not to curse a judge, a leader or a prince. The prince was the leader who was called the prince, or you, dan Nassi. He was called Judah the prince, but he was the leader of the Jewish people. You're not allowed to curse them. A newly born animal may not be an offering till it's at least eight days old and we are not to eat the flesh of a mortally wounded animal. Every animal needs to be slaughtered before it is eaten. That's number one that we learned from way back in Genesis Avermanahai. We're not allowed to take a limb off a living animal. But also, if it's a wounded animal, it's a Balmum. It's not considered a kosher animal either, which is why, before an animal is slaughtered, we take some time to see that it can walk properly, that it can eat properly and drink properly, and then, after it's slaughtered, it's checked again to see that it indeed was healthy internally.

10:46
There's a commandment to be holy. The Jewish people must be holy. Holy means different, it means dignified, it means distinguished. Payments of pledges to the temple shouldn't be delayed. Also, prohibitions against seduction, witchcraft, bestiality and sacrifices to idols are prohibited in this week's parasha. If someone does seduce a young woman to sleep with him, he's obligated to marry her, because that's not the way we act.

11:19
Word of law, the Torah, warns us to distance ourselves from all falsehood. We spoke about this in our Musa masterclass on Tuesday night. The truth about lies. Never testify falsely against anyone. Don't accept false testimony. Judge fearfully, regardless of party's wealth or poverty. If you're the judge and you have Rahmanus, you have compassion for this individual, the poor guy being beat up by the corporations. I'm just going to give him an honorable, a favorable judgment. You're not allowed to do that. You have to judge what's right and what's wrong, not based on your emotions. Justice is justice, no matter what our feelings are. Don't accept bribery. The Torah tells us. Don't accept bribery. You know why? Because bribery works.

12:13
Shemitah For six years, we work the land, we prepare, we plant, we care, we harvest. On the seventh year, shemitah, the land must not be worked. The same is true with Shabbos. Six days a week we work, but on the seventh day, shabbos, we must rest. Holidays there are three festivals each year Pesach, shavuot and Sukkot, where we all come to the temple. We go to Jerusalem, we bring our offerings, we give thanks to Hashem, we celebrate with all the Jews together in Jerusalem. It is a magnificent time.

12:48
Meat and milk. There is a prohibition in this week's parasha, a Biholi even regarding food. The last mitzvah in the parasha is to keep meat and milk separate. Don't cook, eat or benefit from milk and meat that are together. Hashem promises the land of Israel to the Jews and Moshe ascends the mountain to receive the tablets from Hashem. He remains there for 40 days and 40 nights.

13:13
Now, my dear friends, some important lessons from this week's parasha. The first is that we need to understand we have 53 mitzvahs in this week's parasha. We discussed this previously, but I think it's important for us to reiterate this what is a mitzvah? Now, we loosely translate it as it's a commandment. God commands us to do something, but no one likes to be told what to do. You're going to tell me what to do, so here's the thing. Imagine your wife tells you to wash the dishes. Is that a commandment or a very, very, very good idea? If you want to have a good relationship with me, if you want to have a good relationship, I recommend that you follow these rules. That's the way it works with our relationship with the Almighty. Is it a commandment? Yeah, you can see it as a commandment. It is a mitzvah. It's sivui Hashem says do this why?

14:19
Because I love you and I care about you. I'm telling you do this because this is what's good for us, and if you don't do this, you're going to distance yourself from the Almighty. A mitzvah means it's an opportunity for us to connect with the Almighty. It means it's an opportunity for us to build this relationship, to strengthen our bond. Every mitzvah that we perform. Don't just rush through the mitzvah oh, I have to get this headache done with no. Take the time to have a feeling for the mitzvah. Take the time to connect with the mitzvah, because this mitzvah will elevate your relationship with the Almighty. Mitzvahs are opportunities. They're relationship builders.

15:04
All right, the code of conduct for the Jewish people in the world. What is the real Jew? You have to understand that. Even in Deuteronomy it tells us that if the Egyptians come to convert, don't push them away. You know why? Because, after all, you did live in Egypt for 210 years. Yeah, but we were slaves. They mistreated us, they didn't take care of us properly. But you know what? If you drank from a well, don't throw stones into it. You were sustained in Egypt, yeah, albeit it wasn't in the greatest terms, it wasn't in the finest of luxury, but they did keep you alive. You know what you have to do. Don't push them away. Appreciation is a very important thing. Your boss hired you. Don't say negative words about him when he fires you. He paid you. He sustained your family's livelihood for five years, 10 years, three months or however long. Don't talk negatively about them.

16:14
The Torah tells us how to live life. It's not about is this permitted or is this prohibited. It's much more than that. It's about the right attitude towards life. Additionally, we have to understand that our responsibility is to be a light unto the nations. The world is looking at us. The world wants to see how we act and when we have tragic corruption in Judaism, like a Bernie Madoff, it's a terrible, terrible thing for the Jewish people because it shows the world we are not living up to our responsibilities. The Jewish people are supposed to be the beacon of light for the world. They're supposed to look at us and say, ah, these are God's people and we have to live up to that.

17:11
So we mentioned that if a servant wants to stay at his master, we drill a hole in his ear when, by the doorpost, by the Mizzuzah why? So say just tell us You're looking. Rashi rashi talks about this. All of the commentaries talk about this Because your ear just heard last week's Torah portion. God says Anochia shamal, kechah, ayy mashem, your God, serve me. What happens when someone's a servant? They serve their master. They don't have time to serve God freely. They're a slave to their master, not a slave to God. That same ear that heard God commanding us to be a servant to him is now saying I want to be a servant to someone else. Drill him a little reminder in his ear.

18:09
I think it might be a sign for us, as Jewish people, to see what happens when we have other types of gods the God of culture, the God of media, the God of fashion. We do crazy, stupid things, but we have to be cautious of the influences and the gods that we allow into our lives. Idolatry doesn't only mean getting on our knees and bowing down to an idol. Idolatry is. My favorite example of idolatry is Harley Davidson. Anybody know someone who's a motorcyclist. There's nothing that you can talk to them about a Harley Davidson that can get them off that pedestal. Everything is Harley Davidson. They have the sticker on their truck Harley Davidson, they have the t-shirts and they have the jacket and they have the tattoos and they have everything.

19:08
It becomes a religion, almost A religion, a foreign religion. What do you serve? What are your priorities? Is your priorities the Almighty or is your priority your Master, whoever that Master is? Okay. So man's responsibility to his wife.

19:26
In Judaism, we don't shy away from telling a man his exact responsibilities to his wife To care for her physically, to care for her emotionally, to care for her sexually. These are the responsibilities of every man. If you cannot fulfill that responsibility, don't get married, because that is the responsibility, that's your obligation and that's what's written in every Ketuba. In every Ketuba. That's what's written. It's written where the man is signing and obligating himself to these responsibilities, he's saying yes, I affirm that these are the minimal responsibilities I'm going to treat my wife with. Now. Women doesn't have to sign that, because women are natural nurturers, they're natural givers and therefore they will reciprocate tenfold when they're treated properly.

20:25
Lift up your haters, donkey. So you're driving down the street and you see someone who you despise, someone who you hate, someone who you've been in a quarrel with for a long time, and you see their car broken on the side of the road. Right, so you can do one of two things. You can open up your window and say ah, serves you, right? God forbid that. The Torah tells us not to do that. So what do you have to do? You pull over and go help them. But I hate this guy, let him suffer. No, we treat humanity in the right way, even when you don't like them, even when you're not your favorite people. That will come to tell you that even if they are your favorite people, of course, you should go out of your way to help them. The Torah tells you on what's the more difficult, and then you understand the more easy. When we treat those that we hate in a proper way, then those that we love will treat also even more so in a proper way.

21:27
Now there are four types of death penalties that are given to four different types of crimes in Judaism. So, just so you know this Skelah, srefa, hereg and Henech. Skelah is stoning, srefa is burning, hereg is decapitation and Henech is choking. I don't want to get into them, but the Torah, in this week's parasha, outlines for us exactly what these punishments are. It's just that we know there are death penalties in Judaism for certain sins, for certain crimes.

22:02
Okay, shabbos, the commandment of Shabbos, and this is the first time since the mana that we see a conversation about Shabbos In the mana. What did we talk about that? When the Jewish people received the mana, when they were in the desert on Friday, they received a double portion. On Shabbos, there was no mana given. They got a double portion, which is why we have two halas for the meals on Shabbos Because of the double portion that we received of the mana. We have to understand Shabbos is the greatest gift that God has on planet Earth.

22:41
Shabbos is not a nice recommendation. Oh, it's a nice day off. It's a built-in day off. No Shabbos, when someone is able to take the time off of Shabbos and we turn the phone off and the computer off and the television off and we just unplug from the world and we're able to plug into the Almighty, we're able to plug into our family, we're able to plug into ourselves, to our own spiritual connection. Take time off.

23:09
God is telling us, if you do this properly, it will be the greatest gift in your life. Oh, it's so restrictive. I can't drive, I can't go pick up my cleaners. You know what? Do it on Friday, Do it on Sunday. The greatest gift you will ever experience in life is Shabbos. And I'm telling you this try it. Don't tell anybody. You have to tell anybody. You're going religious, you're going Orthodox, you're going this. No, no, no, no. Stay in your own home, turn off your phone, prepare all your food before Shabbos. It will be a transformative experience.

23:43
I urge every single Jew try it. You know who says it's the greatest gift? The manufacturer, god. God says the greatest gift I have I'm giving to the Jewish people, lech vehudyeim, god, says to Moshe go tell them. Go tell them what a treasure it is. Why? Try it and you'll see.

24:10
Sometimes they don't know. What do you mean? You're taking away my freedom of going. I want to go to the beach, I want to go here, I want to go there. That's not what it's about. The people call it it's a day off, a day of rest. That's my day of rest. Got the wrong idea. Do nothing except for investing your relationship with God, your relationship with your family and your relationship with yourself. That's it and, of course, your community.

24:39
I invite all of you come see a Shabbos in our neighborhood, where you'll have hundreds of people walking the streets. You see children with strollers, you know, with their friends. It is a sight to behold, to see what it means Shabbos serenity, a day of total rest, a day where you have no worries in the world. It's an amazing investment that we will. It's the greatest investment we will ever make in ourselves and in our relationship with God.

25:18
Okay, the next important lesson is the pilgrimage to the temple, and this was an unbelievable event that happened three times a year Pesach, shavuot and Sukkot. It was a commandment for every Jew to go up and a pilgrimage, take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There is no gift like being close to God. We just talked about that regarding Shabbos, but we had a special opportunity to do that when we went up to the temple and we saw the service of the temple, the kohanim bringing the offerings, and the levium, the Levites, singing their beautiful, beautiful songs and the music and the dancing.

26:02
Imagine all of the Jews, all of the Jews, everyone from Houston. We all get on planes and we all fly to Jerusalem and we're all there together. Imagine the fun, the joy, the excitement, the energy. And you know what would happen. The people of Jerusalem would line the streets with drinks and cookies and cakes and kugles and you name it. They would line the streets because all the visitors are coming. They're coming from all over the world. People would come out from all the way up the north northern Israel and they'd come from Syria and Lebanon and they'd come from the part of the role of the nearby which used to be part of Eretz Israel. It's one day we'll become again part of Eretz Israel, the land of the Jewish people. People would come from afar and wide all over To be united together as one people. To remember, we're part of one core.

26:54
You talk about millions and millions of people who would descend onto Jerusalem, the site. And, by the way, what would happen in the temple? Everybody it says that they were standing so tightly together that there was no room. Like you were like shoulder to shoulder, but then when it came time to pray and everyone would bow but it was done only in the temple there would bow but there wouldn't be room because everyone's shoulder to shoulder, so there'd be no room. Suddenly there was a miracle that there was enough room for everyone, where one's head wouldn't touch the other person's feet when they bowed. It would expand, it says Eretz Kutzi. It's like the hide of a deer the bigger the deer gets, the bigger the hide gets, but only from inside. Once you take the hide off of the deer, you can't put it back on. It's like how did that ever fit? From inside, it can expand, and that's what the temple was.

27:57
And you were able to see the miracles. There were ten miracles that happened every single day in the temple. You were able to see that there were no flies, even though there was blood all over. There was no smells, there was no odor. There was a fire. There was a smoke that went all the way up from the altar to the heavens. It never stopped, and when there was wind, it didn't get pushed aside, it was always a straight line up to the heavens. Amazing miracles. We pray that the temple be rebuilt speedily in our days, amain.

28:30
Okay, so I'm going to share with you a quick story, and this is an important lesson Don't say the name of an idol. So we had a speaker who came to speak at Torch many years ago you can find the recording on YouTube, it has more than a quarter of a million views and he spoke about why Jews don't believe in JC. Now many people say that name, but the Torah tells us not to. In this week's partial, I'll tell you why I'm making a special mention of this. I got a letter, a handwritten letter, from a prominent person in our community, and in that letter this individual says I watched the entire presentation and I was blown away. It was magnificent.

29:21
But I have one problem with the presentation, and that is why doesn't he properly address JC. Instead, he uses the letters JC, instead of saying the name he says how would we feel if someone said about Moshe Rabanu, mr? So I said look, this is a dignified, respected elder of our community. I wrote him that I would like to meet with him in person. So I met with him in his office and I said to him, we schmoozed a little, chatting and whatever, and then we got to his question.

29:57
I said it's a verse in the Torah. He says there's no such verse in the Torah. I said chapter 2313. The name of God's, of others, you shall not mention, nor shall your mouth cause it to be heard. So if you are ever you bang your head sometimes someone is like something happens. They say something that rhymes with cheez-its. You're not allowed to say that. You're not allowed to say that name. It's an idol and therefore that name should not cross our lips. So if people worship a stone, if people worship JC, if people worship any type of God, that's not Hashem, that's considered an idol, very important. People don't know this because people say it all the time. I hear Jewish people saying you know JC spelled out say it all the time and it's like the Torah really tells us not to do that.

31:03
I would never go over to someone saying you know you shouldn't be saying that, but here in this class, we're here to learn, so we will do and we will listen to everything Hashem says. So here's the second time. This is the first time that we say na sevinishma. What we said previously is kolashed iberashem na se. Everything that Hashem says we will do. But now we say we will do and we will listen to everything that Hashem says. So it's very important that when you're trying to build a relationship, that you be first a doer and then a listener. First be willing to be all in. Don't say, well, I'll marry you if you tell me that we'll live on the river a side and we'll have a beautiful little mansion and we'll drive nice cars. And if you can promise me that, then I will. That's not love. First say no, I'm all in. Yes, yes. How are we going to work out the details? We'll figure that out later. So what do we do? We say na se, hashem, it's all about the relationship we're in. Later on we'll hear the details. Later on we'll know what we're getting ourselves into. Because once you have the relationship, that's what's important, it's the most important part of it. Just one more thing.

32:24
Moshe ascends to the mountain and it says a very interesting verse. And the Talmud dissects this verse. Let me read it to you by Yomur Hashem. The Moshe Hashem says to Moshe Allay a lie HaHorah, come up to me, ascend up to me up the mountain, ve hei yei sham and be there, ve etnalukha, and I will give you the stone of tablets and the Torah and the mitzvah that I have written to teach them Esluchos aeven, vea Torah, vea mitzvah, shekosavti lahorosam. What is all this, says the Talmud, and tracted Brachot. You see, we think we know that there's the written Torah and we know that there's the oral Torah. So who made up the oral Torah? Where's that from? So, as we know we discussed this last week the oral Torah was given with the explanation of the written Torah. Let me read to you the Talmud.

33:25
We learn from our Pasek, from our verse here, that the entire Torah, written and oral, was given to Moshe at Sinai. Each phrase in our Pasek refers to another part of the Torah Luchos, the tablets. Refers to the Ten Commandments. Torah refers to the Five Books of the Torah, the Hamitzvah and the Commandment refers to the Mishnah Esharkosavti that I have written. Refers to the Niveim and Ksuvim, the prophets, and the writings Lahorosam, to teach them. This refers to the Talmud. Our sages tell us.

34:05
All of it was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, everything. So don't be fooled if someone tells you oh well, there's a bunch of rabbis, they made up these rules. No, it's a contradiction to the verse, this verse that we just discussed. Contradiction to the Talmud, every part. So why is it called the Oral Torah? Because it wasn't written and given to the Jewish people at that time. It was orally transmitted the Ramam Rites that Moshe had a notebook and Joshua had a notebook, and Aaron had a notebook and the elders had notebooks. They were all combined and put into a Talmud format, into a discussion format, so that it would require a person not to just buy the book from this bookstore. Oh, I got the book, it's on my shelf, it's called the Torah and I got it all.

35:00
No, no, no, in order to understand that you're going to have to have a rabbi that you can ask questions to and you can discuss, so you can confirm that your understanding is indeed proper. Judaism is not about just download the file and you're good to go. No, it's about making sure that there's a discourse and there's a discussion, and there's a question and a give and a take, and there's a question and an answer. More than it just being a set of rules, it's about there being a conversation, a clarity of understanding. That's what the Torah is for. That's why it wasn't all given in one book. It wasn't given in one book so that you go and seek a mentor, you go and seek a teacher who will share with you the insights, so we'll give you all of the clarity. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos. Thank you so much.

2.6 Parshas Mishpatim Review: The Laws
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