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“Bless Adonai, O His angels, mighty in strength, you who execute His word and listen to the voice of His commandment.” (Tehillim 103:20) To me, the central theme of Parashat Mishpatim is our responsibility toward our neighbor who is voluntarily or involuntarily affected by our actions. In this sense, Mishpatim is an explanation of how […]
“From the River to the Sea…” Our rabbi always said, “Don’t get caught up in the details when reading the Torah, but ask yourselves… “to whom was God speaking, when and where?” The Israelites had just been freed from years of slavery in Egypt, a nation with many gods, superstitions, idolatry, death cults, etc. It […]
Are we still slaves of our past? Last week in Yitro we read about the giving of the Ten Commandments and in this portion, we will see 53 mishpatim, judgments or injunctions. The Ten are divided into three sections: The first three are the Mitzvoth describing our relationship with the Creator; the middle two, the […]
With Freedom Comes Responsibility This week’s parashah Mishpatim begins with וְאֵלֶּה, הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, V’eleh ha mishpatim…“And these are the judgments that you shall set before them:” By beginning with “and”, it suggests that it’s connected with the previous portion Yitro, in which we read that God had personally inscribed the Ten Statements in stone and gave them to Moshe at […]
1 Adar 5781 “We will Do and We will Listen.” Here in Parashat Mishpatim, Moses is telling the children of Israel about many of the moral and ritual “regulations”- mishpatim. He is also sealing the covenant between them and their God. God had just given them the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, as we saw […]
How to Apply the Ten Commandments Shevat 27 5780 I cannot repeat enough that the Torah is a book of principles for us to live by; it is not a book of rules and regulations which tend to enslave us rather than give us the freedom that the Bore Olam wants for us. This is […]
