Living by the Laws
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
PARASHAT MISHPATIM
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Dedicated in memory of
Joseph Y. Nadler, zl, Yosef ben Yechezkel Tzvi
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Living by the Laws
By Rav Michael
Hattin
INTRODUCTION
Last
week, we read about the Revelation at Sinai.
A scant three months after the Exodus, God gathered the people of Israel
at the base of the mountain and in a fiery and overwhelming display, proclaimed
His Ten Utterances. How quickly had
the fortunes of the people been transformed!
A short time earlier, they had been Pharaoh's downtrodden slaves, with
their broken bodies performing ceaseless labor as their numb minds were occupied
with only a single, crude thought: to complete their daily tally of mud bricks. Suddenly liberated, they now stood
attentive at the desolate mountain's feet and for the first time began to
internalize the shattering message that human conscience must engender the
exercise of the moral will.
Henceforth, human life would have meaning, purpose and worth, and human labor
now freed from the oppressive shackles of unjust slavery would be invested
with dignity. But little did the
people of Israel realize that God's brief proclamation of the Decalogue was only
the precursor to grander things: a comprehensive code of laws and rituals that
would touch upon every aspect of their existence, namely the Parasha of
Mishpatim.
THE NEED
FOR LAWS
Every thinking human being recognizes the necessity of laws in order to
govern and to regulate social intercourse.
Laws ensure that our innate drives for possession and power are held in
check, deterring us from otherwise exercising our often unbridled and selfish
passions. Laws secure peoples' bodies and things from being seized or stolen by
others, providing us with the peace of mind that our labors and our lives are
not exercises in futility. Laws
provide a mechanism for restitution when damages, intentional or inadvertent,
have been inflicted on one's fellow, ensuring that a person's rights to the
well-being of his body and to the safety of his belongings are respected. Occasionally, laws may even inspire
us to greater achievements, by reminding us that justice and concern for others,
the hallmarks of altruism, are at the foundations of a model society. In short, laws are the absolute
antithesis of the brick pits, where human lives are worthless, the products of
one's labors are cruelly appropriated, and concern for the welfare of others is
suicidal.
In a marvelous summation of the thrust of the legal system introduced in
Parashat Mishpatim, the Ibn Ezra (12th century, Spain) informs us
that "the crux of the matter is that a man must not perpetrate acts of violence,
nor utilize force to overpower those that are weaker than him" ("short"
commentary to 21:1). The truest
measure of a moral system, then, is how it relates to the weakest and most
vulnerable members of society, those who typically lack the natural protections
that fame and fortune confer.
Thoughts of balm, indeed, to minds once held in throes to the terror of the
taskmaster's whip. The Ibn Ezra goes
on to enumerate the three broad categories of laws that constitute the Parasha's
larger part, listing the various elements that are stated in each section, and
demonstrating how they in turn are expressions of not only their particular
section, but of the all-inclusive principal as well.
THE
SECTIONS OF THE CODE AND WHAT FOLLOWS
Thus, the first section enumerates the laws concerning OPPRESSION OF
ANOTHER'S BODY, and begins with the regulation of servitude (21:1-11). This is followed by passages
enumerating additional bodily damages including striking another person or one's
parents (21:12-17), kidnapping, and causing another a loss of limb or other
injury to their organs, whether with one's body, one's animals or one's
possessions (21:18-22:3). The Torah
continues by then delineating the second section that deals with HARM TO
ANOTHER'S PROPERTY. Damages to the
field and vineyard or to their respective products are mentioned (22:4-5),
followed by the laws of custodianship and the care of borrowed articles
(22:6-6-14), the seduction of minors (22:15-16), and regulations concerning
lending money (22:24-26). Next, the
Parasha turns its attention to its third concern, laws that are formulated in
order to restrict what Ibn Ezra terms the "VIOLENCE THAT ONE MAY PERPETRATE IN
SECRET." These include various
ritual infractions (22:27-30), bearing false witness, favoring litigants,
failing to restore lost articles, perverting justice and taking bribes or
oppressing the convert (23:1-9).
Thus, considering Ibn Ezra's tripartite division, the code is arranged
according to a hierarchical structure that aims to foster concern for not only
another's body, but for their possessions and welfare as well. Violence is often overt and obvious,
but one can also perpetrate more subtle crimes that are no less insidious. The code's division thus mirrors the
organizing principle of the Ten Utterances.
In the Decalogue, the final five matters that pertain to our treatment of
others are also arranged in what amounts to not only a descending order of
severity but also an ascending order of moral sensitivity: the prohibition of
killing is followed by the ban on adultery (OPPRESSION OF ANOTHER'S BODY), theft
(HARM TO ANOTHER'S PROPERTY), and finally by the prohibition of bearing false
witness and coveting (VIOLENCE THAT ONE MAY PERPETRATE IN SECRET).
Lastly, the code is completed by the inclusion of further rituals, but
this time with an emphasis on their social value.
Thus, the Sabbatical year is observed in order to provide the poor with
an opportunity for equal access to the produce of the privately owned field,
while the celebration of the Shabbat grants the servant the chance to enjoy rest
from his labors just like his master (23:10-12).
The provisions that follow, to celebrate the three pilgrim festivals and
to appear at the central shrine, are both denunciations of idolatry (23:13-19),
for allegiance to its false tenets undermines the moral laws.
Significantly, this legal code is followed in the Parasha by the promise
of the land, a clear implication that only fealty to its tenets, including the
categorical rejection of the Canaanites' moral relativism, will ensure the
viability of Israel's future state:
Behold I send before you My messenger to guard you on the way and to
bring to you to the place that I have prepared for you
Do not bow down to their
gods nor serve them, and do not follow their practices
rather, serve God your
Lord for He will bless your food and your water
I will slowly drive them out
from before you, until you become numerous enough to inherit the land. I will place your borders from the
Sea of Reeds until the Mediterranean, and from the wilderness until the
Euphrates
(23:20-33).
CONSIDERING ONE EXAMPLE
Let us turn our attention to a single one of the Parasha's laws, for its
study not only provides us with an important appreciation of Ibn Ezra's thesis,
but also highlights the great transformation that the people of Israel are
called upon to undergo as they leave Egypt behind and embrace Sinai's message. Embedded in a passage that combines
fundamental ritual doctrines with basic concerns for the disadvantaged, the
prohibition of oppressing the convert is spelled out:
One who sacrifices to any other deities other than God alone will be
banned. Do not hurt the feelings of
the convert nor oppress him, for you too were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Do not mistreat a widow or an orphan. If you mistreat them, then I will
surely hear their cry when they cry out to Me.
I will then become angry and slay you by the sword, so that your wives
will be widows and your children will be orphans (22:19-23).
Here, the recurring linkage between immorality and idolatry, a
connection that the Torah never fails to emphasize, is once again stated. A society that champions polytheism
cannot by definition promulgate or enforce moral absolutes, because a code of
law can carry only as much authority as its authors. If there are many gods, contentious,
quarrelsome and unruly, then the "moral law" that they manage to produce (if
they at all have an interest in so doing) will tend to be arbitrary, chaotic and
non-binding.
Significantly, the convert is here grouped with the widow and the
orphan, and in each case the Torah reinforces its legislation with powerful and
unsettling imagery. To oppress the
convert or the foreigner is to have forgotten the sting of Egyptian servitude,
the terrible pain that pertains when one is treated as an outsider. To be inconsiderate of the widow or
orphan is to invite a Divine response that is not only harsh and severe in the
extreme, but, more importantly, an ironic reformulation of the most basic of
moral principles: one must treat others as one would want to be treated in turn.
THE
MISHNAIC RULING
What is most remarkable about the law of oppressing the convert,
however, is that it does not address the physical damages that can be assessed
and restored according to empirical evaluation.
It does not even speak of the harm that one can inflict on another's
things under the guise of feigned concern, that is to say the "violence
perpetrated in secret" of which Ibn Ezra so eloquently spoke. Rather, the prohibition of oppressing
the convert begins to address a different dimension of damage, namely that which
can be caused to a person's feelings of self-worth or to their emotional
well-being. On this matter, the
relevant Mishna in Tractate Bava Metzia (4:10) is particularly enlightening. After detailing the laws of
commercial overcharge that sometimes can result in the annulment of a sale, the
Mishna says:
Just as there is a law of oppressive overcharge in matters of buying and
selling, so too there is oppression by words.
One should not say to the seller: "how much is this object?" when one has
no intention of purchasing it. If a
person was a Ba'al Teshuva then one should not say to him: "remember your
earlier deeds!" If a person was a
descendent of converts then one should not say to him: "remember the deeds of
your ancestors!", for the verse states: "do not hurt the feelings of the convert
nor oppress him" (Shemot 22:20).
Like its Scriptural precursor, the Mishnaic chapter here groups damages
to possessions and property with damages to the spirit. There is oppression by deed (selling
an object to an unsuspecting buyer for much more than it is worth) and there is
oppression by word, but the feature common to both Mishnaic categories is that
they address THE VIOLENCE THAT ONE MAY PERPETRATE IN SECRET. But here again, our particular
Mishna addresses the so-called violence that is carried out not against the body
or property of the other but rather against their soul. What could be more innocent than an
off-the-cuff remark to the seller about the price of his wares, while all the
while the potential buyer has absolutely no intent of acquiring the object at
that time? What could be more
harmless than a backhanded compliment to the Ba'al teshuva or convert,
especially words that appear to have the desirable effect of highlighting their
hard-won achievements? And what
could be more destructive? For such
actions, rules the Mishna, one cannot be held accountable in a court of law, but
only in the arena that matters most our relationship with God.
CONCLUSION
As material beings, we justifiably tend to focus on the material aspects
of our lives. Most of our concerns
pivot around our bodies and our things, or those of our loved ones. Most of our laws also address these
very areas. We therefore tend to
define the level of our moral achievements in material terms as well, as if
ethical development could be gauged solely by our treatment of another's person
or possessions. The Decalogue, the
Parasha of Mishpatim, and especially Ibn Ezra's insightful comments alert us to
another possibility, to the existence of a plane of moral exploit that addresses
not bodies or things, but rather emotions, feelings and the spirit. On that daunting plane, there are no
courts to sentence the assailant, no police to enforce their ruling, and not
even the threat of human laws to deter aggression. There is only the human conscience,
alone and unmonitored, but nonetheless guided by God's eternal word, to freely
decide how to proceed.
Shabbat
Shalom