"If a fire shall go forth and find thorns, and a stack

fire shall make restitution."

(Shemot 22:5)

If a fire

shall go forth

– by itself… and our sages of blessed memory interpreted this in [the

Babylonian Talmud, tractate] Baba Kama (60b) in terms of the destruction of the Temple, as it is

written (Yeshayahu 64:10): "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers

praised thee, is burnt with fire", and we caused [it to happen] by

corruption, and The Holy One Blessed Be He promised us to pay as if He set the

fire.

(Rabbeinu Bachya,

ibid.)

…And the Torah

alludes to what the wicked will cause by their wickedness, in order that man

should wake up from the slumber of his mind and see the tremendous evil they

bring on the world. For they harm not just themselves, but rather cause evil to

the whole world. This is what "a fire shall go forth" means, for you

surely know that the people's troubles are called "fire" – go

and learn from the angel Gabriel who asked the Cherub for fire, which

represents an increase in [the mystical property of] judgment. [The Torah

continues] and says "and find thorns" – those are the wicked who are

nothing but painful thorns. And the term "find" is used, similar to (Dvarim 31:21) "It shall be when many evils and distresses come upon

(lit: 'will find') [this people]…" The reason being that a wicked person

does not have a master because regarding the Master Blessed Be He – [the

wicked] denied Him and threw off His Authority. So The Lord hid His face from

him, and from then on, he is like a finding (as in: lost object), and whoever

meets him can treat him as he pleases.

(Or HaChaim, ibid.)

Freedom on the Luchot (Tables of

the Law)

Ariel Rathaus

In

memory of my father and teacher

Menachem Mendel ben

Moshe of blessed memory

who passed away on 27^th

of Shevat 5755.

Several

of the Bible commentators make a connection between the law of freeing the Hebrew

slave in the seventh year, which opens Parashat Mishpatim, and the Ten Commandments in Parashat

Yitro preceding it. For example, here is what Ramban writes (Shemot

21:2): "The

first law starts with the Hebrew slave, because in the freeing of the slave in

the seventh year, there is an allusion to the Exodus from Egypt, which is mentioned in the

first Commandment." (He means, of course, the words "I am Hashem, your God, Who has taken you out of the land

of Egypt,

from the house of slavery." – see also the comments by Chizkuni,

Abarbanel, and "Ha'amek

Davar" on this.)

From

making this connection, we can infer that the idea of freedom is one of the

building foundations of Torah, a kind of starting point, both of a

theological-ethical platform of the Ten Commandments, as well as of the

detailed halachic legislation of Parashat

"Mishpatim". But ideals are ideals, and

reality is reality. Parashat Mishpatim

was combined with the Haftara from the Book of Yirmia, which constitutes a bitter-ironic counterpoint to

the opening verses of the parasha: after the masters

set free "every man his bondsman and every man his bondswoman" (ibid., 34:10), behold – they enslave them again, and it becomes clear

that the freeing was nothing but make-believe. Likewise, the fact that halacha recognizes slavery – namely that of a Canaanite slave – which is not limited in time, where

there is no principal prohibition of subjecting another human being to

forced labor, bears witness to the difficulty of implementing the idea of

freedom in reality. A Canaanite slave is a man in God's image, yet "his

body is property" of his master. Even though Hashem

is the God who "takes out from the house of slavery", it seems that

the economic mechanisms of the technologically primitive antique society do not

permit to abolish a classic slavery of this kind.

Even

on a purely conceptual level, it looks like the link between the Ten

Commandments (as a symbol of Torah and Mitzvot) and

the concept of freedom is not a simple matter. One of the most famous sources

that touch on this problem is a saying at the beginning of the sixth chapter of

"Pirkei Avot"

(which is also known under the name of "Chapter of Acquiring Torah"):

Rabbi

Yehoshua ben (son of) Levi

said, on every day a heavenly voice emanates from Mount Horev,

announcing: 'Woe to them, the people, because of the affront to the Torah.' For

anyone who does not study is called 'rebuked,' as the verse says 'As a golden ring in a swine's snout, so too is a beautiful

woman who has turned from sound reason' (Proverbs 11:22). It also says, 'And the

tablets were the handiwork of G-d, and the writing was G-d's

writing engraved ["charut"] on the tablets'

(Exodus

32:16). Do not

read 'charut' (engraved), rather "cherut" (freedom). For you will not find a freer

person than one who is involved in the study of Torah. (Pirkei Avot 6:2)

Much

earlier than the commentators mentioned above, and from a different viewpoint –

wider, not focused on the laws of the Hebrew slave – emphasizes Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, using a

brilliant, clarifying wording, the link that in his opinion exists between

freedom and Torah: Freedom is engraved on the Tablets of the Covenant, and so

the Ten Commandments – well, actually all the 613 Commandments – are meant to

transform an Israelite into a free man.

This

is a paradoxical statement, and many were those who wondered about its meaning.

After all, the Torah is called "Yoke of the Heavenly Kingship", the

opposite of freedom. In which sense does the Torah, which commands a person how

to behave in each moment of his life, provide him with freedom? What kind of an

inner freedom is one that comes from outside, from the absolute coercion

of the System of Mitzvot?

A

simple, somewhat utilitarian explanation is found in a commentary attributed to

Rashi on the "Chapter of Acquiring Torah":

"For you will not find a freer person: Because people honor and

serve him." In other words: a person who engages himself in the study of

Torah and becomes a Torah scholar earns honors and high esteem, and is

therefore "ben chorin"

(here, the expression "ben chorin"

is interpreted as meaning "noble", "wellborn", and not in

the sense of "free"). A different interpretation, in a pronouncedly

moral vein, is the one offered by the author of "Tif'eret

Israel": "For you will not find a freer person: Because he

does not subjugate himself, and is not ruled by physicality (hedonism), and

this is freedom, the fact that his soul is not ruled by physical

passions." This is maybe the most acceptable among the interpretations of

this saying (even for modern commentators), which sharply outlines the borders of

freedom, autonomy, and anarchy. The man is a creature whose drives take control

of him, and only the Torah, which liberates him from physical passions, turns

him into a truly autonomous being. Only that according to this interpretation,

freedom is attained almost against a person's will, against his spontaneous and

primal inclinations. Does such a freedom still fit the definition of 'freedom',

or is this maybe coercion? In order to answer this, a variant interpretation

has been suggested which stresses that the Torah frees us precisely because it

does not act against man's nature (or, rather, against the nature of a Jew).

Quite the opposite: it reveals to him his true nature and removes him from sin:

for "such a lifestyle (throwing off the Yoke of Mitzvot)

goes against his essence and nature." (R'Menachem Mendel Shneurson,

"Explanations of Pirkei Avot",

vol.2, p.338).

The

Maharal of Prague presents a different and original

point of view in "Path of Life", his big commentary on Prikei Avot. According to his

view, the Torah grants freedom by way of being the highest

intellectual-spiritual revelation: a man's mind is a "design of

reality", meaning the power which shapes the world, and above him is the

Torah, which is the pinnacle of mind, and it is "wholly a design of

reality". The Maharal illustrates his idea with

a parable which sharply contrasts the earthly, limited freedom of the freest

and highest-standing person of all – the king – with the true freedom offered

by the highest intellectuality of the Torah, which is totally metaphysical and

pure from materialism:

And

it says: 'For you will not find a free person except the one who is involved in

the study of Torah'. For even a king, who is free, is not called free in

comparison with someone who is involved in the study of Torah. And this is as

they said (below,

Mishna 6) 'And do not crave for the table [of kings], for your table

is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown'. For

the king, even though he is king, fears that maybe his subjects will rebel

against him, and is therefore not completely free. For only that person can be

called 'free' for whom not even the possibility of slavery exists, and

this cannot be found except with someone who is involved in the study of Torah,

and is therefore completely free, as we have explained. For the mind is free,

slavery is not applicable to it ("Path of Life", ch.6, 3).

Only

in Torah learning, the arena of encounter between the Godly mind and the human

mind, true freedom exists. "The mind is free" – this statement

might reflect a radical scholarly-intellectualistic position, but it also opens

a door to new and interesting insights regarding the saying of R'Yehoshua ben Levi. For an

additional, possible interpretation of the expression "freedom on the

tablets", an interpretation which is derived from the words of the Maharal yet deviates from them, is that the man of mind

"who designs the reality" is free vis-à-vis the tablets,

meaning in relation to them, in his understanding of them. As everyone who

learns Torah knows, there is no greater sense of freedom than that which a

person feels when he is engaged in the study of Torah, when he makes an effort

and sharpens his mind, while at the same time giving freedom to his imagination

and desires, and choosing among existing contradicting interpretations, and

sometimes creating new interpretations according to his own understanding, and

even according to his personal situation at that very moment, according to the

emotional resonance of the words he reads, and according to their meaning

regarding himself – and this also becomes in some way "Torah", as

long as it is born out of conversation and engagement with the text, and not

from arbitrarily ignoring some of it. This is a freedom that looks very modern

to us (maybe even "post-modern"), but as a matter of fact, it is a

heritage of the Jewish people. It derives directly from a tradition with deep

roots not just in the world of Aggadah where

everything is possible, but also in the world of Halachah

and Psikah (halachic codification),

where one of the texts that sets down its principles is the story about the

"Oven of Akhnai" (Babylonian

Talmud, tractate Baba Metzia, 59b), a story that shows how

humans, using their intellect and reasoning, overruled that which was said by a

Heavenly Voice, and the Law was codified according to them.

With

all that, a word of caution should be added to the last things we said. Learners

of Torah ultimately shape the face of the Torah, and this is their freedom, but

be it allowed to add and point out that this is also

their heavy responsibility. Every freedom is a "difficult freedom".

While it is true that "the Torah has seventy faces", that is

certainly not to say that all the faces are equal. We are well aware of the

existence of a conceptual and halachic interpretation

that is corrupting our ethical essence beyond recognition, and it is this

violent face that distorts, like a grotesque masque, the pure face of the Torah

as we have become accustomed to know it, which we must reject. A wonderful

freedom has been given to the learners of Torah and to the codifiers of Halacha, but they must use it in a responsible, prudent,

and, above all – humane way.

Dr.

Ariel Rathaus, literature researcher and translator,

teaches at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

And you shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress him:

Oppression

After it said do not

oppress in the plural, it

said if you indeed oppress him [in the singular], for anyone who sees

someone oppressing an orphan or a widow and does not come to their aid is also

thought of as an oppressor. This is the punishment: if someone is oppressed and

the other does not come to his aid, the punishment is inflicted on them all.

That is why afterwards [it is written] My wrath

will be kindled, and I will slay you [plural] with the sword – all of you.

(Ibn Ezra Shemot 22:20)

This notion, i.e., that non-action is also a kind of action, that

everyone who is capable of protesting but does not protest is judged as a

collaborator, is found frequently in Scripture, Mishnah,

and the aggada. The author of the Ha'Amek Davar, who agrees here with Ibn Ezra, makes the paradoxical comment

that the prophet makes a claim of this kind against the Holy One blessed be He.

If He sees injustice and remains silent, even He is – so to speak – a collaborator

with the wrongdoers:

And Rabbi Abraham wrote that anyone who sees someone oppressing an

orphan or a widow and does not come to their aid is also thought of as an

oppressor. He is correct;

this is fully supported by a verse from Isaiah (64:11): Concerning these will You restrain Yourself; will You remain

silent and afflict us so very greatly? This

means: In that You are

silent You impose affliction.

(Ha'Amek Davar Shemot 22:22)

By restraining and remaining silent – You become – so to speak – one

of our oppressors.

( Nehama Leibowitz, Iyyunim le'Sefer Shemot, pg. 285)

And

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Delivers Every Man from the Stronger

It is correct, in my opinion, that it should say "You shall not

wrong a stranger or oppress him" and you should think "for he has

none to save him from your hand:, for you know that you were strangers in the

land of Egypt, and you witnessed the oppression with which Egypt oppressed you,

and I wreaked vengeance upon them, because I see the tear of the oppressed

who have none to comfort them… and I save every man from those

stronger than he, and also the widow and the orphan shall you not oppress,

because I shall hear their cries, for all these live in uncertainty, and

they depend on Me, and in another passage another reason is added; "For

land of Egypt.", in other words, you know that every stranger, whose

spirit is low, and he groans and scrams and his eyes are always towards God and

He will have mercy on them as he had mercy on you, as is written (2:23), "The Israelites were groaning

up to God," that is to say, not in their own merit, but rather that He

had pity on them because of the labor.

(Ramban,

Shemot 22:20)

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