Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Mishpatim  "WHEN YOU ACQUIRE A HEBREW SLAVE, HE SHALL SERVE SIX YEARS; IN THE SEVENTH YEAR HE SHALL GO FREE, WITHOUT PAYMENT. BUT IF THE SLAVE DECLARES, "I LOVE MY MASTER, AND MY WIFE AND CHILDREN; I DO NOT WISH TO GO FREE", HIS MASTER SHALL TAKE HIM BEFORE GOD. HE SHALL BE BROUGHT TO THE DOOR OR THE DOORPOST, AND HIS MASTER SHALL PIERCE HIS EAR WITH AN AWL; AND HE SHALL THEN REMAIN HIS SLAVE FOR LIFE."   Temporal servants are servants of servants...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Mishpatim  "Moshe alone shall come near the Lord, but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him. Moshe went and repeated to the people all the commands of Lord and all the rules, And the people answered with one voice, saying, "All the things that the Lord has commanded we will do." (Shemot 24:2-3)     Rabbi Yehoshua said: Great is peace, for when Israel stood and declared "All the things that the Lord has commanded we will do," The...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Lech Mishpatim "When a man opens up a pit" – one already dug. This possibility is included because God does not want an animal to die needlessly, and also, the animal's owner will suffer damage. (Ibn Ezra, Shemot 21:33) The Responsibility of the "Pit's" Owner Our Sages taught: One may not transfer stones from his private property to public domain (reshut harabim). A man once moved stones from his property to public domain. A chassid saw him, and said: Scoundrel, why do you move stones from...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Mishpatim (link to original page) Parshat Mishpatim The Rights of the Other Efraim Hamiel Why did the Torah choose to start the first Jewish legal codex given to the people of Israel after the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, concentrated in the portion of Mishpatim, with the laws about the Hebrew slave? This question has exercised the minds of Bible commentators down the generations, as these laws do not seem of central importance in the laws of Israel. Nachmanides decided that this commandment is a reminder of the exodus...