The first third of the written Torah is devoted to stories. Starting with myths of creation and continuing all the way to the people Israel’s encounter with God at Sinai, we have read stories and history, with a few laws generally incidental to the story. In the 17th Parsha, Yisro, we receive the Ten Commandments. They are great principles, but organized societies need more rules and laws, and disputes that arise must be resolved.
At the end of Yisro, a system is established for Moses to go on behalf of the people to make necessary inquiries of God. Mishpatim, the 18
th Sidra, gives us the first recorded installment of the results.What are the rights of Hebrew slaves?
What happens when one person wrongfully causes the death of another, but under circumstances that may not constitute murder? What if the wrongdoer’s actions do not result in the victim’s death, but only in injury? And what about accidental injury to an innocent bystander? And what might be the effects of the status of the various parties in a society that was not particularly egalitarian? After all, the victim, the perpetrator and the bystander might be male or female, free or in servitude, Hebrew or not.
Last week we were instructed to honor our parents. Just how short of that standard must we fall in order to be subject to capital punishment?
The answers are found reported answers are not always obviously reasonable, and often we are only given the results of the cases presented. Figuring out the reasons for the rulings is generally left to us, so that we can use these precedents to apply to similar or analogous cases as they arise.
The parsha also has numerous direct Mitsvos:
You shall not eat flesh torn by animals.
When you encounter your enemy’s ox or ass wandering, you must return it.
You shall not oppress a widow, orphan … poor man … or stranger.
In the seventh year you let your land lie fallow…
Three times a year you shall hold a festival …
You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
On the seventh day you shall cease from labor, so your ox and ass may rest, and your bondmen and the stranger may be refreshed.
It is no wonder the word God chose for life has the numerical value18! In Mishpatim, the 18th weekly Torah portion, a multitude of laws and judgments are presented. So far we have spent over 3,000 years learning, explaining, and reconciling so as to apply them to our daily lives.