Hamaayan / The Torah Spring: Parashat Mishpatim
- From: "Alan Broder" <alan@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:44:47 +0000 (UTC)
Hamaayan / The Torah Spring
Edited by Shlomo Katz
Mishpatim
Volume 22, No. 18
26 Shevat 5768
February 2, 2008
Sponsored by
Robert and Hannah Klein
on the 10th yahrzeit of Robert's father
Milton Klein (Meir ben Kalman a"h)
Elaine and Jerry Taragin
on the yahrzeits of
Mrs. Shirley Taragin a"h,
Mr. Irving Rivkin a"h
and Mrs. F. Rivkin a"h
David Dahan
on the yahrzeit of his brother
Amram ben Rahma a"h
Bobbi and Jules Meisler
in memory of his mother, Anne Meisler a"h
Today's Learning:
Eduyot 5:4-5
O.C. 66:0-67:1
Daf Yomi (Bavli): Nedarim 43
Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Chagigah 22
This week's parashah is the first that contains express mention of
shemittah, specifically the verses (23:10-11), "Six years shall you sow your
land and gather in its produce. And in the seventh, you shall leave it
untended and unharvested, and the destitute of your people shall eat, and
the
wildlife of the field shall eat what is left; so shall you do to your
vineyard
and your olive grove."
R' Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter z"l (1847-1905; the Gerrer Rebbe) observes
that
there is an allusion to the theme of shemittah -- albeit not the law of
shemittah -- at the very beginning of the parashah. We read (21:1), "If you
buy a Jewish slave, he shall work for six years; and in the seventh he shall
go
free, for no charge." From a legal perspective, the seventh year referred
to
in this verse is unrelated to shemittah; rather, the slave works for six
years
after he was sold and then goes free. However, R' Alter teaches, there is a
connection between the slave going free in his seventh year of servitude and
the land resting every seven years. He explains:
Why does the law of the Jewish slave follow immediately after last
week's
parashah, which described the giving of the Torah? The answer is that
receiving the Torah implanted within every single Jewish person the innate
tendency to accept no master other than G-d. While a Jew can become a
slave,
that condition can exist only temporarily, for deep down, every Jew
subjugates
himself only to Hashem.
Kabbalists speak of parallelism between the Jewish soul and Eretz
Yisrael.
The Land also cannot be subjugated permanently to any being except G-d.
This
is a reason for the mitzvah of shemittah. Parallel to this, a Jewish slave
goes free in the seventh year after his subjugation to man begins. (Sefat
Emet
5660). [For more about "sevens," please see the Shemittah section below.]
********
"If a man shall act intentionally against his fellow to kill him
with guile -- from My Altar shall you take him to die." (21:14)
Rashi explains: Even if the murderer is a kohen and we find him
offering a
sacrifice on the altar, we do not wait for him to finish before we execute
his
punishment.
R' Chaim Yosef David Azulai z"l (1727-1806; Eretz Yisrael and Italy)
offers another explanation for this verse in the name of the "German
Rabbis."
He writes: According to halachah, one does not incur the death penalty for
killing a treifah / a person who had a condition which would have killed him
soon in any case. (Killing such a person is, of course, forbidden, but it
is
not a capital offense.) Thus, in theory, every murderer could avoid the
death
penalty by arguing, "Perhaps the person I killed was a treifah. Because of
this doubt, you cannot execute me."
Our verse responds to this argument. An animal which is known to be a
treifah may not be brought as a sacrifice. Yet, we do not check whether
animals that are brought are or are not treifot (plural of treifah). In
fact,
some sacrifices must be burnt in their entirety and there isn't even an
opportunity to examine them. Halachah permits us to assume that since most
animals are not treifot, the animals brought as sacrifices also are not.
"From My Altar shall you take him to die" - from the altar, where we
are
permitted to bring sacrifices without examining them, we learn that we
assume
that most living things are not treifot. Therefore, "You shall take [the
murderer] to die." (Nachal Kedumim)
********
"When you lend money to My people, the poor person with you, do
not
act toward him as a creditor; do not lay interest upon him"
(22:24)
R' Shlomo Algazi z"l (17th century) observes: This verse is teaching
that
when you lend money or give charity to a poor person, you are not doing only
him a favor. "When you lend money to My people, the poor person with you" -
you are doing a kindness for yourself as well. (Shaima Shlomo)
Rambam writes: There are eight levels of charity. The highest level is
achieved by one who puts the poor person back on his own feet either through
a
gift, a loan, taking him as a partner, or finding him a job. The other
levels,
in descending order, are as follows:
(2) Giving charity in such a way that the giver and the recipient do
not
know each other (for example, by putting money in a pushka);
(3) If the giver knows the recipient, but the recipient does not know
the
giver;
(4) If the recipient knows the giver, but the giver does not know the
recipient;
(5) Putting money directly into the pauper's hand without being asked;
(6) Giving a respectable donation after being asked;
(7) Giving less than a respectable donation, but with a smile; and
(8) Giving any amount with a frown. (Hil. Matnot Aniyim 10:7-14)
********
"Moshe, Aharon, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of
Yisrael
ascended. They saw the G-d of Yisrael . . . Against the great
men
of Bnei Yisrael, He did not stretch out His hand - they gazed at
G-
d, and they ate and drank." (24:9-11)
Rashi z"l explains that the elders "looked" at the Shechinah without
the
proper reverence - indeed, while they ate and drank.
R' Akiva Sofer z"l (rabbi of Pressburg, Czechoslovakia; died 1960 in
Yerushalayim) offers another explanation. He writes: Moshe was on the
mountain
for 40 days and nights, and he ate nothing the entire time. How was this
possible? He became so attached to G-d that he was oblivious to any
physical
needs. Instead, the spiritual sustenance that his soul drew from his
closeness
to G-d was sufficient to sustain him.
In contrast, the elders achieved great closeness to G-d, yet they did
not
allow the experience to change them. They remained attached to their
physical
beings, and that was a sin. (The fact that they sinned is implied in the
words, "Against the great men of Bnei Yisrael, He did not stretch out His
hand"
- apparently, they were deserving of having His hand outstretched against
them.) When a person has an opportunity to attain a higher spiritual level,
and he lets the opportunity pass him by, he has sinned. (Da'at Sofer)
R' Ben Zion Rabinowitz shlita (the "Biala Rebbe") offers yet another
explanation: Hashem commanded that no one but Moshe ascend to the top of Har
Sinai. Most people were not permitted to even touch the mountain. Aharon
was
allowed to ascend part way, as were Nadav and Avihu and the elders, but each
one only to his own level.
The very reason that Hashem established such boundaries was to teach
that
a person should not try to reach a higher spiritual level than he is
prepared
to attain at that moment. This is alluded to by Rashi in his comment on the
verse (19:6), "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation;
these
are the words that you shall speak to Bnei Yisrael." Rashi comments: "These
are the words - no more and no less." The "no more" part of this statement
means that a Jew should not attempt to attain more spiritually than he is
ready
for, writes R' Rabinowitz.
The elders did not understand this. "They gazed at G-d, and they ate
and
drank." Instead of "gazing" with proper reverence, they did so lightly, as
if
they were eating and drinking. This improper attitude resulted from their
not
preparing themselves for the experience.
In contrast, when Moshe first gazed at the Shechinah, it says (Shmot
3:6),
"Moshe hid his face, for he was afraid to gaze towards G-d." (Mevaser Tov:
Sha'arei Avodat Hashem pp. 10 & 60)
********
Shemittah
R' David ben Shmuel Hakochavi z"l (Spain and France; 13th-14th
centuries)
writes: The idea of shemittah and yovel, it seems to me, is to strengthen
belief in Creation. This is the idea, as well, of the sanctity of the
seventh
day (Shabbat), the day following the Seven Weeks (Shavuot) and the seventh
month (Tishrei, which includes Rosh Hashanah, the Days of Repentance, Yom
Kippur and Sukkot).
How so?
Rambam z"l writes that the number seven recurs frequently in nature
[see
Moreh Nevochim / Guide to the Perplexed III, ch.43 and commentaries there].
He
writes further that the Torah elevates nature, which is inherently incapable
of
elevating itself, as it has no intelligence. R' Hakochavi explains further
that when Bnei Yisrael left Egypt, they were plagued by heretical beliefs in
the power of nature which prevented them from receiving the Torah
immediately.
[One of the purposes of the Ten Plagues was to convince both the Egyptians
and
Bnei Yisrael of G-d's supremacy over the forces of nature.] Until Bnei
Yisrael
had been cleansed of their prior heretical beliefs for seven weeks and
replaced
those beliefs with strong faith in G-d as the All Powerful Creator, they
could
not receive the Torah.
As for letting the land rest in the seventh year, this directly
parallels
the observance of Shabbat, which itself testifies to Creation. Just as a
believer does not work on one day out of seven, instead trusting in Hashem
to
sustain him, so he does not work (the land) during one year out of seven.
(R'
Hakochavi adds parenthetically that this is a purpose of shemittah in
addition
to the benefit to the land from resting and rejuvenating itself.)
Also, R' Hakochavi writes, the number 49 (7x7) had significance to
ancient
magicians. To counteract any belief in their powers, we count 49 days and
then
observe Shavuot, and we count 49 years and then observe yovel. This
confirms
that all power belongs to G-d. (Sefer Ha'batim - Migdal David: Sefer
Mitzvah,
No.130)
**************
Shabbat Shalom
"Hamaayan is prepared by laymen and published weekly for the
edification and enjoyment of the reader who is lacking the time or
ability to study the weekly parashah on his own. Hamaayan's goal is
to acquaint the reader with a broad spectrum of traditional Torah
commentary -- classical, recent and "obscure" -- as well as with
aspects of Jewish history and thought.
The editors hope these brief 'snippets' will engender further study
and discussion of Torah topics ("lehagdil Torah u'leha'adirah"), and
your letters are appreciated. Unfortunately, they lack the time to
respond to lengthy questions."
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