Limits on Masters and Control: Dvar Torah Parshat ‘Mishpatim’ ›

Lincoln Memorial – interior – statue – 2011  | By dctim1 cc: flickr

Rabbi Mira Raz replaces the Master of Slaves with the real master – he who created us all. She teaches us about Masters and the limits of power from this weeks parsha: ‘Mishpatim’

Amos Chacham in his commentary to parashat Mishpatim in Daat Mikra writes:

“The laws included in parashat Mishpatim are called Mishpatim because they deal with issues that require the judges’ supervision and judgment, and mostly concern with law of torts and monetary law. Other interpreters have already said that this parasha includes many laws, each of them stands on its own, and there is not a close connection between one law and another. Despite this it is possible to find reason in the order of things…”

The parasha begins with the laws of the Hebrew servant (Exodus 21:1-7):

“Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing… And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant…”

When a man of Israel buys a Jewish servant, he has to know that he/she will not be his servant for eternity, but only for a certain period of time – six years – and at the beginning of the seventh year the servant will be a free man/woman.

Why does parashat Mishpatim begin with the law of a Jewish servant (male and female)?

“In order to warn the judge from disrespecting the judgment of a servant, and from postponing the servant’s sentence and prioritize his/her case, for he/she perceives his/her case to be as more important than the cases of poor, oppressed people” (Iturei Torah). Also in Midrash Shemot Raba it says that “you cannot employ a Jewish servant for more than six years since God created the world in six days.”

Here we can see an allusion to the first command of the Ten Commandments that is:

“I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

The idea is that a servant, who is of the lowest social status, may come to the conclusion when he becomes a master that the way of the world is like a rotating wheel. He might think that if he, who is now the master, will treat his servants as he was treated according to the book Proverbs (30:22) which appoints four unbearable things. One of them is “a servant for he will reign…” which refers to a servant who rebelled against the king and does not know how to rule “he acts crazy”.

So does any man whose fate has changed from an inferior position to a situation where he holds the power, might abuse his power while telling himself that such is the way of the world. It turns out to be spiritually “crazy”.

The limits of power

The Midrash mentioned above sets a limit to mastery and domination. Every person was born free, and if his/her life’s circumstances brought him/her to be a servant, he/she will know that as a master, he/she is subjected to a higher power that commands him/her to set the servant free after six years. The world that was created in six days was freed on Saturday (Shabbat) – a resting day. Every individual of the creation has a right to be set free. God gave the man a soul, and when the man is connected with his soul, God is his Master and he feels free.

“For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen”. (Leviticus 25:42) therefore we must replace the master of flash an blood master with the Master who created flash and blood, and remember that “One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated” and if one wishes to rise even higher on the scale of faith and spirituality: “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD”.

Another thing: The laws in parashat Mishpatim are phrased in an entirely different way than what we are used to today. The legislator, God, speaks in an emotional way, a way which is difficult to perceive as that of human legislator:

“And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise–for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry– My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless”. (Exodus 22:20-23).

Or for instance: If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest. If thou at all take thy neighbour’s garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:24-26).

I really like this phrasing though. God sides with the weaker ones in an unambiguous way and guarantees a reaction that will punish evil people. What else do we need?

The compassion that emerges from the phrasing of the Lending Laws is truly heartfelt. It is clear that in order to get back a loan, the lender should hold on to the borrower’s only blanket as a mean of pressurizing the borrower into paying his debts, but the legislator requires the lender to give back the blanket during the nights, for one cannot turn a blind eye to other people’s suffering, even when one is right.

I will finish with a wonderful explanation by Rabbi Menachem Mendle from Kutzk on the special phrasing of the verse that forbids abusing an orphan and a widow: “If thou afflict them in any wise–for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry—”  (exodus 22:22).

“This verse contains three verbs and each of them was said twice (In Hebrew) – this is uncommon in the Bible. Therefore the Torah comes to emphasize that abusing an orphan or a widow is not like abusing any man. When you abuse a man, or when you cause him physical pain or money loss, he suffers solely from the abuse or pain or loss you caused him. But, when you abuse an orphan or a widow, the abuse, pain or loss you caused them reminds them of their orphanhood and widowhood pains. The orphan cries and thinks that if his father was alive no one would dare hurting him and same with the widow’s husband. That is the reason why the Torah repeats it twice – when you abuse an orphan it is as if you abused him twice, therefore he also cries two times, and that why God said twice that He will hear him.

Appendix: The Parasha begins with the words “Now these are the ordinances…” in Hebrew: “ואלה המשפטים”

Baal Hatlurim says: Hamishpatim (המשפטים) in Hebrew the initials of:הדיין מצווה שיעשה פשרה טרם יעשה משפט (The judge, before he judges has to try and compromise), and therefore God gave Moses a hint to say to the People of Israel compromise before judging, but not for what is concerns you (Moses), here they must obey.