Parsha Mishpatim

A Constitution

The Ten Commandments we read last week, were general statements of principles. After they were given they needed to be translated into effective tools of legislation. It is like the American Constitution. The initial declarations of the Founding Fathers needed to be expanded into constitution. Then the constitution needed amendments to the Constitution. Even so each generation goes on interpreting…

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Parsha Mishpatim

Legal Systems

Once we start reading about the legal system in the Torah, we move away from narrative, human conflict and the passions of life and turn towards system, law and governance. The two are not meant to stand in opposition but to complement each other. No society can function effectively without a legal system, without property rights and social obligations. However,…

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Parsha Mishpatim

Two Versions of Sinai

Last week we read about the revelation that gave us the Torah on Sinai. This week we go into the specific religious and civil laws that expanded the initial ten principles that were inscribed on the two tablets of stone. And then the Torah returns to a recapitulation of the Sinai revelation with interesting differences. In the first version in…

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Parsha Mishpatim

Death Penalty

Why does the Torah often say that if someone does something wrong “he shall die.” It seems rather bloodthirsty. But the fact is that two thousand years ago the rabbis claimed that “he shall die” usually means “he deserves to die.” Remember that according to Jewish law it was almost impossible to condemn anyone, much more than in the USA…

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Parsha Mishpatim

Sinai as a Personal Experience

The Torah returns to the revelation on Sinai in Chapter 24 and adds an extra dimension, that of individuals, having a personal revelation of God. But there are significant differences between the two versions. Previously we were told that the people had to wait at the bottom of the mountain while Aaron and the priests went half way up and…

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