Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18)
OVERVIEW
From a literary point of view, the emphasis of the Torah now changes. Following Revelation and the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Torah moves away from narrative and continues directly with laws and legislation for the Israelites. This section of the Torah is known as Sefer HaBrit - "The Book of the Covenant." The word mishpatim means "rules" or "ordinances," coming from the Hebrew meaning "to judge." This parshah contains 53 distinct different mitzvot (there are 613 mitzvot in the entire Torah), including civil laws, liability laws, criminal laws, ritual laws, financial laws, and family laws. Specific laws in the parashah relate to sacrifices, slavery, accidental death, kidnapping, treatment of parents and responsibility for animals, and includes the famous (and usually misunderstood) Biblical statement of "talion": eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth... (Ex. 21:24). Towards the end of the parshah, the calendar for the three festivals (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot) is established, and then the people reaffirm their commitment to the covenant. Moses offers a sacrifice, and then he, Aaron and his sons Nadav and Abihu, and 70 other elders go onto the mountain again, and there they are treated to an extraordinary vision of God. Then Moses goes back up to the top of the mountain, and remains there for forty days.
IN FOCUS
Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, "All that the Eternal has spoken we will do!" (Exodus 24:7)
PSHAT
Revelation is actually a progressive process. While Moses and Israel are at Sinai, Moses goes up to the mountain a number of times to hear God's words, and then transmits them to the people in a variety of ways. Moses first transmits the commandments to the people orally, repeating to them "all the commandments of the Eternal and all the rules" (Exodus 24:3). These two phrases seems to imply the totally of God's law. After the people confirm their acceptance of God's laws, thus agreeing to the covenant, Moses then commits all of God's commands to writing. This is not necessarily the entire Torah, but the Sefer HaBrit - Book of the Covenant - that is mentioned later in verse 7. Since a covenant is a contract, the writing down of the terms of the covenant is an important part of the ratification process. Next, the written text is read aloud to the people, again for their confirmation. This time though, the people express their commitment to the covenant with a somewhat cryptic phrase, na'aseh v'nishma - "we will do and we will hear."
DRASH
The phrase na'aseh v'nishma has been understood by our tradition as the paradigmatic expression of the Jewish religious commitment. By putting the commitment "to do" before the commitment "to hear" (understood by our tradition to mean "understanding") the Israelites were expressing their faith in God and their commitment to follow God's laws and teaching, even before they fully understood what God was asking of them. Some have criticized this response to the covenant as a commitment to blind faith. The Talmud (Ketubot 112a) even quotes a gentile who derides the Jews as "...you hasty people who put your mouth before your ears." A famous Midrash (TB Shabbat 88a) on the phrase takhat he-har (the Israelites at Sinai stood "at the foot" or literally "under" Mount Sinai) even suggests that the Israelites where coerced into following God's commands before they understood them fully. God, we are told, held the mountain over the people's heads and threatened to bury them then and there if they did not accept the covenant. Out of fear, the Israelites replied, na'aseh v'nishma.
But Judaism has never been a religion that encouraged blind faith. Quite the contrary, Jewish tradition has made a value out of study, questioning, interpreting and looking at issues from all sides. So, following that tradition, what can we make of the Israelites standing at Sinai and committing to doing God's bidding (na'aseh) before they even heard and understood the details (nishma)?
Well, as a close colleague of mine has often said to his congregation, "Jewing is doing." As so many modern teachers of Judaism point out, Judaism is not just an ideology or a faith, but a way of life. You can be born a Jew, and no one can ever take that away from you, no matter what you do, or don't do. But to actually live a Jewish life means translating the teachings of our tradition into action.
The educator in me really likes this idea. We learn best from doing, and experiential or affective learning is often the most meaningful and relevant. Learning is always a good thing, but learning that does not lead to action of one kind or another is really considered by our tradition to be meaningless. Doing without understanding may seem hollow at first, but can always lead to learning, and a reconsideration afterwards. The experience itself of doing can unearth untold layers of meaning.
God created humans as beings endowed with freewill. God did not want automatons who would blindly adhere to whatever God willed. In responding na'aseh v'nishma, the Israelites were not committing themselves to blind faith; they clearly articulate the need to hear and learn and come to understand more fully God's teachings. But by placing the commitment to do before the commitment to understand, they were identifying their preferred process of learning: to learn through doing, but never to stop learning, as their experiences warrant.
DAVAR AHER
"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand..." (Exodus 21:24)
First the crime is named, and then the punishment. Here, too, the interpretation is as follows: Eye for eye - if the aggressor injured his victim's eye, he is obliged to make restitution for the loss of an eye. Tooth for Tooth - if he knocks out one of his victim's teeth, he must make restitution for the loss of a tooth. The hebrew word tachat ("for") is frequently used in the Bible in the sense of "substitute". It is therefore quite clear that what is meant is not that whoever causes another to lose his eye should have his own eye put out and so forth, but that he must make financial restitution for the injury he has caused. (HaKetav VeHaKabbalah)
