Feb 13
Engaging with Intention | Parashat Mishpatim
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Engaging with Intention | Parashat Mishpatim
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We finally reach the first proper cohost version of the khavurah post. This time the focus was a bit wandering, but we had a lot to say on
tonight in torah study, we discuss jurisprudence and capital punishment, esoteric jewish cultivation techniques, and we enter the Graeberzone
One of the Torah’s central projects is to turn memory into empathy and moral responsibility. Appealing to our experience of defenselessness in Egypt, the Torah seeks to transform us into people who see those who are vulnerable and exposed rather than looking past them.
“Parashat Mishpatim contains perhaps the most well-known articulation of this charge: “You shall not oppress a stranger (ger), for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 23:9; see also 22:20). By ger, the Torah means one who is an alien in the place where he lives—that is, one who is not a member of the ruling tribe or family, who is not a citizen, and who is therefore vulnerable to social and economic exploitation. The Torah appeals to our memory to intensify our ethical obligations: Having tasted the suffering and degradation to which vulnerability can lead, we are bidden not to oppress the stranger.”
Mishpatim
perhaps I’m thinking about what would have happened had you not flung to earth your pedestal of sapphire, pedestal of bricks. imagining an angel forcing new stones beneath your foot, bricks of ashes--how inescapable our pain would be. give us a glimpse; everyone who has shouldered this unbearable burden, who’s made of themself a living barrier--living shield--give them some glimpse of revelation. recline on your throne and tell us we are not irredeemable. and just, see us; look at us, let us look at you.
This week, Jaz, Lulav, and special guest Cassidy Mosity discuss lots and lots of ancient tort law, decide who counts as an enemy you should help out vs an enemy you should sabotage (spoiler: give a wandering pet back to your obnoxious neighbor but...
I was a guest on a podcast this week
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Here's a short idea from my #Mishpatim essay.
Creation means seeing the universe as God’s work. Revelation means seeing Torah as God’s word. Redemption means seeing history as God’s deed and God’s call. But within these broad parameters, we must each find our own understanding, guided by the Sages of the past, instructed by our teachers in the present, and finding our own route to the Divine presence. Judaism is a matter of creed as well as deed. But we should allow people great leeway in how they understand the faith of our ancestors. Heresy-hunting is not our happiest activity. Na’aseh ve-nishma, “We will do and we will understand,” - the two words we read towards the end of our parsha - means: we will do in the same way; we will understand in our own way. I believe that action unites us, leaving us space to find our own way to faith.
Read More: Here
Rabbi Sacks
Mishpatim
Where is God in the gored ox and slave’s tooth in ‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’?
God is in the faces of the sellers and strangers widow or orphan or witch. God is in the margins where letters cluster and rabbis debate. She is there.
Thoughts on Parshat Mishpatim
A friend pointed out a major difference between Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus) and Parshat Behar (Leviticus).
Let’s take a look at how Shemittah, the 7th year of rest, is described:
In Mishpatim: “but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat.“
In Behar: “And the sabbath-produce of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for the settler by thy side that sojourn with thee“
What about lending money (and other things)?
Mishpatim: “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? ”
Behar: “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his means fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a settler shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. “
In Mishpatim, there’s a strong emphasis on taking care of the weak and less fortunate (the widow, the orphan, the stranger). While in Behar, there’s more of an emphasis on Am Israel as brothers who must all help each other.
Both are moral imperatives, but each one leads down a different path.