12 February, 2010

Parshas Mishpotim

The Divrei Yoel writes; on Tuesday night parshas Lech Lecha he dreamt that it was Friday night parshas Mishpotim and a thought came to him. The medrash compares the words וְאֵלֶּה, הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר תָּשִׂים לִפְנֵיהֶם with the words of Thillem- מַגִּיד דְּבָרָו לְיַעֲקֹב; חֻקָּיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו לְיִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא עָשָׂה כֵן, לְכָל-גּוֹי וּמִשְׁפָּטִים בַּל-יְדָעוּם . . The posuk starts with saying that Hashem gave chukim and mishpatim to Klal Yisroel, and continues to say that he did not teach mishpotim to the goyim. Shouldn’t the second posuk also read that the goyim weren’t taught chukim and mishpotim? Even more so the definition of chukim is something without a reason- one would think that that was given only to us, while the goyim were given mishpotim - the logical commandments?
When Klal Yisroel received the Torah, we got much more than a set of commandments. We received the permission to understand them and to learn them according to our ability. We have the responsibility to interpret the holy words of the Torah and apply them to our lives. The basic meaning and understanding of the dinim could, and do change according to Klal Yisroel’s understanding. We were given chukim- laws without meaning, just a set of commandments chiseled in stone. Through our toil in Torah we turn the chukim into mishpatim- laws that we understand and relate to. The nations of the world only received a set of rules to abide to. They were not given the ability to understand them and so for them it remains chukim.
Rashi writes that Hashem told Moshe וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר תָּשִׂים לִפְנֵיהֶם– teach the laws to Yisroel. Don’t just teach them the halachos once and twice, rather lay them out like a set table. (For a nice thought on this Rashi click here) Moshe thought that all he is to teach Klal Yisroel was the dinim he learned. The tammai mitzvos - the depth of the mitzvos - he thought wasn't meant for them. Hashem told him, don't just teach them the dry dinim- the chukim, teach them the ways of learning and understanding Torah. Teach them the Torah as mishpotim.

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