Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah continues with the mitzvot given at Sinai, this time focusing on civil laws, including the laws of the indentured servant, the penalties for murder, kidnapping, assault and theft, redress of damages, the granting of loans, the responsibilities of the “Four Guardians” (unpaid guardian, paid guardian, renter and borrower), the rules gover governing the conduct of justice by courts, and laws warning against mistreatment of the ger, the stranger – “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Also included are other ritual laws: the observance of the seasonal festivals, the agricultural gifts that are to be brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem; the prohibition against cooking meat with milk, and the mitzvah of prayer. The parshah also contains the special words we use in our meditation that the Children of Israel proclaim at Sinai: נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָֽע na-aseh v’nishmah – “We will do and we will hear.” The parshah concludes with Moses ascending the mountain and remaining there for forty days and forty nights to receive the rest of the Torah…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃ כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחׇפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃ These are the judgements that you shall set before them: When you acquire a Hebrew slave, six years they shall serve— and in the seventh year they shall go free, without payment… - Shemot (Exodus) 21:1-2, Parshat Mishpatim
There is a Midrash in which the ministering angels challenge Hashem: “You have given Moses the task of writing down the Torah. What is to prevent him from saying that it is he who gives the Torah, and not You?” Hashem replied, “This he would not do. But, even if he did, he would still be keeping faith with me.”
The disciples of Rabbi Yitzhak of Vorki once asked him what this story means. He answered with a parable: Once there was a merchant who wanted to go on a journey, so he trained an assistant to work in his shop. He spent most of his time in an adjoining room, from which he could hear everything that the assistant was saying next door. During the first year, he sometimes heard his assistant tell a customer, “The master cannot let this go for such a low price.” During this time, the merchant held back from his journey. Over the second year, he occasionally heard his assistant say, “We cannot let it go for such a low price.” The merchant still postponed his journey. But in the third year, he heard his assistant say, “I cannot let this go for such a low price.” It was then that he commenced his journey. The merchant’s assistant coming to identify with the merchant himself points to an inner transformation: that is, from thinking of the Divine as something separate, to knowing the Divine as the deepest dimension of your own being. This transformation is similar to going from having a boyfriend or girlfriend, to being married and fully committed. Before marriage, there may be some commitment, but at the end of the day, you are always free to go to your separate homes. In marriage, that “freedom” is over; there is only one home. Does that mean that “marriage” is a permanent state in which the relationship is constant and perfect? Of course not! Like all living things, it is in motion. It needs attention and nurturance. And yet, there is something that changes completely when two people decide to have one life together, to be one family. כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד – When you acquire a Hebrew slave, six years they shall serve… The word for slave, עֶבֶד eved, is the same root as יַעֲבֹ֑ד ya’avod, “serve.” אִם־אֲדֹנָיו֙ יִתֶּן־ל֣וֹ אִשָּׁ֔ה וְיָלְדָה־ל֥וֹ בָנִ֖ים – If his master gave him a wife, and she gave birth to children… The master of the slave is called an אֲדֹנ adon – “lord”. But these two words, עֶבֶד eved and אֲדֹנ adon, also have a completely different connotation: God is sometimes called Adon, and a holy person is called an Eved Hashem – a Servant of God. The ultimate spiritual goal is to become an Eved Hashem – meaning that your separate, egoic self-sense becomes subordinate to the Reality of the One. In this state, you no longer live for yourself, you live for God. In fact, “you” don’t really live at all; there is no separate “you” – there is only God. Seen metaphorically, then, the Hebrew eved who goes free is like someone who has a spiritual experience, but when the experience is over, s/he goes free from it; it is temporary. וְאִם־אָמֹ֤ר יֹאמַר֙ הָעֶ֔בֶד אָהַ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־אֲדֹנִ֔י אֶת־אִשְׁתִּ֖י וְאֶת־בָּנָ֑י לֹ֥א אֵצֵ֖א חׇפְשִֽׁי׃ – But if the slave declares, “I love my master, my wife and my children; I do not wish to go free…” When the eved does not want to go free, he is brought to a doorpost and declares that he loves his adon and his new family and that he wants remain an eved. His ear is then pierced against the doorpost and he becomes a slave forever. In a similar way, to become an Eved Hashem means that you commit to Reality as your Lord, your Master, your God. Reality also becomes like your family – your home base – the place you live, not the place you merely visit. Does that mean that you are now a perfect eved? Of course not! Just as in marriage, you can and must get better at it. There is risk – failure is possible. But you have stepped into marriage with the Beloved. All of the rituals of Judaism are really expressions of this basic commitment, this brit, this “covenant” with the Divine. How do you take this step? וְהִגִּישׁוֹ֙ אֶל־הַדֶּ֔לֶת א֖וֹ אֶל־הַמְּזוּזָ֑ה – He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost… The word for doorpost is מְּזוּזָה mezuzah – the same as the ritual scroll traditionally fastened to the doorposts of Jewish homes. And what is the first word of the text written on the mezuzah? Sh’ma – “Hear!” Hearing, unlike seeing and tasting, is the sense that we cannot shut down; our ears are always open; we cannot shut our ears to escape the sounds around us. Similarly, we cannot escape Reality. There is nothing but Reality, everywhere! To step into Reality, then, is actually the most simple thing. It means dropping the excess commentary of the mind and being with what is, as it is. It means being an open ear; this is meditation. וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים – These are the judgements… At the deepest level, there is only one spiritual מִּשְׁפָּט (judgment) to ever make: commit or don’t commit. Hear or refuse to hear. Awaken now from the dream of the mind-created self or live in the dream. Are you ready to commit to Reality as It steps up to you in this moment? Are you ready to give up the false dream of freedom from Reality and embrace the true freedom, which is to surrender as an Eved Hashem, attentive in the heart of stillness to the flow of life as it unfolds? This is Jewish meditation of the Path of צ Tzaddi, Devotion to God.
Read past teachings on Mishpatim HERE
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