Parashat Mishpatim (Exodus 21-24)
Exodus 21
21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Comments: After the giving of the 10 commandments, Gd taught many detailed laws.
“judgments”: mishpatim in Hebrew, means Torah laws that make common sense. https://torah.org/torah-portion/ravfrand-5757-behar/
This is in contrast to chukim (“ordinances”, such as the red cow in Numbers 19) which transcend human wisdom.
However, even “judgments” in Torah may differ from the “common sense” of the present days. For example v.21:15 says “And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.” V. 21:17 says “And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” These punishments are more severe than the laws of the present days. The Torah seems to aim for achieving a higher standard, whereby, for example, children invariably honor their parents properly.
21:33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
2026 Comment: What does an open pit teach us?
Torah teaches lessons for real life. An open pit cannot move and cannot do anything harmful by itself, without an animal being so “stupid” enough to walk into it. Nevertheless, the next verse teaches that the one who made the open pit would be liable for the loss.
I still remember when my daughter was little and my family were visiting China, my wife had to carefully hold my daughter’s hand and lead her to walk around a sewage opening, which was left uncovered completely, when we went back to our apartment. If people had read this Torah verse, they would have made much better protection.
We care about the ones we love. At home, we would try to keep kitchen knives away from the reach of children. We would shovel away the icy snow from the entrance to avoid old parents from slipping. When we learn to love our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18), we will also take care that other people are not endangered, and make proactive protections.
21:36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.
2026 Comment: “in time past”: How does an ox’s past matter?
Precedents are important to pay attention to. Failing to do so may cause liability, like in this case, someone who “hath not kept’’ in his ox, who was known to gore “in time past”, and again gored another’s ox to death.
In this case of a goring ox, three acts are needed for establishing liability. https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Exodus.21.36.1?lang=bi
However, in more serious matters, it may be that after two or even one incident(s) one should already be careful to avoid a similar situation, even if there may be no obvious reason. Torah has at least two such examples: Judah did not want his third son to be married to Tamar, after his two older sons died (Genesis 38:11). Jacob did not want to send his wife Rachel’s second son to travel, after her first son was lost on the road (Genesis 44:29). Some things are just too serious to take chances for.
Also, people who had failures in marriages often noticed some warning signs from the other side before they were married, but they failed to heed or to act early.
I have the bad habit of interrupting my wife when she speaks to me (responding very rapidly without waiting for her to finish) and often she gets very upset, when she could not finish what she wanted to say after two or three tries. When this is known to me to annoy her “in time past”, I should try to be much more careful to avoid interruption in the future.
This quarter when I was teaching, a screen reader on my iPad accidentally was touched and started to read aloud the filenames on my screen. Students burst into laughs, and I told them I forgot to deactivate it. This happened the second time last Friday. I should remember to deactivate before my Monday class.
Torah teaches many wise things for real life. Here it is teaching the lesson about paying attention to precedents.
Exodus 22
22:25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
Comment: Providing a loan without interest, this is regarded as the highest level of charity in Jewish culture, and is valued even higher than giving out money freely. The goal is to help the recipient to be eventually free from the need of financial assistance. See, e.g., https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/879887/jewish/Interest-Free-Loans.htm
Exodus 23
23:28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
Comment: If our enemies were driven out by our fighting, we could have something to boast about, such as our bravery, or wise tactics, or strength (even though all these advantages that we have were given by Gd also). When Gd sends “hornets” to drive out our enemies, we have nothing to boast about ourselves.
It often happens that we as Gd’s people succeed in a way that we can boast nothing about ourselves. To give a simple example, Jeremy Lin, a devout Christian, played excellent basketball during the 2012 season. However, he didn’t win the NBA championship until 2019, when he was traded to Toronto in the middle of the season, and only played occasionally as a reserve in the championship games. So things turn out in a way that Jeremy cannot boast about his NBA championship or his basketball talents. However, we can still recognize Gd’s grace on him, because many more talented players have never won a championship. I can also attest to this with my own academic successes, that they were often achieved in a “not-so-shining” way. This way, I could be reminded that my successes were all due to Gd’s grace, and all glory should be ascribed to Gd.
Exodus 24
24:14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
Comment: In the Jewish tradition, Hur was a son of Miriam (the sister of Moses). He was an important leader of the Israelites, who supported Moses’s arms during his prayer, together with Aaron, in Exodus 17. Hur’s activity is never mentioned again in the Bible after the current verse. According to the Jewish tradition, Hur would soon be killed about 40 days later, when he disagreed with the people who worshiped the Golden Calf. See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hur_(Bible)