Exodus Cycle Two Mishpatim 21:1 to 24:18

Mishpatim

Mishpatim is the eighteenth parasha of Torah. This is an important number. Eighteen times the four levels creates the 72 names of God. Therefore, in order to do justice to Mishpatim, we want to include these four levels as best we can.

First, let’s look at the p’shat. Imagine this: All these wild and angry oxen are running around goring people. Oh yes, people are digging lots of holes and donkeys are falling into them. On a literal level, this must be happening. Statutes are required. Now here’s a question. Could these statutes be comprehensive? Even those that seem reasonable? Is this all the Israelites need pre-gilded calf? Is it possible to dissect all the tiny details that could involve one incident?

This leads us to level two, remez. Rabbi Simon Yohai has even questioned how we could take the ayin tachat ayin (eye for an eye) statement (21:24) literally. He asks what if a blind man puts out the eye of another man? How could the statute be satisfied? Rabbi Ishmael (in referring to the similar line in Leviticus 24:20) says that so shall it be given to him refers to pecuniary compensation. This feels more humane but still falls short. After all, how much would an eye cost? A tooth? What if the tooth was previously chipped? The eye, near sighted? I know these days it’s done all the time, but how can we fairly determine the cost of an organ? Once again, it is impossible to dissect all the tiny details. The only way to figure this puzzle, therefore, is to put on glasses that help us to see far and wide.

This leads us to drash and sod. What could ayin tachat ayin possibly look like (and how could it hint at the meaning of other statutes) given our new glasses? Rev Papa in the name of Raba (Gemara) says it refers to healing. There are many forms of healing though and that’s why it will also be interesting to look at Elisha in 2 Kings 4:1-7. There, we can see the connection between healing and transmission.

Why is transmission important in Mishpatim? Well, as Rashi says, the very first word v’elah refers to a continuation. We are, in short, riding piggy back on the transmission of the Ten Commandments. But because (as we have seen) knowing each detail is impossible, if we focus on the method rather than the transmission itself we may find the key to understanding each statute and thereby applying it to our world. Hmmm. Easier said than done. But there is a method of transmission. It does exist. Rabbi Akiba refers to it in commenting on line 21:1 (these are the statutes that you will put before them). He says that the teacher must whenever possible explain to the students the reasons behind the commandments (Bab. Talmud Eruvim 54b). Clearly, the teacher must whenever possible transmit to the students the ways in which the commandments can be brought forth.

And what are these ways? Well no doubt in line 21:1 they are to be presented through you to them like a meal or a glass of wine. Who is you? Moses or any prophet. Who is them? The Israelites. It seems simple. But now let’s look at the next line. It reads if you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve for six years but in the seventh year he is to be set free without liability. The pronoun you is there again. And the proximity of one you (singular) to the next has to infer that the subject is the same…in other words, the prophet. What about the object though? The them has been replaced by a he. So clearly, we are no longer referring to all of the Israelites, but to a segment…to the slave, one stuck in despair and fear. So, if the prophet (you) is buying a man of despair, from who is he buying? Well, from God of course. The word to buy must be taken to a higher level and seen as more of a flow, a two way offering. The prophet approaches God. The slave approaches the prophet and God. A space within the sphere of the prophet is created so the slave can enter, receive the divine light and hopefully begin learning to offer sparks on his own. In this case, it makes sense that the slave would owe (or be relieved of owing) something to the prophet. The hierarchy, so clear in Yitro, is in Mishpatim as well. In the long run, whether we are prophet, Israelite or slave, all of these elements are in each of us and if we focus on the prophet we can gift ourselves and others with that channeling and healing vision.

Now, let’s apply this construct to ayin tachat ayin. The word you (translated without vowels) is used in line 21:23…and if there is a fatal injury, you will give to her flesh for flesh…and inferred in eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. So, since you refers back to the prophet what we are seeing is this: If a spark within the sphere of the prophet is deadened, he or she (the prophet) must heal it, funnel the light into the primordial wound, the despair, bring a re-birth of our senses, a healing of our sight. It’s a healing process.

In 2 Kings lines 4:1-7, a widow’s two sons are about to be taken by the landlord as bondsmen. She only has a bottle of oil. Elisha advises her to collect vessels from the neighbors and to pour the oil into them. Finally, there aren’t more vessels but the oil is the same. Elisha then tells her to sell the oil to pay her rent so her sons can stay free. Here, we learn that the true preventative for slavery is not the oil itself but the action of causing the oil to flow into many vessels. With this focus on transmission, we begin our transformation from servants to prophets. We heal others. We find balance with others when it comes to spiritual and physical growth. In Mishpatim, we sit on the mountain, get the vision of the Divine, eat and drink. In the end, this is what Mishpatim is about, not oxen and donkeys running wild, but about the individuation among each of us as we rise within the hierarchy from slave to prophet to God. This is how we connect both inner and outer. This is who we are. This is what it is to be an Israelite.

So, may we see Mishpatim as a tool for the prophet within us in as we focus on reception and transmission… as a tool for the Israelite as we receive from the prophet and grow closer to God…as a tool for the slave as we receive and grow closer to the free Israelite, to the prophet and to God. May we understand that God loves us all the same and it’s up to us to come near. And in that coming near may we, as a community, finally understand, see and know the divine names in our heart and on our lips.