Greetings! We spent this past week out west, visiting my in-laws, thawing out our frozen bones in the Arizona sunshine, going on lots of little adventures + plenty of rest, and clocking in four dinner dates in seven days — actual dinner dates, not just drinks and dessert! We’re coming home refreshed (though slightly haggard from traveling across the country with four children under seven), with full hearts. Happy Valentines Day! 💕
This weeks Parsha, is entitled Mishpatim, which means laws in Hebrew. And it’s certainly chock full of them. Last week we received the rough draft of the Ten Commandments, and the following chapters outlines additional laws we are to obey and follow. At times it’s dense, heavy, and a bit overwhelming. Let’s jump in!
Laws in the Real World
Mishpatim covers an astonishing range of human experience.
We are given laws about:
- Slavery and indentured servitude
- Whether a servant leaves with a spouse or children
- When parents sell a daughter into servitude
- Responsibilities if a master or his son marries her
We are given laws about violence:
- Intentional and unintentional killing
- Striking one’s parents
- Kidnapping
- Injuring another person
- Harming a servant
We are given laws about responsibility:
- Paying damages after fights
- Guarding dangerous animals
- Liability when an ox gores someone
- Protecting others from your property
- Caring for injured animals — even your enemy’s
We are given laws about property and honesty:
- Theft and burglary
- Arson
- Letting animals graze on another’s land
- False rumors
- Perjury
- Bribery
- Corrupt testimony
We are given laws about morality and compassion:
- Sexual boundaries
- Marriage and bride-price
- No sorcery
- No bestiality
- No idolatry
- Protecting strangers
- Caring for widows and orphans
- Lending without cruelty
- Returning collateral
- Not eating torn flesh
We are given laws about rhythm and rest:
- Letting the land lie fallow in the seventh year
- Giving animals rest on Shabbat
- Observing the three pilgrimage festivals
And yes — even: “Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Which will eventually become a cornerstone of Jewish dietary law.
In other words: nothing is too small for God to care about. How you borrow. How you lend. How you fight. How you apologize. How you manage risk. How you treat the vulnerable. How you use power. It all matters.
40 Day Dream
Moses repeats all the commands and rules to the people and they reply saying “All the things that the Lord has commanded we will do!” (24:3). Moses sets up an altar at Sinai, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel (24:4), and again, he reads aloud the record of the covenant, and again, they repeat “All that the Lord has spoken we will faithfully do!” (24:7) It’s funny how quickly we will see this promise falls flat on its face. Moses goes up and remains on the mountain for forty days, and forty nights (24:18). All we have to do is remain patient, and calm, and obey the laws. We’ll soon see how this was too difficult of a task.
Takeaway for the Week
The one takeaway I have from this weeks parsha is that we need to not only have unwavering faith in God, but we need to also behave and live our lives like we do.