Mishpatim

📜 The Story

Right after the great moment of receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, Hashem taught Moshe many detailed laws in Parshat Mishpatim. These laws show the Jewish people exactly how to be fair and kind to one another every single day, in matters big and small.

The parsha opens with the laws of the Hebrew servant, someone who works for a master for six years and then goes free in the seventh year, just like the seventh day of Shabbat is a day of rest. The Torah then teaches about paying for damages, like when someone's animal or property hurts another person's, and the famous words "an eye for an eye," which our sages explain means paying fair money for the harm done, not hurting someone back.

The parsha reminds us again and again to be kind to the stranger, the widow, and the orphan, because we ourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. It also teaches us the mitzvah of not cooking a young goat in its mother's milk, which is the source for keeping meat and milk separate. The Torah also lists the three special festivals of the year, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, when the people would come together before Hashem.

Moshe wrote down all of Hashem's words in a book, then read it to the people. When they heard it, the whole nation answered together with beautiful trust, "Naaseh V'nishma," we will do and we will listen, agreeing to keep the mitzvot even before fully understanding every reason.

At the end of the parsha, Moshe went up Mount Sinai and stayed there for forty days and forty nights to receive more of Hashem's Torah, while Aharon and Chur led the people below. Hashem also promised to send an angel to guide and protect the people on their journey to the Land of Israel.