Stop Thief – Mishpatim
כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד עִבְרִי שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים יַעֲבֹד וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַחָפְשִׁי חִנָּם (שמות כא, ב).
There is a machloket in Chazal where parshat Mishpatim fits in chronologically. Was it before Matan Torah or after?
Everyone knows the famous Rashi –
כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "אֵלֶּה" פָּסַל אֶת הָרִאשׁוֹנִים, "וְאֵלֶּה" מוֹסִיף עַל הָרִאשׁוֹנִים. מָה הָרִאשׁוֹנִים מִסִּינַי, אַף אֵלּוּ מִסִּינַי.
Rashi, quoting a Midrash (שמות רבה א, ב), says that when you have the Vav ha'Chibur, it comes to add to something mentioned before it. If there is no Vav ha'Chibur, it comes to tell us something new, unconnected to what preceded it. Since the passuk says וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, with the Vav ha'Chibur, it means that Mishpatim is a continuation of the parsha before it – Matan Torah. Just as the Ten Commandments were given on Har Sinai, so too were the Mishpatim given on Har Sinai.
The other opinion (מכילתא דרשב"י, כא) says –
ר' יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים נִתְּנוּ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמָרָה קֹדֶם מַתַּן תּוֹרָה שנ' שָׁם שָׂם לוֹ חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט. יָכוֹל לֹא נִשְׁנוּ בְּסִינַי ת"ל וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים
R' Yehuda says that these Mishpatim (Dinim) were already given to Am Yisrael at Mara, straight after Yam Suf, before Matan Torah and they were repeated again at Matan Torah.
In this shiur we will be exploring the second opinion, that the Mishpatim were first given at Mara.
Let us backtrack a little to parshat Beshalach, to recall the story of Mara.
Am Yisrael had just experienced the greatest epiphany possible at Yam Suf. Chazal say that a maidservant at קְרִיעַת יַם סוּף experienced the same level of prophecy as the prophet Yechezkel.
After the Egyptians had been swallowed by the sea, HKB"H commanded the sea to "spit them out" onto the shore, as it says וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם (שמות יד, ל). The Gemara (פסחים קיח, ע"ב) says that Am Yisrael were afraid that just as they were able to survive the crossing of the sea, so too the Egyptians may have survived the ordeal. Therefore HKB"H commanded the sea to wash the bodies up on shore (one opinion says they were alive when washed up and they died on the shore), so that Am Yisrael could see that they were really dead and this would give them closure.
In addition to the dead Egyptians, all the loot that they brought with them from Egypt also washed up on shore. After the Ten Plagues, Pharaoh was finding it difficult to convince his army to pursue Am Yisrael into the desert, so he bribed them. He gave the soldiers free access to the treasuries of Egypt allowing them to load up as much loot as their chariots could carry.
In addition to all the riches that each member of Am Yisrael carried out of Egypt on 90 Libyan donkeys, Am Yisrael started adding another layer of loot on the donkeys from the spoils from Yam Suf.
What was the purpose of all this material wealth? We discussed it in a previous shiur (Beshalach 2022), that it was to develop a lust for money within Am Yisrael, which they would later redirect into a lust to study Torah.
When HKB"H saw that the "mechanism" was working well, so well in fact that Moshe had to forcibly get them to leave Yam Suf וַיַּסַּע מֹשֶׁה אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּם סוּף (שמות טו, כב), He said "OK, now's the time to try it out!"
When they arrived at Mara soon after, HKB"H gave them a small "preview" of the Torah that they would soon receive on Har Sinai, a little "appetizer", to give them a taste for the "main course". What was this "appetizer"? The Gemara (סנהדרין נו, ע"ב) says that HKB"H gave them דִינִין וְשַׁבָּת וּפָרָה אֲדֻמָּה, Dinim, the halachot of Shabbat and the red heifer. Which Dinim? According to R' Yehuda above – the same Dinim mentioned in parshat Mishpatim.
Have any of you seen a movie preview? The short excerpt the producers send to all the media channels to advertise the movie before it hits the movie theaters? What is the purpose of a "preview"? To arouse the appetite so that you want to see more of the same thing, right? You take snippets of the best of the best, the cream of the crop and you dangle it like a carrot. "Want more? Soon in a theater near you!"
What was the appetizer, the tantalizing first snippet that HKB"H gave Am Yisrael of the Torah? The laws of עֶבֶד עִבְרִי, a Jewish slave!
There are two circumstances when a Jew can be sold as a slave. The first is when he has no money to survive, to buy food to eat. He can sell himself as a slave – to work in return for board and lodging. The second circumstance is when a Jew steals from another Jew and he does not have to pay back what he stole (plus the required fine), he is sold as a slave, either to the person he stole from, or to someone else (who will pay the debt in his stead). The case of עֶבֶד עִבְרִי at the beginning of our parsha is the second case, the case of a thief.
This is the "carrot" that HKB"H wants to entice Am Yisrael to crave more Torah with? Not only is it a subject that most people want to run a mile from (who wants to discuss thieves and theft?), but these halachot are not applicable immediately in the Midbar. The halachot of עֶבֶד עִבְרִי will only become applicable when Am Yisrael enter Eretz Yisrael and not immediately after, but at least one Yovel after they have entered the land.
How does that stir the appetite? We can understand Shabbat and פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה – these are at least inspiring and applicable already in the Midbar. But the first introduction to the Torah is - talking about a thief? What is going on here?
To understand this, we need to understand what Matan Torah was. It was a reset of the world to the state of Creation before Adam and Chava sinned with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת.
For 2448 years the world had been in a state of disconnect from HKB"H. At the time of Creation, HKB"H's Shechinah dwelled in this world קוֹל ה' אֱ-לֹקִים מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּגָּן לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם (בראשית ג, ח). After Adam and Chava sinned, HKB"H's Shechina departed one level up (in the seven levels of Heaven). Following that, the sins of Kayin, the generations of Enosh, the Mabul, Dor HaPalaga, Sdom and Egypt, the Shechina departed further and further from earth, one level at a time (בראשית רבה יט, ז), until Avraham went down to Egypt – when the Shechina was the furthest it could possibly be from earth. The Avot, Levi, Kehat and Amram managed to bring the Shechina back ,one level at a time, until Moshe and Am Yisrael at Matan Torah, managed to restore the Shechina back to the final level on earth.
Sefer Meir Panim (פרק טו, עמ' קסג) says that in Gan Eden HKB"H gave Adam HaRishon three positive commandments –
HKB"H placed Adam in Gan Eden לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ (בראשית ב, טו). What does it mean לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ? It means to (actively) perform the positive commandments and to (passively) not transgress the negative commandment. To fulfil a מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה a person has to do some action, to actively do something (wave the Lulav, read the Torah, give Tzedakka, etc.). To fulfil a מִצְוַת לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה on the other hand, the opposite is required – inaction, a lack of action. To refrain from speaking lashon harah, for example, a person does not have to actively do anything, he has to sit still and not do anything.
This is reflected in the words לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ. For someone to לַעֲבֹד, he has to actively perform some action. On the other hand, for someone to guard, לִשְׁמוֹר, inaction is required. Have you ever seen a guard? He is either standing or sitting and simply guarding, watching - perhaps not even moving at all (like the Beefeater guards outside Buckingham Palace).
HKB"H commanded Adam HaRishon "I want you to take action – to procreate, to actively rule over all the other creatures (including the yetzer harah), to eat from the tree named כֹּל (the עֵץ הַחַיִּים – to study Torah)". Similarly, HKB"H commanded "I want you to refrain from action – I want you to not eat from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, this tree does not belong to you, stay away from it!"
Meir Panim (ibid.) says that Adam HaRishon did exactly the opposite of what he was commanded. He failed to fulfil all the three positive commandments in a timely fashion and instead, he transgressed the only negative commandment that he was commanded to refrain from doing.
By eating from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, Adam HaRishon was stealing something that did not belong to him. Adam HaRishon, therefore, was the first thief!
HKB"H is about to give the Torah to Am Yisrael. This will be a tikkun for the sin of Adam HaRishon and a reset of the world. What is the preview that HKB"H therefore gives Am Yisrael of the Torah? עֶבֶד עִבְרִי – the tikkun for Adam HaRishon, the first thief who became a slave to the yetzer harah.
HKB"H originally gave Adam HaRishon three positive commandments and only one negative commandment. How did that turn out? Not well. HKB"H had to switch the emphasis, instead of more positive commandments, HKB"H made more negative commandments. This distribution has been compared to the parts that make up man רמ"ח (248) אֵיבָרָיו וּשס"ה (365) גִּידָיו.
What is the difference between an אֵבָר (limb) and a גִּיד (tendon)? The purpose of a limb is to move – action, for example the purpose of a leg is to walk. The purpose of a tendon is the opposite – inaction, to limit action, for example the Achilles tendon. The tendon ensures that the limb does not have complete freedom of movement, it limits its range of movement. This is the essence of the תרי"ג מִצְווֹת, a combination of action and inaction.
How did HKB"H know that Am Yisrael were ready to receive the Torah? They said כֹּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה' נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע (שמות כד, ז). When HKB"H heard that, He said (שבת פח, ע"א) "Who revealed this secret to my sons that the angels use?"
Most of us interpret נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע as "First we will "do" - accept the Torah, without even knowing what is written in it, and then we will "hear" what it contains. In other words, Am Yisrael were taking a leap of faith and accepting the Torah before they knew what it contained.
However, that is not what נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע means at all. The word נַעֲשֶׂה is action - doing. The word נִשְׁמָע is inaction. What do you have to do to hear something? Nothing, you just sit passively and allow the sound to enter your ear. By saying נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע Am Yisrael were in fact saying לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ, the very same words HKB"H directed to Adam HaRishon in Gan Eden.
By giving Am Yisrael the Dinim of עֶבֶד עִבְרִי in Mara, a preview of what Matan Torah was actually for, it empowered us to be able to say נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע and restore the state of the world to the way it was before the sin of Adam and Chava.
Let us now read this parsha of עֶבֶד עִבְרִי passuk by passuk and we will see how all of the above ties in perfectly.
כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד עִבְרִי שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים יַעֲבֹד וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַחָפְשִׁי חִנָּם
It is all about the first seven days of Creation. The first six days - HKB"H "working" to create a perfect world, but instead, his pinnacle of Creation, Adam, turned out to be a thief, an עֶבֶד עִבְרִי, liable the death penalty (as HKB"H promised if he ate from the forbidden tree). Only by virtue of the holiness of Shabbat, was Adam's sentence mitigated, וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַחָפְשִׁי חִנָּם and he ended up living 930 years.
אִם בְּגַפּוֹ יָבֹא בְּגַפּוֹ יֵצֵא אִם בַּעַל אִשָּׁה הוּא וְיָצְאָה אִשְׁתּוֹ עִמּוֹ
HKB"H created Adam HaRishon as a single hermaphrodite organism. When Adam complained that he could not find a "mate", HKB"H split him into two organisms, man and woman. As a result, it was Chava who caused Adam to sin and both of them were expelled from Gan Eden.
אִם אֲדֹנָיו יִתֶּן לוֹ אִשָּׁה וְיָלְדָה לוֹ בָנִים אוֹ בָנוֹת הָאִשָּׁה וִילָדֶיהָ תִּהְיֶה לַאדֹנֶיהָ וְהוּא יֵצֵא בְגַפּוֹ
The Gemara says שֶׁבָּא נָחָשׁ עַל חַוָּה הֵטִיל בָּהּ זוּהֲמָא (שבת קמו, א). The "master" in the passuk is the נָחָשׁ, who became Chava's master when she sinned and the offspring from that union was Kayin and his twin sister. Until they were expelled from Gan Eden, Adam did not fulfil the mitzva of פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ and therefore Adam went "out alone" without offspring. Only afterwards did Adam "know" Chava and from that union were born Hevel and his twin sisters.
וְאִם אָמֹר יֹאמַר הָעֶבֶד אָהַבְתִּי אֶת אֲדֹנִי אֶת אִשְׁתִּי וְאֶת בָּנָי לֹא אֵצֵא חָפְשִׁי
Instead of being slaves only to HKB"H, Adam and Chava became slaves to their new "master", the yetzer harah and could not be set free.
וְהִגִּישׁוֹ אֲדֹנָיו אֶל הָאֱ-לֹקִים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ אֶל הַדֶּלֶת אוֹ אֶל הַמְּזוּזָה וְרָצַע אֲדֹנָיו אֶת אָזְנוֹ בַּמַּרְצֵעַ וַעֲבָדוֹ לְעֹלָם
As a result of the sin of Adam and Chava, the yetzer harah became the chief קָטֵגוֹר against mankind, constantly "serving them up" for judgement in front of HKB"H whenever they stray. Constantly testing if they have a "Mezuzah" on their "doors" - restraining their actions and not transgressing the negative commandments. If the slave does not want to be set free, his master the נָחָשׁ punctures his ear, the ear that should have heard HKB"H's commandments and abided by them. Where does he puncture the ear? On the מַּרְצֵעַ. If you switch the letters of מַּרְצֵעַ you get עֵץ מַר. If someone does not want to set themselves free from the clutches of the yetzer harah and the "bitter tree", the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, they remain slaves to them for life.
This is the lesson that HKB"H gave to Am Yisrael at Mara. Am Yisrael are about to receive the Torah. The Torah is a תַּבְלִין for the yetzer harah, a "spice". What is the difference between a "spice" and an "antidote"? A spice sweetens or improves the substance it is added to. An antidote cancels or counteracts the substance it is added to. The Torah is not the antidote to the yetzer harah, it does not cancel or counteract it. The Torah sweetens or improves the yetzer harah that instead of it causing harm, it works for the benefit of mankind.
At Mara the water was bitter, it was impossible to drink. HKB"H commanded Moshe to throw a branch of a "bitter tree" הַרְדּוּפְנִי (מדרש תנחומא, פרשת בשלח, סימן יח) into the water, to "sweeten" it and make it possible to drink. Normally, if something is bitter, to sweeten it, we humans add something sweet - like sugar to coffee. HKB"H does not work like that. To sweeten something bitter, HKB"H adds a spice that is also bitter.
The Torah is both bitter and sweet. It is a bitter pill for the physical body, to devote your life entirely to the Torah, your physical life must be bitter –
כַּךְ הִיא דַּרְכָּהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה, פַּת בַּמֶּלַח תֹּאכֵל וּמַיִם בַּמְּשׂוּרָה תִּשְׁתֶּה וְעַל הָאָרֶץ תִּישָׁן וְחַיֵּי צַעַר תִּחְיֶה וּבַתּוֹרָה אַתָּה עָמֵל (אבות ו, ד)
However, the Torah is a sweet pill for the neshama –
הַנֶּחֱמָדִים מִזָּהָב וּמִפַּז רָב וּמְתוּקִים מִדְּבַשׁ וְנֹפֶת צוּפִים (תהילים יט, יא)
Similarly, the yetzer harah is also both sweet and bitter. It is a sweet pill for the body and a bitter pill for the neshama. The yetzer harah tempts the physical body with that which is "sweet". If we succumb to temptation, the result is that we damage our neshama in the process – a bitter pill. This works on a spiritual level and also on a physical level. Medical practitioners will tell you that what is "sweet" for the tongue is "bitter" for the body. Most ailments are caused by "sweet". On the other hand, that which is "bitter" for the tongue (most medicines are bitter to the tongue) are "sweet" for the body, they heal the body.
To sweeten the yetzer harah and the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, the bitter tree, HKB"H gave us the Torah. The yetzer harah uses the physical to harm the spiritual. Therefore, to sweeten the yetzer harah, the Torah also targets the physical (the physical side of the Torah is bitter – see above). Adding bitter to bitter ends up sweetening the yetzer harah. By limiting our enjoyment of the physical, within the bounds of the Torah, we diminish the power of the yetzer harah to cause harm to our neshama.
However, if we discard the Torah, we remain slaves to the yetzer harah forever and forfeit our neshama.
This is the lesson of Mara, the prerequisite to Matan Torah, understanding the essence of the Torah and its purpose - so that we can accept the Torah the way HKB"H intended in Gan Eden, לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ, or by another name נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע. Chazal say that if Am Yisrael fully observe one Shabbat we will be redeemed, I believe that they are referring to the day the Torah was given. When Am Yisrael accept the Torah (which was given on Shabbat) we will achieve ultimate freedom וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַחָפְשִׁי חִנָּם, freedom from the yetzer harah.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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