In this Parsha, Mishpatim, we learn of the Sefer HaBrit...
In this Parsha, Mishpatim, we learn of the Sefer HaBrit, the Book of the Covenant, that describes with great vision and detail the civil, human rights, animal rights and judicial requirements of the new nation.
Is it a coincidence that this Parsha coincides with the tens of thousands of Israelis who are rallying, marching and protesting the anti-democratic movement and negating prophetic teachings that have been at the heart and soul of the Jewish people since we stood at Sinai? How can the present government and the religious right ignore these teachings? How can mainstream Jewish organizations like the JCRCs, the Federations, synagogue movements, the ADL and others simply express concern and not take a much harder position on the dangerous reforms to the Judiciary and other institutions endangered by the Netanyahu government? Shameful.
Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of British Mandate Palestine in the 1920’s, is quoted in an article by Am Kolel friend, Rav Itzchak Marmorstein, on Mishpatim.
The higher ‘moral Torah’ is concerned with the quest for universal good, the absolute good that will positively affect all existence…The movement of the universal good is embraced through its laws. It gives expression to the morality and justice that is at the heart of reality…” (Hanir Journal, 1906, later published in Ma’amarei HaRayah).
See the full article here. May we support our brothers and sisters rising up in Israel. Kol Yisrael Arevim zeh Bazeh.
A few teachings from the Parsha: Exodus 23
“Do not pervert justice.
Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt."
Please take note of upcoming events.
Naaleh v'Naaseh,
Let us rise up and let us act,
Reb David