Following the Laws of Hashem Instead of Our Own

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

Parashas Mishpatim focuses on mishpatim, the laws that govern dealings between people, and the structure for resolving disputes. Mishpatim are usually quite reasonable and understandable, unlike chukim, mitzvos that we lack the understanding of their purpose.

The parashah begins, “And these are the mishpatim that you shall place before them.” Rashi asks, why does the verse begin with “and”? The word “and” typically connects a series of similar ideas, yet no mishpatim precede our parashah.

Rashi answers that the “and” links the mishpatim of our parashah to the Giving of Torah at Har Sinai, recorded in the previous parashah. This teaches us that the mishpatim were given to us at Har Sinai just like the Ten Commandments were.

We might wonder, though: wasn’t all of Torah given at Har Sinai? Why is the verse stressing that the mishpatim were also given there?

Rav Shimshon Pinkus explains: the mishpatim make sense to us and are often perfectly intuitive. Therefore, there is a risk that does not exist concerning chukim. One may assume that he understands mishpatim, so he may end up relying on his own ideas, without asking a rav. He may also take the liberty of adjusting the law, G-d forbid, if it seems out of sync with the times. After all, he reasons, mishpatim are supposed to make sense. This is why the mishpatim were introduced by connecting them to the Giving of the Torah. It should be clear that the mishpatim are also the eternal word of Hashem, no less than any other mitzvos.

In gentile courts, laws do change. At the municipal level, laws can even differ from one district to the next. On a broader scale, the appointment of a chief justice to the Supreme Court can radically change the direction of American law. Torah is not like that. Torah is absolute—the unchanging word of Hashem. There is no room for adjustment.

A gentile judge in Vilna once commented to Rav Meir Snipisker, “When litigants come before our courts with a monetary claim, they quarrel with each other until a verdict is given, and after that, they really start to fight. By you Jews, litigants quarrel too, but when a verdict is given, they accept it. How do you do that?”

The answer is obvious. When gentiles go to court, they expect that the judge will use his intellect to resolve their dispute. The losing party can always argue that his own intellect thinks otherwise. In the Jewish beis din, though, Jews come to hear what Hashem has to say about their dispute, as transmitted through His sages. Even though each litigant starts off believing that his viewpoint is correct, when they hear the judge’s ruling, both parties accept it.

Rav Pinkus adds that a rav must be consulted for even minor matters in interpersonal dealings. For example, if a home owner wants to expand his property but his neighbor is upset about it, the rav must determine if there are grounds for a legitimate grievance. As Rav Yisrael Salanter notes, Chazal (in Bava Metzia 75b) set down cases in which a claimant “only has a grudge.” This shows us that even bearing a grudge is not something we can decide to have on our own. Chazal have to give their permission for it. Having a grudge is either a halachic right or a violation of the law.

A friend of mine once got a ride to yeshivah from an old Yerushalmi Jew. The Jew commented, “You know, most problems in our lives can be solved with a little bit of emunah (faith)!”

When my friend asked him to elaborate, he said, “Take a disagreement between neighbors. Each one thinks he is right and the other one owes him money. Neither one is willing to give an inch. Their families stop speaking to each other, and any little thing that happens between them blows up! But if the same two people believed that everything is from Hashem, all they would care about is what Hashem wants them to do about it. When they go to a rav, they are both eager to hear Hashem’s will. The rav will tell them that one owes the other, and he will be relieved to pay him so that he doesn’t possess money that isn’t his, G-d forbid. Their families will remain on friendly terms, and the world will be a better place!”

May we be zocheh to obey the mishpatim and live with the absolute will of Hashem!

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