February 21st: Mishpatim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
The art of translation is always curious. How does one give an accurate translation of the words and the connotations and the historical context and the sensibility of a text? It is seldom a straight process, and the multiplicity of translations of the Bible speaks to the complexity.
A case in point comes in the word Torah. Often translated as The Law, this is too narrow for the whole approach to life and existence which the Torah represents. Though Torah contains laws, it also holds other components which draw our attention: narratives, interpretive retellings of narratives, poetry and prayer, genealogies, and philosophical thinking. In the texts that Judaism developed from and after the original Torah, the subject matter is generally categorized as either Halachah/Law or Aggadah/Stories, and Judaism is taught in both.
Though we usually use the word Torah to refer to The Five Books of Moses, Judaism actually has eight definitions/usages of the word.
(1) The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
(2) The Torah Scroll—the Five Books in their ancient scroll format.
(3) The whole Jewish Bible/Tanach (which Christians call The Old Testament). In Rabbinic Judaism, this is called the Written Torah.
(4) The Written Torah and the Oral Torah (the Mishnah and the Gemara, which together comprise the Talmud).
(5) Any Jewish texts that continue the Rabbinic Tradition—Responsa, Law Codes, Mystical Writings (Kabbalah), Philosophical Writings, Hassidic Teachings, etc.
(6) All Jewish knowledge—including Jewish Literature and Journalism and modern thought.
(7) A particular story or interpretation or teaching from Judaism, as in, “Here, let me teach you a Torah.”
(8) The sensibility of Judaism and Jewishness in which individuals have the opportunity to approach God and to live in a holy relationship with God. This definition of Torah is similar to the Chinese notion of Tao, The Way.
Whenever we hear the word Torah, we need to discern which meaning is intended.
That being said, this week’s Torah portion is actually law. Up until the Ten Commandments last week, all of the Book of Genesis and the most of the first nineteen chapters of Exodus are narrative/Aggadah. Now, however, we get a multiplicity of specific laws.
“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free on account of the injury. If he knocks out the tooth of a slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go on account of the injury.” (Exodus 21.26-27)
“When a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the one responsible for the pit must make restitution—paying the price of the animal to the owner, but keeping the carcass.” (Exodus 21.33-34)
“When a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide its price; they shall also divide the dead animal. If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has failed to guard it, he must restore ox for ox, but he shall keep the carcass of the dead ox.” (Exodus 21.35-36)
“When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep.” (Exodus 21.37)
“When a man lets his livestock loose to graze in another’s land, and so allows a field or a vineyard to be grazed bare, he must make restitution for the impairment of that field or vineyard.” (Exodus 22.4)
“When a fire is started and spreads to thorns, so that stacked, standing, or growing grain is consumed, he who started the fire must make restitution.” (Exodus 22.5)
“You shall not subvert the rights of your needy in their disputes. Keep far from a false charge; do not bring death on those who are innocent and in the right, for I will not acquit the wrongdoer. Do not take bribes, for bribes blind the clear-sighted and upset the pleas of those who are in the right.” (Exodus 22.6-8)
“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 22.21)
“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you must return it to him before the sun sets; it is his only clothing, the sole covering for his skin. In what else shall he sleep? Therefore, if he cries out to Me, I will pay heed, for I am compassionate.” (Exodus 22.24-26)
The idea here is that living a holy life involves the details of life. It is one thing to espouse the goals of fairness and justice, but how you deal with a goring ox or an out-of-control flock or a fit of temper against a subordinate? The details of life are where the Torah is lived, and God is instructing us to follow the model of creation—a grand and magnificent endeavor that necessitated lots of details: the invention of physics, biochemistry, psychology, etc., and the development that had to be carried out molecule by molecule and atom by atom. Given that God loves us and has gifted each of us with a spark of the Divine Image, God cares about us and how we are treated by others. Thus do ten commandments grow to 613. Living Torah means “sweating the details.”
“Once a heathen came before Shammai and said to him, ‘I will be converted if you teach me the entire Torah, all of it, while I stand on one foot.’ Shammai instantly drove him away with the builder’s measure he had in his hand. The same man came before Hillel and said, ‘I will be converted if you teach me all the Torah while I stand on one foot.” Hillel converted him. He said to him: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.” (Talmud Shabbat 31a)