I started to study the Parasha Mishpatim for the first time this week. It is so gratifying to do so.
Some important commandments are listed right at the beginning. It is not for nothing that the Parasha itself is called legal decrees or, better, legal statutes – the plural of Mishpat, as they regulate social relationships within the Jewish people and also dealings with strangers.

The Torah is always both – instruction and binding law; it has always been taken seriously by Jewish people as a revelation from God and has increased in importance in our times. Bringing all 613 commandments to life in everyday life is not only central, but also unavoidable.

On the coming Shabbat, these legal statutes will be read out publicly. They will thus be proclaimed, remembered and internalized. It is therefore not a process of „entertainment“, but of instruction and reminder that these must be enforced. Hence the name Mishpatim. It deals with rules about servants, rules about physical assault, rules about theft, further rules about seducing a virgin and marrying her with the obligation of dowry, sorcerers, sodomy, serving other gods, insulting a stranger, dealing with widows and orphans, lending money, rules about first fruits, rules about justice, rules about the Shabbat year and Shabbat, rules about the festivals and rules about the Promised Land.

Mishpatim therefore involves a whole range of different laws that must lead to a fair legal system. This is the crucial point – the transfer of the laws into the dealings of a more just Jewish society; or in the Diaspora, the social structure of a community.

It is important that the Torah is introduced very carefully, first in narrative terms – almost tentatively. And it is also important that the laws are not simply passed. Didactically, it is very valuable that the parasha begins with the regulations on servitude. Let us remember that the Jewish people have only just been liberated and are standing in the desert at Mount Sinai. One might think that there are more important things for them than the servitude that someone has to enter into out of necessity. That is precisely the starting point. The text and address make it clear from the outset that dependency relationships are not a thing of the past. Economic emergencies are a reality. But one thing has changed: servitude is an economic factor and is therefore always limited. Servitude is no longer oppression. Nor is it submission to a regime that forces self-sacrifice.

The Israelite servant remains an Israelite and is therefore oriented towards freedom. Rashi therefore says that by the Yovel year at the latest, even those who do not want to be free will be liberated. It is important to recognize that these laws are above our own limited, short-term interests and are therefore the central starting point for our own decisions.

Shabbat Shalom