Published February 11, 2010
Parshat Mishpatim is so full of laws that we may lose our way in the forest from the density its trees. We find laws relating to damages and to murder and manslaughter; we find directives pertaining to loans; and we find ourselves knowing what to do as we face all kinds of people in a variety of social situations.
These vary from seducers to sorcerers, from perverts to pawn- brokers, from the disadvantaged widow, orphan and stranger to the judges of the people. And what is the central message that pervades the lines of the Law Book? What essential spirit blows through this rich forest?
One would like to think that the guiding principle permeating the whole parsha of Mishpatim is the seminal verse: MIDVAR SHEKER TIRCHAK - ‘You shall distance yourself from a false word.’
Perhaps this means our recognizing the central proposition that I am not the center of reality; that what I think and crave after are but secondary matters with respect to the greater goal of our purpose in this world. That when we recognize that our subjective and nagging need for recognition, power, and profit distorts our judgment, then we shall better be in a position to create the ideal society envisaged in Parshat Mishpatim, of being what the Torah describes succinctly as, “A people of holiness” (Sh’mot 22:30).
Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff
© 2012 OU. All rights reserved.