Mishpatim
Rabbi Jablinowitz
This week’s parsha begins with the words, V’Eileh Hamishpatim Asher Tasim Lifneihem, these are the laws you shall place before them. Rashi makes two statements on this pasuk that seem to contradict each other. First Rashi comments that the word V’Eileh indicates the Torah is adding to last week’s parsha. Just as the Aseres Hadibros in last week’s parsha were given at Sinai, so too the laws elucidated in our parsha were given at Sinai. This statement clearly emphasizes the Divine origin of the laws. They were given at Sinai with the same miraculous events of thunder and lightning described in last week’s parsha.
However, Rashi explains that the words Asher Tasim Lifneihem indicate that Moshe should teach the reasons for the laws to Bnei Yisrael and place them before them. This seems to suggest that it’s important to not just follow the mitzvoth blindly without understanding. Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to clearly present the material as a Shulchan Aruch, a prepared table, before them. This seems to stress Bnei Yisrael taking the mishpatim and making it theirs by clearly understanding the reasoning behind them rather than emphasizing the notion of following blindly after the mitzvoth.
Perhaps a third Rashi is “Machri’a Beineihem”, resolves the difference between them. Rashi also teaches on the word Lifneihem that one is prohibited from going to a non-Jewish court, even if he knows the law would be exactly the same as it would be in Beis Din. This requires understanding. As long as the outcome is like Torah law, what is the problem of going to a non-Jew court? Rashi explains that going to a secular court is a Chilul Hashem and gives honor to the non-Jewish system of law.
However, the reason for this prohibition seems to be deeper. We see from the prohibition of going to a non-Jewish court that the actual outcome of the law is not the objective of the Torah judicial system. Rather, it is the subservience to Gd and His Torah that is the goal. Therefore, going to a non-Jew court is inconceivable. Though understanding the ideas of the laws when possible is essential, the notion of the laws being given at Sinai, and subjugating one’s self to the laws of the Torah, takes precedence.
The Sfas Emes, in fact, derives this very concept from the words of our first pasuk. He understands the word Lifneihem as meaning, before them. The mishpatim take precedence over their understanding. Just as Bnei Yisrael said Na’aseh V’Nishmah at the end of the parsha (Chapter 24 Pasuk 7), our parsha begins with the notion of putting the performance of the mitzvah “before them”, before their understanding. This concept also explains the order of Yisro before Mihspatim. First there was the Aseres Hadibros of accepting the will of Hashem, and then comes the mishpatim which we can understand with our reasoning.
The Sfas Emes takes this a step further. He explains that Na’aseh V’Nishmah doesn’t merely give us the proper order of Avodah, it describes the necessary process. It is precisely because we first accept the will of Hashem that we can afterwards understand the meaning of the mitzvoth. There can’t be a true understanding of Torah; we can’t have the Nishmah, if it isn’t preceded by an acceptance of keeping the mitzvoth of the Torah. The first step must be Na’aseh and only afterwards can there possibly be Nishmah.
This idea can help us understand a well known Gemara in Shabbos 88A that says when Bnei Yisrael said Na’aseh before Nishmah a Bas Kol went out and said, Me Gilah L’Banai Raz Zeh, who revealed this secret to my children? This concept is used by the angels, as the pasuk says by the angels (Tehillim, Chapter 103, Pasuk 20), Giborei Ko’ach Osai Devaro Lishmo’a B’Kol Devaro. The angels first do the will of Hashem, and only afterwards do they understand. Who revealed the secret of the angels to my children?
If we understand that Na’aseh before Nishmah was a higher level of Avodah, then it’s not clear exactly what the secret is. In accepting this higher level of subservience they were imitating the way of the angels. But perhaps it expressed an inspiration from Ma’amad Har Sinai, not the revelation of a secret. But according to the pshat of the Sfas Emes, Na’aseh before Nishmah wasn’t merely an inspiration from the Divine Revelation at Sinai. It was a deep understanding that this is the only way to serve Hashem. There must be Na’aseh before Nishmah. This is the question Me Gilah L’Banai Raz Zeh, How were they able to understand this secret only known previously to the ministering angels. And this is the explanation of the different statements by Rashi in the beginning of parsha. Lifnei Hakol, before your understanding there must be an acceptance of the Divine origin of the mishpatim given at Sinai, and your acceptance to perform them. Only after this stage can you move on to understanding the reasoning, and have them before you as a Shulchan Aruch.
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