A Labyrinth

Non sequitur is such a fun word.

Parshat Mishpatim is full of what seem to be non sequiturs as God jumps from law to law. If there is an order to the Torah than Moshe shares these laws with B’nei Yisrael after they receive the ten commandments but before Moshe goes up in the mountain (the Torah says in, not on). This leads me to believe that it was originally intended that B’nei Yisrael would get all of these laws from God but when they said it was too much for them, Moshe relayed them. There are common themes throughout these laws that refer to being a sensitive person.

The parsha starts out talking about Jewish slaves. A Jewish slave is working to work off a debt and he is not meant to work for more than six years. There are many many laws about how you must treat your slave well. Most of the laws in this week’s parsha are about judging all men (including one’s self) on an equal platform and treating them according to their actions, not their social status. This is a very powerful, and at the time of the Torah, Revolutionary idea (still might be).

Favorites from this week include treating a sojourner well (no discrimination), if you seduce a virgin you gotta marry her, as long as her dad approves (keep it in your pants guys) and working with your enemy to help him when his animal has a load too heavy to carry (metaphor much?). But the law that I found the most interesting of all, was not cooking a kid in it’s mother’s milk. The law itself is interesting but even more so is its placement. The end of this group of laws is more about the peoples’ relationship with God than each other. This law about milk and meat is stuck between the law about giving your first fruits to God and that God is going to designate an angel/messenger/the Torah (depending on interpretation of the word malach) to take care of the Jews and we should heed it’s messages. This law seems like it would fit much better earlier in the plethora of randomness that is the series of laws that came before.

Why here? Why now? Kashrut is the ultimate level of compassion and a daily reminder of God in your life. It is one of the most effective marriages of the laws that pertain to the physical world and the laws that pertain to the spiritual world. Judaism is all about blurring and uniting the polarity between the two. The bringing of the first fruits is about recognizing that although you invested yourself completely into the raising of the tree, the fact that it bore fruit is completely up to the will of God and that it is a partnership. The angel/messenger/Torah that we must listen to are God’s guidelines that we must trust him to follow. We must trust that he wants the best for us and he gave us the Torah in order that we will have spiritual emotional growth (the ultimate reward being awareness and understanding). This law about a kid in it’s mother’s milk is very rooted on this earth. We are permitted to eat animals. This is a physical, even violent world. But our actions must be conscious, sensitive and modest, even/especially when ending a life, even an animal’s life. In addition, food is essential for life, (our bodies were created to need protein) and by giving us laws pertaining to food, God assures that we will constantly be thinking of him and our sensitivity towards other beings in the world, because it will always be on our minds. (Jewish laws about sex have similar effect.)

I try my hardest always to be conscious and sensitive to God, myself and the people in my life. But sometimes I screw up. Thank God, most of my friends feel comfortable enough around me to tell me when I screw up so I can try and fix it right away but I know I am a klutz and if I have ever failed you I am sorry. I can be all over the place sometimes but I usually have a plan. My plan does not include hurting others but in the hurricane of my existence sometimes it seems inevitable. Feel free to tell me to slow down or move out of the way. Or enjoy the wind in your hair.

Shavua Tov.

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Names in the Torah are often not the given name of the person but rather what God chose to call them in order to teach us.

Yitro, the priest of Midyan, Moshe’s father-in-law is one of the kindest characters in the Torah. He is a righteous gentile (other righteous gentiles include, Malkitzedek, Bat Pharaoh, Rachav, KT, D’Rod and Tim – I still haven’t found Jewish D’rod or Tim, got close to a Jewish D’rod recently but had a Mumbert moment). Anyways, Yitro comes from the word Yeter, which means abundance or extra. It could also come from Lehatrot, which means to warn, and that is exactly what the generous Yitro does in this week’s Torah portion.

Yitro hears that all is well with the Children of Israel and he decides to meet up with Moshe to bring back his wife and children. The Torah is fairly vague about whether or not Yitro intends to stay with Bnei Yisrael or not. Also, we are never told exactly when Tzipporah and the kids go back to Midyan and we do know that they did originally go with Moshe down to Egypt. The Torah repeats many many times that Yitro is the father-in-law of Moshe. I think this is in order to make sure we give him the proper respect. He merited to have the wife of Moshe as a daughter because he was a wise and kind leader. When he arrives and is greeted by Moshe, Moshe bows to him and kisses him. Moshe tells Yitro what God had done to Pharaoh and Mitzrayim, which is describing recent events from the negative point of view. Yitro, to the contrary, responds by rejoicing in all the good God had done for Bnei Yisrael. This is Yitro’s first lesson to Moshe. Yitro then blesses God and in his way recognizes that this is the true God and makes a sacrifice. Then Aharon and all the Elders come to break bread with him. (Treat your allies well. It is good to break bread with those from other nations and learn from them.)

The next day, there is a line out Moshe’s door with of people who want to ask Moshe questions. It seems that the people have finally garnered respect for Moshe and want him to guide them but it is too much for Moshe on his own. Once again, Yitro came to teach Moshe. He told him, “this is not good. They will wear you out, you need to delegate.” This is another responsibility for a good leader. You have to take care of yourself and not take on too much. You must delegate to good people because if you take on too much and fail then the entire people could collapse. You can see that similar intense consolidation of power has been the end of many great empires.

Yitro continues, “Be the link between the people and God, teach them the laws, and show them the straight path. In addition, choose good men and put them over the people as judges and rulers. There should be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifty. Then you are the supreme court and little matters can be dealt with by the lower courts. If you do this, and God commands you to do this, then you will endure.” The wisdom, humilty and kindness of Yitro is truly inspiring. We can learn a lot from our non-Jewish allies. The way that he speaks is smart. He lets Moshe know that he intends to give him advice then compliments Moshe and reassures him of his position, then gives him his advice and then says that if he takes the advice and God wants him to take the advice then he will be successful (this shows both humility and confidence). Moshe does all that Yitro suggests. Then Moshe sends Yitro away and he goes back to his own land. It is important for us to have our allies out there in the world advocating for us and we cannot be completely insular, as tempting as it may be to keep the good ones close.

The rest of the Parsha is about receiving the ten commandments. Bnei Yisrael make it through the ten but then ask Moshe to bring the rest of the Torah to them from God, it is too much for them to hear it directly. This is not a sin and it is an important positive trait. Not everyone is of the level to have as close a connection to God as Moshe does. While one must strive to be as close as they possibly can be it is important not to take on more than you can. This is really a reiteration of Yitro’s lesson.

A friend once called me “efficiently busy.” My life rarely has a dull moment. I am generous with sharing my time with friends and taking on responsibilities. I really enjoy being busy. I seem to always find productive ways to fill any free time I have. It can be hard for me to give up responsibilities and delay finishing projects. This Parsha has taught me that maybe I should work harder to take a break here and there. Perhaps I shouldn’t work so hard or I might burn out.

But there are just so many people to see and activities to do.

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