It is both tempting and daunting to use this Dvar Torah to capture some significant message in this momentously difficult time for the Jewish people. We are a nation in shock, filled with sorrow and rage and, in truth, overwhelmed at the incomprehensible brutality we have witnessed. And the pasuk that most stood out in this week’s parsha was the warning against an ox that has gored before. An ox that gores the first time is returned to its pasture. An ox that has gored before cannot be trusted. Perhaps we need learn from this basic truth… violent nature does not just disappear, does not just shift. Know with whom we are dealing.
This week’s parsha is Parshas Mishpatim. It is interesting
to note that tradition divides Jewish law into three categories: Chukim, the
laws the reason for which are unclear to us like kashrus and shatnes; Edos, the
laws commemorating significant moments such as the holidays; and Mishpatim,
which are generally understood to be the laws of civilization – laws that any
rational society would naturally adhere to… (like don’t kill and don’t kidnap,
but there I go again, so I shall begin again.)
This week’s parsha is Parashas Mishpatim, and it is
interesting to note that one could read its final chapter, Perek 24, in the
same manner in which one reads the second chapter of Bereishis. It feels like a
repetition, but is, instead, a different perspective. The first description of
the creation of the world uses only the name Elokim, which indicates the mida
of Din/Justice. The second iteration includes the name Hashem, expressing that the
divine attribute of Rachamim/Compassion was added into the creation.
Shemos 24 returns to the account of the receiving of the
Torah on Har Sinai but with a much more restrained tone. It tells the details
of the preparation of Moshe and Aaron and the elders. However, since the Torah
never wastes words, one wonders why Perek 24:1-18 is here. Why wasn’t all of
this included in Parshas Yisro?
There is an important and common discussion in Jewish texts
about Ahavas Hashem (Love of Gd) and Yiras Hashem (Reverence for Gd – often translated
as fear). Serving Hashem out of love is the ultimate goal, and it sounds easy.
After all, we humans naturally love. We love our parents, our children, our
siblings, our friends, our spouses… Of course, we also love hockey (if you’re
my son), chocolate, coffee, cake, dogs, etc. Okay it’s a common comment on our
overuse of the word love, but that overuse is an excellent description of just
why we are taught that to get to true Ahavas Hashem, we must first truly achieve
Yiras Hashem. If one really thinks about how tradition discusses love – which is,
in many ways, the ultimate giving to someone else without losing oneself – one realizes
that it isn’t such a simple emotion, especially when it comes to Hashem.
This is not to say that we do not feel Ahavas Hashem, chas v’shalom,
but it is a difficult emotion to sustain.
Yirah, on the other hand, lends itself to a constant acknowledgement
that our actions have consequences. The most common translation of Yiras Hashem
is fear of Gd. Fear, however, is connected to the negative, to maintaining
mitzvos so that one is not negatively affected. Yirah, as reverence implies. is
a deep respect and recognition that Hashem is there as the ultimate Melech
whose rule is beyond our comprehension. One can follow rules and respect
authority with or without love as an acknowledgement of greater wisdom. Through
this wisdom, we hope, of course, to get to Ahavas.
There is another interesting aspect of the human concept of
love, and that is our natural propensity to wish to demonstrate it in broad, bold
gestures (or, for the more introverted, in significantly meaningful moments).
And this brings us back to the topic at hand, the giving of
the first luchos part one and part two. Har Sinai was an ideal. Bnei Yisrael had
true clarity about Hashem, the world, themselves, the importance of Torah….
Everything at Har Sinai was big. It was bold. And perhaps this overwhelming
expression of love was why, ultimately, the people sought out another moment of
incredible connection with the cheit haegel because they couldn’t maintain that
level of Ahavas Hashem but had not yet comprehended the role of Yiras Hashem to
get there.
The second iteration of the days leading up to the giving of
the Torah are about the straight-forward actions of the days of preparation. The
text itself is much more restrained, which make it interesting to note that when
we celebrate receiving the Torah on Shavuos, we elaborate of the pasukim of
Yisro – the mountain blooming, the thunder and lightening, the greatness of the
event – and in that context we often reference the term “Naaseh v’Nishma, We
will do and we will listen.” This statement, however, is not written in parshas
Yisro, but rather here at the end of Parshas Mishpatim. In Parshas Yisro, the
people declare “All that Hashem has spoken we will do” (19:8) – absolute devotion,
unconditional giving.
In Shemos 24, after the parsha lists many practical halachos
that, it is understood, were given over to the people before Moshe ascended the
mountain, we find the words Naaseh v’Nishma (24:7). Naaseh vNishma is a statement of Yiras Hashem,
of doing and listening and processing Hashem’s will. It isn’t jumping into an unsustainable.
Rashi notes that the world was meant to be created with Din
alone, but Hashem realized that it was unsustainable, so He added Rachamim to
the creation. Similarly, the ideal connection to Hashem is pure Ahava. That, however,
may not be attainable for most people, and so we have a different path – a path
of reverence in which we experience love and fear and a host of emotions in our
understanding the full and complete nature of Hashem.
It often seems as if the world is full of contradictions.
Din or Rachamim? Ahava or Yirah? The praising of obvious evil… The Torah makes
it clear that the world, and our role in the world, will always be complex, and
that He will always provide us with a path forward.
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