At first glance, the parsha that follows Matan Torah seems somewhat anticlimactic: from the extraordinary miracles in Egypt, to the spectacular scene at Har Sinai, we transition to read about the seemingly ordinary dos and don’ts of daily life in Parshat Mishpatim. We will see, however, that the many laws delineated in this week’s parsha are not perhaps mundane, but not at all anticlimactic. On the contrary, the mishpatim that govern daily life can be seen as the climax of their journey thus far – as it is these laws that enable the Jewish people to hold on to the many fundamental lessons they had learned and to understand those lessons in more meaningful ways. The parsha begins:
Ve’eleh hamisphatim asher tasim lifneihem
And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them (Ex. 21:1)
Rashi comments that the word ve’eleh (and these) signifies that these laws were given along with the Ten Commandments. Though we know that the entire Torah - with all its laws and details - was given at once on Har Sinai, the Torah uses this conjunctive word to emphasize the continuity between the fundamentals of the Ten Commandments in last week’s Parshat Yitro and the many ordinances and rules that govern daily life found in Parshat Mishpatim.
The fact that the portion of Torah that follows the monumental moment of Matan Torah is filled with details of daily law reflects the reality of living a Torah life: Judaism is a faith of ideology and belief as much as it is a religion of action and practice.
Indeed Matan Torah is not only followed, but also preceded by an event that highlights the use of the Torah as a guide for day-to-day activities. Rav Yehuda Amital (cited by Rav Yonatan Horovitz) suggested that the episode of Yitro precedes Matan Torah because the nation could not have possibly received the Torah until it had a civil, judicial infrastructure in place that would enable the daily interaction, interpretation, and implementation of Torah law. Thus, the Torah is not only intended to inform our belief system, but it must also impact our every day decisions, habits, and lifestyles.
The Jewish people understood the importance of Torah as a daily pursuit and practice at the time they accepted the Torah. Upon hearing all of the mishpatim listed in our parsha, the people proclaim: naaseh venishma (see Ex. 24:7). Some suggest that this remarkable response is recorded only after listing the many details of Torah law to praise the Jewish people for their extraordinary level of commitment to the Torah - not only in all its glory (with the thunder and lightning in the backdrop), but also with all its very many details.
The multitude of mitzvot in the Torah could be overwhelming and the intricacies of the Divine work can be complex – the fact that the Jewish people accepted these mitzvot after having been exposed to them is most commendable – perhaps even more so than accepting the Torah sight unseen.
This insight into the true greatness of naaseh venishma leaves us with a question that begs to be answered: if the Jewish people declared we will do and we will listen only after they heard the details of the Torah, then what do these words really mean – what were they willing to listen to now, after having heard the mitzvot already?
To strengthen this perplexing question, we must note that before Hashem appeared to them to deliver the Torah, the Jews declared kol hadevarim asher diber Hashem naaseh – all that Hashem has spoken we will do (Ex. 19:9). It seems quite backwards that before they heard the mitzvot they said we will do, and then only afterwards they declared we will do and we will listen?
In grappling with this question, the Meshech Chochma suggests that before receiving the Torah, the Jewish people thought that they could do it all – and so they responded confidently and eagerly, naaseh (we will do)! After hearing all of the commandments, however, they realized that it was impossible to do it all – they learned that it is not intended that every individual can do it all. It was then that they declared we will do and we will listen – indicating that even for those mitzvot that they cannot and might never be able to perform in their lifetimes, they will learn about them and internalize the messages latent within those mitzvot.
Similarly, Chazal suggest that the word nishmah in this famous phrase may refer to the Jews commitment to study the meaning and reasoning of the mitzvot - even after they were performed - again showing that the Jewish people understood that Torah learning is both a practical pursuit in how to perform the specific mitzvot but it is also a means to internalize the values and lessons that should dictate all of our daily decisions and inform our instincts and initiatives.
Often times we feel overwhelmed when exposed to new halachot or to unfamiliar nuances of already familiar mitzvot – perhaps burdened by the challenge to understand the complexity of the law and how it applies to the given situation or at the specific time. What we learn from the Jewish people at the time of Matan Torah – is that the glimpse of the surface of the Torah and its mitzvot should only tempt us to delve deeper - in hopes to better understand how to perform each mitzvah and in so doing, gaining a better appreciation of its significance and value.
And so in the parsha that follows (or rather continues the story of) Matan Torah, we learn that what it means to be a People of the Book - as the study of Torah enhances both theory and practice - which in turn, enhance each other. The basic laws of Parshat Misphatim follow the grand show of Har Sinai to remind us that what is extraordinary about Judaism is that every seemingly ordinary moment of our day has potential to be extraordinary when we are living with a constant awareness of Torah ideals. May we all continue to search and to find the deeper meaning, and to allow those lessons to inform our fundamental beliefs and our day-to-day actions in the way that the Jewish nation intended and committed themselves to doing at Har Sinai.
