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Parshat Mishpatim/Shabbat Mevarchim January 29, 2022 27 Shevat, 5782
TORAH Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Parshat Mishpatim
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HERTZ 306 Our parsha takes us pride in their labor and work on principles of justice,
through a bewildering harder and better. Great human dignity and respect
HAFTORAH transition. Up until now, leaders communicate a vision. for life.
ARTSCROLL 1156 the book of Shemot has But they are also meticulous, But neither historical events
HERTZ 323 carried us along with the even perfectionists, when it nor abstract ideals – not
sweep and drama of the
Shabbat Mevarchim narrative: the Israelites’ comes to the details. Thomas even the broad principles of
Rosh Chodesh Adar I enslavement, their hope Edison famously said, “Genius the Ten Commandments –
is one percent inspiration,
are sufficient to sustain a
Tues. & Wed. Feb. 1-2 for freedom, the plagues, ninety-nine percent society in the long run.
Pharaoh’s obstinacy, their
Molad: Tues. Feb. 1 perspiration.” It is attention to Hence the remarkable
escape into the desert,
@ 3:07:16 pm the crossing of the Red detail that separates the great project of the Torah: to
Sea, the journey to artists, poets, composers, translate historical
Times Mount Sinai and the filmmakers, politicians and experience into detailed
great covenant with God. heads of corporations from the legislation, so that the
Weekly Times Suddenly, we now find merely average. Anyone who Israelites would live what
has read Walter Isaacson’s
they had learned on a daily
Shacharit: Sun. 7:30/8:30 am ourselves faced with a biography of the late Steve basis, weaving it into the
different kind of literature
Mon. & Thurs. 6:35/7:45 am altogether: a law code Jobs knows that he had an very texture of their social
Tues., Wed. & Fri 6:45/7:45 am covering a bewildering attention to detail bordering on life. In the parsha of
Mishpatim, vision becomes
the obsessive. He insisted, for
variety of topics, from
Mincha 4:50 pm responsibility for example, that all Apple stores detail, and narrative
should have glass staircases.
becomes law. So, for
Shabbat Times damages to protection of When he was told that there example: “If you buy a
property, to laws of
Candle Lighting 4:49 pm justice, to Shabbat and was no glass strong enough, Hebrew servant, he is to
he insisted that it be invented, serve you for six years. But
the festivals. Why here?
Friday Mincha 4:50 pm Why not continue the which is what happened (he in the seventh year, he shall
go free, without paying
held the patent).
Hashkama 8:00 am story, leading up to the anything” (Ex. 21:2-3). At a
next great drama, the sin The genius of the Torah was to
Parsha Shiur 8:30 am of the Golden Calf? Why apply this principle to society stroke, in this law, slavery
interrupt the flow? And as a whole. The Israelites had is transformed from a
Main Sanctuary 9:00 am condition of birth to a
what does this have to do come through a transformative temporary circumstance –
Youth Minyan 9:00 am with leadership? The series of events. Moses knew from who you are to what,
answer is this: great there had been nothing like it
Beit Midrash 9:15 am leaders, be they CEOs or before. He also knew, from for the time being, you do.
simply parents, have the God, that none of it was Slavery, the bitter
Gemara Shiur 4:15 pm experience of the Israelites
ability to connect a large accidental or incidental. The in Egypt, could not be
Mincha/SS 4:45 pm vision with highly specific Israelites had experienced abolished overnight. It was
details. Without the slavery to make them cherish
Shabbat Ends 5:58 pm vision, the details are freedom. They had suffered, so not abolished even in the
merely tiresome. There is that they would know what it United States until the
Latest Times for 1860s, and even then, not
Shema/Shemoneh Esrei a well-known story of feels like to be on the wrong without a devastating civil
three workers who are side of tyrannical power. At war. But this opening law of
January 29 9:38/10:28 am employed cutting blocks Mount Sinai, God, through our parsha is the start of
of stone. When asked Moses, had given them a
February 5 9:35/10:26 am what they are doing, one mission statement: to become that long journey.
says, “Cutting stone,” the “a Kingdom of Priests and a
Next Shabbat Likewise, the law that
Terumah second says, “Earning a holy nation,” under the “Anyone who beats their
living,” the third says, sovereignty of God alone. They male or female slave with a
Candle Lighting 4:58 pm “Building a palace.” were to create a society built rod must be punished if the
Those who have the slave dies as a direct
Mincha 5:00 pm
larger picture take more