This Shabbat we study the Parshah Mishpatim, meaning “Ordinances” (Exodus 21:1). Following the revelation at Sinai, G-d legislates a series of laws for the people of Israel.  Altogether, the Parshah of MIshpatim contains 53 mitzvot – 23 imperative commandments and 30 prohibitions. G-d promises to bring the people of Israel to the Holy Land, and warns them against assuming the pagan ways of its current inhabitants. The people of Israel proclaim, “We will do and we will hear all that G-d commands us.” Leaving Aaron and Hur in charge in the Israelite camp, Moses ascends Mount Sinai and remains there for forty days and forty nights to receive the Torah from G-d.

‍

Chabad.org

‍

The great part of the Torah portion is concerned with laws of society (damages, criminal law, debts, etc.), an area popularly regarded as beyond the strict province of "religion." Our world has succeeded in defining the rightful sphere of religious influence, immunizing other aspects of life from the demands and criteria of religion. Morality itself has become "secularized," its origins and nourishment from religious teachings obscured. These secular laws of justice are readily comprehended; there seems to be little of the mystical involved. Man's intelligence subscribes to these laws and would probably have developed most of them, in principle at least.

‍

However, with the secular approach justice is not a means toward a peaceful society, merely another tool to advance man's prosperity. Too many systems of law apparently based on this conception proved themselves futile, and their philosophic foundations provided the rationale for murder and robbery. (Exaggeration? Remember 1933-1945 in Europe?) Morality cannot be dedicated to self-promotion. Immoral means may seem more effective, and imperceptibly they become a new "morality."

‍

Justice, Judaism teaches, is not our invention. It is the declaration of G-d’s will, our means of serving and approaching Him. We may become richer or poorer by adhering to its principles, but our standards of right and wrong will not be swayed by selfish considerations.

‍

From an article by Rabbi Zalman Posner

‍

At Sinai, we declared, “We will do and we will understand!” Angels descended from heaven and placed two crowns upon our heads. One crown for “We will do.” The other for “We will understand.” But that’s puzzling. We were wise to accept the Torah even before we understood, to preface “we will do” to “we will understand.” Because we knew well the One who was giving us this Torah. That gives us one crown. And the other? The other is the crown for the understanding that comes after doing. Because when your understanding comes before your actions, and your knowledge has nothing to do with how you live, then you know nothing.

‍

But when you begin with a resolve to carry out whatever you learn, then your understanding soars to an entirely new level. For that, you deserve a crown, for you have transcended yourself.

‍

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

‍

The Messianic era will re-establish the special bond between Israel and the Almighty in a fully manifest and revealed way as in the most idyllic times before, and even more so. Thus it is written: “Behold, days are coming, says G-d, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt... But... I will put My teaching in their inward parts and in their heart I shall write it; and I will be their G-d and they shall be My people...” (Jeremiah 31:30ff.)

‍

From an article by Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet

‍

In this week's Torah reading, the Almighty tells the Jewish people that they will not inherit the land of Canaan immediately. It will be to their benefit that the conquest of the Promised Land be gradual and deliberate. To settle the land successfully would take time and they were cautioned up front to be patient. I shall not drive them away from you in a single year, lest the land become desolate and the wildlife of the field multiply against you. Little by little shall I drive them away from you, until you become fruitful and make the land your heritage. (Exodus 23:29-30)

‍

Overnight sensations are often just that. They don't necessarily last. Slow and steady, step by step, the gradual approach usually enjoys longevity and enduring success. If you asked an optimistic entrepreneur, just starting on his first business venture, "Are you a millionaire?" he wouldn't say, "No." Most probably he'd say, "Not yet, I'm working on it!" It should be the same in our Jewish journeys.

‍

Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) was a German-Jewish philosopher who as a young man actually considered opting out of Judaism completely. But his intellectual bent compelled him to at least do a proper examination of Judaism first. So he went to a synagogue and, as it happened, experienced a spiritual transformation. He went on to become a serious student of Judaism. It's told that when Rosenzweig was once asked, "Do you put on tefillin?" his answer was not yet. Not no, but "not yet" – and there is a critical difference between the two. No implies that I am not doing it now nor do I have any plans to do it any time soon. Not yet means that while presently I may not be there, I am still open to the suggestion. Hopefully, the time will soon come when I will be ready to make tefillin part of my daily observance.

‍

The not yet approach is a good one. There is no one who does it all. We all have room for growth. We should all want to aspire higher. If we don't practice a particular good deed at the moment there is no reason why we cannot begin doing it in the near future. Let us never be discouraged by the length of the journey. Let us begin the first steps and keep moving. It may be slow but as long as there is steady growth we will get there.

‍

So if someone asks, "do you put on tefillin," or "do you keep kosher," or "do you observe Shabbat," and you don't, please don't say no. Say not yet.

‍

From an article by Rabbi Yossy Goldman

‍