EXODUS XXI:1-XXIV:18
THE MITZVAH AS AN INDISPENSABLE FACTOR IN JUDAISM
These chapters outline the “civil” behavior necessary to be able to live together in a community environment. Thus, the Torah does not differentiate between “religious” and “civil” Laws. Both have the same origin: Divine Providence. Rashi, the Torah commentator, emphasizes that these Laws have the same validity as the Ten Commandments because they also come from Sinai. For this reason, the Vilna Gaonobjected to the parishioners standing in the synagogue during the reading of the Ten Commandments, because there is no distinction to be made between Mitsvot: they all have equal validity.
The Midrash relates our text to a verse from Tehillim(Psalms) that is recited in the morning prayers of Shacharit of Shabbat: “He speaks His words to Yaakov, His ordinances to Yaakov.” The Midrash identifies the term “words” with the Ten Commandments which are called “Aseret Hadibrot“, the “Ten Words”. The term “ordinances” corresponds to the Hebrew term “Chukim” which, according to exegetes, refers to ordinances that have no logical explanation, seen only as the revelation of God’s Will.
Notably, the Tehillim verse refers to “His words” and “His ordinances,” meaning that these laws are the same laws that God keeps. God commands man to behave according to the standards that He Himself fulfills. Weread in Bereshit that God created the universe in 6 days and then rested on the seventh, which is called Shabbat. Therefore, because God rested on the seventh day, the Torah requires that we also rest. In other words, God also fulfills the Sabbath rest. In a way, then, the essence of God includes the concept of the Mitzvah.
The exodus from Egypt leading up to Har Sinaiincluded several passages symbolized by the expressions “Vehotseti,” “Vehitsali,” “Vega’alti,” and“Velakachti.” Each of these words describes a different stage in a process that culminated at Sinai. First it was necessary to put an end to the physical yoke represented by the word “Vehotseti“: the Hebrew people had to be removed from Egypt because the idolatrous environment did not allow them to continuethe path traced by the patriarchs.
A later stage is represented by “Vehitsalti,” which signifies the spiritual purification necessary to cast off the cult of death that ruled Egypt.“Vega’altí” represents the stage of salvation and redemption: the search for a purpose, a telos for the people. The last stage is “Velakachti,” the expression by which God adopts the Hebrews as His people, while He sets Himself up as the God of that people. That reciprocal relationship, this Brit, is the fundamental basis of Judaism.
How can this “Velakajtí” materialize? How can the Jew draw ever closer to God to symbolize this mutual dependence: we are His people, and He is our God? The answer is in our chapters: Mishpatim. The essence of God includes the Mitzvah, meaning that through the fulfillment of the Mitsvot we can appreciate the Presence of God.
The Talmud speculates that God puts on Tefillin, a fact that integrates with our view that God fulfills the Mitsvot. Our Tefillin contain four paragraphs: Shema Yisrael, the unequivocal affirmation of the existence of one God, whom we must love with all our being; the notion of reward and punishment for the fulfillment or disobedience of the Mitsvot; the consecration of the firstborn to the service of God; and, finally, the consecration of the firstborn to the service of God; the Divine promise to lead the Hebrew people to the Promised Land.
What is written on the scrolls of God’s Tefillin? This time, the emphasis is on the Hebrew people, for it is written, “Who is like your people Israel, the only people in the land?” It is insufficient to point out that monotheism is the basis of Judaism. Its fundamental characteristic is action, the Mitzvah, the fulfillment of which facilitates the approach to God, the basic purpose of “Velakachti“.
MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA
CONTAINS 24 POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 29 PROHIBITIONS
42. Exodus 21:2 Laws Concerning a Hebrew Slave.
43. Exodus 21:8 Marital Status of a Hebrew Slave.
44. Exodus 21:8 Redemption of a Hebrew Slave Girl.
45. Exodus 21:8 Whosoever buys a Hebrew handmaid from her father, may not sell her.
46. Exodus 21:10 Do not diminish or deny the wife: food, clothing, conjugal rights.
47. Exodus 21:12 The court must execute by strangulation the one who deserves this form of death.
48. Exodus 21:15 Do not strike the father or mother who deserves this form of death.
49. Exodus 21:18 Laws of punishment.
50. Exodus 21:10 The court must execute by the sword the one who deserves this form of death.
51. Exodus 21:18 Obligation of the Court to award damages caused by domestic animals.
52. Exodus 21:28 Do not eat of the ox sentenced to be stoned.
53. Exodus 21:33 Obligation of the court to award damages caused by a pit.
54. Exodus 21:37 Court forced to impose payment on thief.
55. Exodus 22:4 Court forced to impose damage caused by a domestic animal by grazing or trampling.
56. Exodus 22:5 Court forced to award fire damages.
57. Exodus 22:6 Court forced to award payment to a custodian.
58. Exodus 22:8 Court forced to adjudicate both litigants.
59. Exodus 22:9 Court obligated to receive custody payment or other custody.
60. Exodus 22:13 Court forced to adjudicate case of one who borrows an object for use.
61. Exodus 22:15 Court forced to adjudicate case of a seducer.
62. Exodus 22:17 Do not allow the sorceress to live.
63. Exodus 22:20 Do not verbally oppress one who converts to Judaism.
64. Exodus 22:20 Do not deceive one who converts to Judaism in cases of property.
65. Exodus 22:21 Do not mistreat an orphan or a widow.
66. Exodus 22:24 Lending to the poor.
67. Exodus 22:24 Do not insist on the payment of debt to the poor who have no means to pay.
68. Exodus 22:24 Do not help the lender or creditor foreclose on an interest-bearing loan.
69. Exodus 22:27 Do not curse the judge.
70. Exodus 22:27 Do Not Curse the Name of God.
71. Exodus 22:27 Do not curse the ruler.
72. Exodus 22:28 Do not set aside tithing in the wrong order.
73. Exodus 22:30 Do not eat from a qualifying animal Treifa.
74. Exodus 23:1 Do not hear pleadings in court if the opposing party is not present.
75. Exodus 23:1 A sinner is not to bear witness.
76. Exodus 23:2 A capital case should not be condemned by a majority of a single judge.
77. Exodus 23:2 The judge who argues innocence in the case of capital punishment must not then plead guilty.
78. Exodus 23:2 Following the majority in legal decisions.
79. Exodus 23:3 No mercy should be shown for the poor during judgment.
80. Exodus 23:5 Removing a heavy burden from a neighbor’s animal.
81. Exodus 23:6 Do not pervert righteousness in the case of a sinner.
82. Exodus 23:7 Don’t decide a capital punishment case by way of probabilities.
83. Exodus 23:8 The judge must not take a bribe.
84. Exodus 23:11 The obligation to Shemitah, to leave for everyone the produce of the land without an owner in the Sabbatical Year (seventh year).
85. Exodus 23:12 Rest in Shabbat.
86. Exodus 23:13 Do not swear by calling on an idol.
87. Exodus 23:13 Do not lead the Jewish people into idolatry.
88. Exodus 23:14 Bringing Offerings to the Holy Temple on Holidays.
89. Exodus 23:18 Do not make the offering of Passover while still possessing Jamets (leavened foods).
90. Exodus 23:18 Do not allow parts of the Passover offering for the latter part of the night.
91. Exodus 23:19 Bring the Bikurim (first fruits) to the Temple.
92. Exodus 23:19 Do not cook meat in milk.
93. Exodus 23:32 Do not make treaties with the Seven Nations that were to be eradicated from the Land of Israel, nor with idolaters.
94. Exodus 23:33 Do not allow idolaters to settle in the Land of Israel.
