Maishpatim: Nostalgia

This parsha brings me back to  elementary school, actually, Yeshiva kitana, the first 8 grades. 

 In second grade at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, we learned Shemoth, the second book of the Torah.  I had  the Bais Yehudah edition, a chumash that contained a Yiddish translation of  Rashi, among its features.  Mishpatim, this weeks parsha was the most beaten up, the one that showed the greatest signs of wear.  The pages were falling out and crinckled.  It was a reminder of the centrality of this parsha in the tradition that I was taught in school.

It also reminds me of 5th grade, when we started to learn gemarra: Shnayim ochazim betakith, two people holding on to a garment;   Hakonais tzon ladir, if one pens a sheep. The page of the Talmud:  frames within frames.  This was the sapphire brick mentioned at the end of the parsha, the translucent block through which I could experience Gd.  Mishpatim is the textual basis of the gemorra. The terse text of this parsha explodes into the kaleidoscope that  is talmud.

Most of the issues mentioned in the parsha, and expanded upon in the gemarra, never touched my life. But I could imagine that the worker for whom the union fought as the remnant of the Hebrew slave; The automobile collision was analogized to the goring cattle.  I wanted to make these words relevant, to insert the tradition that stretches back to the word of Gd (though Moshe) into my life.

Mishpatim, and the Talmud that it spawned, is one of the lenses through which I see my Judaism.  These exercises in theoretical justice: recognizing the personal life of the slave, recognizing the rights of both the victim and the victimizer, tolerance with limits - they are how I relate to my faith.

The devil is not the only entity in the details. 

Yithro: the acceptance of the law

Rashi says that the parsha is called Yithro because it is extra. A parsha of the Torah was added in honor of Moshe's great father-in-law who recognized the supremacy of the Hebrew Gd as an outsider. He then  laid the foundation of universal justice.  There is no more fundamental parsha in the Torah than this one, the parsha that contains the spectacle at Sinai and the ten commandments. 

Acceptance of authority is a theme that runs through the parsha. It begins with Yithro accepting the authority of the  Gd who brought Israel out of Egypt.  Yithro's acceptance appears to be based upon his perception of the justice that is evident in the destruction of the Egyptian forces.  Just as the Egyptians tried to kill the Hebrew boys by drowning them in the water, the army was drowned in the sea that allowed the Hebrews to pass.  This combination of might and justice is irresistable .  This is the entity that humanity needs: fairness and the power to enforce it. It is the Hobbesian monopoly on violence,  the Weberian state

Yithro observes that the people accept the authority of Moshe as the arbiter of the law, the decider. But,  at first,  the  faith in Moshe is personal, it is a confidence in the fairness of a mortal.  Yithro sees that this is not a viable system. Moshe will tire.  Moshe will, eventually die.  Yithro  suggests a hierarchy of deciders.  Such a pyramidal system would support a subsequent chief judge, by virtue of the consensus it creates.   The suggestion is brought to Gd. 

Gd adds another layer.  There will be a written law, a law that exists outside of the mortal sphere.  And the most basic layer of that law will be engraved in stone, it will be eternal and  immutable ( although open to interpretation like all things)  The 10 commandments . 

This written law will need acceptance.  The spectacle at Sinai, the public revelation, demonstrates the divine origin of the law,  And the first declaration which includes:" the Lrd that took you out of Egypt" , reinforces the Just and Powerful nature of the author. What convinced Yithro  by report should convince the people who lived through the miracles and wonders... and their descendants. 

The people are convinced.  They are terrified  by the experience and delegate Moshe to bring them the law.  This role of Moshe is  now quite different from the trusted judge seen in the beginning of the parsha.  Moshe is now the prophet, the transmitter of a message greater than himself, a message that can be shared , a message that does not change with circumstances, a message that we, the descendants of those who stood at Sinai,  diligently study to this day. 

Beshalach: attribution

At Masa and Meriva the newly liberated and victorious Israelites ask if Gd is with them. They have just seen a battle that involved the intervention of fiery clouds  and the selective parting of the waters of the sea. What did they mean?

There were certainly Divine  level interventions, but they did not clarify the goal , or even the next step in the mission.   These were communicated by Moshe. Therefore,  when problems arose - like a lack of potable water and no source of food,   people turned to Moshe with blame.  In our parsha, Moshe informs the people that the attribution is incorrect.  Gd has been the director.

This contrasts with the first sentence of the parsha: "When Pharoah  sent... "The preceding story of plagues and the next bad judgment, leading the Egyptian army into the seabed,  emphasize the role of Gd hardening Pharaoh's heart. It seems more appropriate to credit Gd with the expulsion.  ultimately, only the human master can emancipate his slaves.  It is noted that  Pharoah expelled Israel despite all the hardening.

As I look at the spectrum of religious belief and practice, the question of attribution is central. Not only  in terms of events, but also  in how we imagine the system  originated. The Orthodox belief, by definition,  is that the laws we obey are the laws given to Moshe.  Circumstances have demanded interpretation by the authorities,  the Rabbis. But these modifications are details.  Unfortunately, 
the modifications divide the faithful  into battling factions.

Bo: isolationism

This parsha records the separation of the two peoples: Isarel and Egypt.  After 430 years of living together, one way or another, Israel is urgently asked to leave immediately.  The poisonous nature of the relationship is recognized  After such a long engagement, sharing so much over such a long time, the separation was challenging. 

The parsha describes the three final plagues.  The locusts, like the frogs and the lice, are a reminder of demographic challenge posed by the subjugated people.  They are so numerous.  And they eat, they will eventually consume everything. 

The darkness reminds Egypt that they do not understand these enslaved people and their customs.  They are in the dark.  But these customs were probably contaminating the youth

The killing of the firstborn is the last straw.  These elite were, by virtue of their birth, the masters of the land.   They would have been the soldiers and officers.  The treasured  youth of Egypt was, sacrificed to their struggle. 

The ritual of the Peach lamb identifies allegiance.  You may have been born Egyptian, but if you are circumcised, sacrificed a lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts and lintel, you are with the Hebrews.  You may have been born a Hebrew, but if you fail to do this task, you have made your choice of identity: Egypt.

The prohibition against leaven means the elimination of the yeast of Egypt.  This is the living part of the bread, the DNA of subjugation.  The unleavened rejects the intoxication technology of Egypt.   In bread, the baking evaporates the alcohol, but the same yeast produces beer and wine. 

The firstborn are the heirs of the land.  But Israel is leaving the land of Egypt, there is nothing for them to inherit there.  Their inheritance is  a dream