Parashat Mishpatim

Exodus 21:1–24:18

Shabbat Shekalim

February 21, 2009 / 27 Shevat 5769


Last week's parashah contained a magnificent description of the revelation at Mount Sinai. The scene was dramatic: The people were gathered at the foot of the mountain as Moses ascended. There was smoke, fire, thunder, and loud sounding of the shofar. Then God revealed Himself and gave the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments represent the first laws of the mutual covenant between God and Israel, and this week's parashah contains more of these laws that collectively are known in English as "The Book of the Covenant" (sefer habrit). Our sages long ago pointed out that our parashah starts with the Hebrew word for and: ve'eleh hamishpatim (and these are the rules), indicating a direct connection between the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant. Both were given on Sinai.

This covenant between God and Israel became the cornerstone of Israel's legal system and the foundation of Israel's national, cultural, and religious life. Throughout its later history, the nation was judged on how it measured up in keeping the covenant. Prosperity was attributed to its observance and misfortune to its nonobservance. The prophets who arose at various points in Israel's history were the great defenders and spokespeople for the covenant: they warned, cajoled, and threatened the people to keep the covenant. They repeatedly charged that the nation had violated its covenant with God and optimistically hoped that the people would return to it. What is remarkable about this collection of laws in the covenant is the combination of criminal, civil, and ethical law entwined together. Thus, amid laws dealing with safekeeping of property, seduction, sorcery, bestiality, idolatry, and blasphemy are humanitarian laws dealing with the protection of the ger (stranger), the widow, the orphan, and the poor. These four groups constitute the classic biblical categories of disadvantaged people: those without power and without legal protectors, who must depend on the good will of society to help them.

Of all the laws concerning the disadvantaged, there is one that is constantly repeated in many parts of the Torah: the law enjoining the Israelites not to oppress the stranger. It is an astonishing fact that the Bible has more laws dealing with the protection of the stranger than with any other law, including honoring God, observing the Sabbath, festivals, etc. Obviously, for the biblical legislator, concern for the stranger was considered a religious value of supreme importance. The law concerning the stranger reads: "You shall not wrong a stranger (ger) or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exod. 22:20) and, when it is repeated, the phrase "you know the mind of a stranger [for you were strangers in the land of Egypt]" is added (Exod. 23:9). The reason given for not wronging the stranger is only an ethical one: the Israelites were once strangers in a foreign land and so can empathize with the experience of foreigners in their own land. This is borne out by the language that is used in the verse where the Hebrew verb lahats (to oppress) alludes to the situation of the Israelites in Egypt. Their treatment there was described with the same verb: "I have seen the oppression (lahats) with which the Egyptians oppress (lohatsim) them" (Exod. 3:9).





The lesson is an obvious one. Because of our bitter experience in other lands, we must ensure that all present-day strangers in the modern State of Israel will not be subject to discrimination or coercion, and that the religious sensibilities of all minorities will be respected. For the Torah tells us never to forget that once we too "were strangers in the land of Egypt."
