A gitten erev Shabbos and a git choidesh! This week’s parsha is Parshas Mishpatim, and it is also Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Adar. This is the first parsha in which the focus changes from describing events to Hashem giving us mitzvos.
In the beginning of the parsha we learn the mitzvos related to the eved Ivri (Hebrew slave). One mitzva is that if such a slave decides to stay with his master because he loves his master, his slave-wife, and his children he had with his slave-wife, he is to be taken before the Elo-him, which according to Onkelos means judges, and have his ear bored through with a nail to the doorpost of the masters house.
In the Gemoro in Maseches Chagigah, first perek, we learn that a slave is not obligated to come to the Beis HaMikdash to bring the korban re’iah, which is the sacrifice brought when visiting the Beis HaMikdash on the Yomim Tovim. It says there that the slave is exempt because Hashem only accepts those who have one master, and a slave has a human master above him, rather than only being a servant of Hashem. This applies to a normal slave who doesn’t willingly stay a slave, so clearly this is true even more in regards to one who with love accepts being a slave until the next Yovel (Jubilee).
The fact that the title “Elo-him” is used in regards to the judges carries much import. This title when used as a name for Hashem refers to nature, Din (judgement), and according to the Zohar in B’reishis this name is that which is associated with the space Hashem vacated Himself from in tzimtzum in order to fill with the world. On a spiritual level, what this then refers to is someone who chooses to embrace this world with all it’s pain and trouble over accepting the Ohl Malchus Shomayim (Yoke of the Heavenly Kingship). The ear is a crucial aspect of this, because it shows that a person has turned away from the aspect of “Naaseh v’Nishma” (We shall do and we shall hear), instead of listening to the voice of God they submit to the worldly authorities. Such a person is unfortunately trapped in slavery to this world and cannot experience the true ziv haShechina (glory of the Shechina) until they become freed through attaining Binah (Understanding), which is the aspect of Yovel according to the Zohar. The path to attaining this comes with t’shuva, since t’shuva and Binah are directly linked one with the other.
Seeing that Parshas Mishpatim also falls out on Rosh Chodesh Adar, there’s a little more we can learn here. Mishpatim is full of various laws, as stated above. Adar is the month of joy. This year what we can learn from this occurrence is that we must rejoice in Hashem’s mitzvos and His Torah. Corporeal reality is meant to assist us in serving Hashem, not be the thing we pursue and become enslaved thereto. Through learning Torah properly, and fulfilling the mitzvos with joy, we exist in a way that allows us to eventually merit to see the face of Hashem, meaning, that we can see how Hashem Himself is the only true Master of all things, and through this we can rejoice even more than before.
A git Shabbos, a git Choidesh! Hashem should bentsh us all with a happy Adar, hatzlocho in all things, and that we should merit to the Geulah shleimah swiftly in our days.LikeCommentShare
Yismach Lev 