From: JoshHoff@aol.com
<JoshHoff@aol.com>
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
<JoshHoff@aol.com>
Sent: Thu Feb 11 16:24:42 2010
Subject: Netvort: parshas Mishpatim,
5770
By
Rabbi Joshua (authentically known as The Hoffer)
Hoffman
Following the revelation and giving of the Decalogue at Mt. Sinai, the Jewish
nation is given a number of laws that deal with the worship of God and the
avoidance of idolatry in its varies forms, as recorded at the end of parshas Yisro. Parshas Mihpatim begins
with commandments that deal with social law, and continues with these laws for
a good part of the parsha. According to the Ramban,
this sequence of laws is a kind of commentary on
the Decalogue, which begins with the commandment to know God, and the
prohibition of idolatry, and ends with the prohibition of coveting what belongs
to others. In order to avoid coveting what belongs to others, says the Ramban,
there is a need for a system of civil law which
regulates how to deal with other people's property. We may add that the laws
regarding knowledge of God are connected, in this way,
to the civil laws, because one who truly believes in God and in His
providence over our affairs will not covet that which belongs to someone else,
because he knows that God controls what he has, and he will not get more than
God allots him, even if he tries to increase his own portion in life by
appropriating for himself what belongs to others.
With this perspective in mind, we can understand why parshas Mishpatim ends with a verse that incorporated the mitzvah
of bringing one's first fruits to the
The mitzvah of bringing the first fruits, or bikkurim, as an offering to God, as we said, is an
expression of gratitude to him. Part of our expression of gratitude, it
would seem, should be to appreciate the role in life that he has assigned us.
That role generates the needs we have in life, and the portion we are given to
fulfill these needs. As we explained, recognition of God's providence in
this way will help avoid coveting that which belongs to others, because
whatever a person has is what he is supposed to have, and whatever he doesn't
have, but someone else has, is what that other person needs. The prohibition of
cooking an animal in its mother's milk, according to Rabbi Shimshon
Raphael Hirsch, in his Torah commentary, is akin to the prohibition of kilayim, or the mixing of diverse species, of seeds, of
animals, etc, together. The core idea of these prohibitions is to avoid
mixing species which God wants to remain separate. Compromising a species
constitutes an attempt to change the species from their original nature, thus controverting God's system of running the universe,
which is based on the principle of 'lemineihu,' or,
according to its species, which God used in creating the world. Rav Hirsch
points out that the Torah articulates the prohibition of mixing milk and meat
together in terms of cooking, and, in addition, it is also forbidden to derive
any pleasure from such a mixture. The rabbis derive, from the fact that the
prohibition is repeated in the Torah three times, that all three dimensions-
cooking, eating and deriving pleasure- are included, on a Biblical level, in
this prohibition. Because of this, he argues, it is clear that it is not merely
the harmful spiritual effect of eating such a mixture that is the core of the
prohibition, but the very mixture itself.
Rav Hirsch writes at length about the difference between how a human being eats
and how an animal eats. He says that an animal has only two dimensions to its
nature, the vegetative aspect and the nutritive, or
animalistic aspect. Man, however, has the added aspect of the soul, and when he
eats, he transforms the act of eating, which would otherwise be a mere animalistic
activity, to one of a higher level, that serves the needs of the soul, as well.
By eating milk and meat together, just as an animal would, man is ignoring his
unique status in the world, and reducing his eating to a mere animalistic act.
In this way, he fails to emphasize that man and animal are different species,
and have different functions to serve in God's universe. Just as meat and
milk are to be viewed as different species that are not to be combined, each
person constitutes, in a sense, his own species of human being, and trying to
take part of what belongs to someone else is a
form of crossing oneself with another species, and resisting God's plan for the
world. God has a vast plan for the universe, and each person needs to fulfill
his special role in it so that, in the end, God's plan will come to fruition.
Trying to be someone other than he is only impedes this process, and is
therefore prohibited by God. Thus, the final verse in the main section of laws
in parshas Mishpatim begins with an expression of
gratitude to God, which, according to the Chovos HaLevavos, lies at the core of our service of God, and ends
with a recognition of the special role that God has placed on the human race in
general, and on each member of the Jewish nation, in particular.
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