Parshat Mishpatim Dvar Torah

This weeks parsha, Parshat Mishpatim, details many laws, including: laws for slavery, personal injury, loans, property damage, and more.

When we read Parshat Mishpatim, we are reading a completely different type of narrative than the kind of narrative we were reading in previous parshiot. Until now, the book of Shemot took us on an intense and intriguing adventure. We read about the Jew’s enslavement, their hope for freedom, the plagues, their escape to the desert, the crossing of the Red Sea, their journey to Har Sinai and finally, their covenant with God.

Suddenly, we are thrust into a completely different scenario; reading about laws. What happened to the adventure? We want to know what happens next! Instead of continuing the story that was unraveling, the Torah switches gears and we read completely different kind of narrative.

Why is the story put on pause? Why is it that we stop this story just to make room and learn about the laws?

The answer is this:

Great leaders, whether it’s a CEO of a company or simply your parents, have the ability to connect a larger vision with highly specific details. Without the vision, the details are merely tiresome.

There is a short story of three men who are employed cutting blocks of stone. When asked what they are doing, one says, “Cutting stone,” the second says, “Earning a living,” the third says, “Building a palace.” Those who have the larger picture take more pride in their labour, and work harder and better. Great leaders communicate a vision.

But, in addition, Great Leaders can be perfectionists when it comes to the details. Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration”. It is their attention to detail that separates the great artists, poets, composers, filmmakers, politicians and heads of corporations from the merely average.

The genius of the Torah was to apply this principle to society as a whole. The Jews had just come through an intensely transformative series of events. However the purpose of their experience of slavery was only to make them cherish freedom even more. The Jews had suffered so they knew what it was to be on the wrong side of tyranny and persecution. At Har Sinai, Moshe, through God, had given them a mission statement: to become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” under the sovereignty of God alone. They were to create a society built on principles of justice, human dignity and respect for life.

The only issue here is that historical events an abstract ideals are not enough to sustain a society in the long run. Therefore, the historical experience is translated into detailed legislation, so that the Jews would live what they had learned on a daily basis.

For example, we learn ““If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything”. By this law, slavery is suddenly transformed from a condition of birth to a temporary circumstance. It changes who you are, to what you are doing for the time being.

In the Parsha of Mishpatim, vision becomes detail, and narrative becomes law.

That is how great leaders must lead if they want people to come with us.
There must be a vision to inspire us, telling us why we should do what we are asked to do.
There must be a narrative: this is what happened, this is who we are and this is why the vision is so important to us.
Then there must be the law, the code, the attention to detail, that allow us to translate vision into reality and turn the pain of the past into the blessings of the future.
That extraordinary combination, to be found in almost no other law code, is what gives theTorah its great power. It is a model for all who seek to lead people to greatness.

Thank You, and Shabbat Shalom