Producing Polished People by Rav Moshe Weinberger

From the Fire

Parshas Mishpatim Producing Polished People

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

All of the commentaries ask why, immediately following the Jewish people’s exalted experience of receiving the Torah at Sinai, Hashem suddenly descends into the detailed civil laws of Parshas Mishpatim. We drop, without warning, from lightning, thunder, and Divine revelation to slaves and compensation for thievery. It seems like quite a letdown.

The Midrash explains that Hashem created the world and gave the Torah because “the Holy One desired to have a dwelling place in the lower world” (Tanchuma, Nasso, 16). Next week’s parsha, Terumah, is all about the building of the Mishkan, the sanctuary in which Hashem dwells. The Midrash (Shmos Rabah 33) expands that the purpose is the Mishkan is: “Do me this favor: wherever you go, make Me a small dwelling-place so that I may live [adur – which is related to the word Adar] with you.” That is the ultimate goal of the giving of the Torah. So why did Parshas Terumah not follow immediately after the giving of the Torah? Why is Parshas Mishpatim first?

The Gemara (Makkos 23b-24a) teaches us that there are certain principles which form the gateway through which we can access the entirety of Yiddishkeit. The most well-known is “Chavakuk [HaNavi] placed them [the fundamentals of Yiddishkeit] on one idea: ‘A tzaddik lives with his emunah’” (Chavakuk 2:4). But the Gemara also says that “Micha came and placed them on three ideas: ‘He has told you, O man, what is good and what does G-d seek from you? Only to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your G-d’” (Michah 6:8).

This is a puzzling statement. It seems so pareve, so noncommittal, so generic. In fact, when I went yeshiva as a child, there was a Reform Temple around the corner, and this was the pasuk they inscribed on the building. It is perfect for them. They would never post the pasuk, “And you shall observe Shabbos to keep it holy.” They love the pasuk in Michah because it makes no specific demands. Yet how can we, who understand that Michah meant to teach that the three things he listed were the key to successfully actualizing all aspects of Yiddishkeit in our lives, understand why Michah listed “doing justice,” observing the laws in Parshas Mishpatim, as more than mere details? In what way are they the key to all of Yiddishkeit?

Rav Shmuel Berezovsky, shlita, the present Slonimer Rebbe, teaches an idea in the sefer Darchei Noam (5775), which gives us the key to answer this question. He quotes a Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 942) explaining the pasuk (Devarim 32:2), “My teaching will drip like rain, my words will fall like dew, like storm winds on vegetation, and like delicate raindrops on grass.” The Midrash explains the nature of these delicate raindrops as follows: “Just as these delicate raindrops descend, refine, and polish the grasses, so, too, the words of Torah refine and polish.” The Torah has the power to change a person. How?

The purpose of the fine raindrops, according to this Midrash, is to put the last finishing touch on the grass – to give it a certain sparkle. That perfect finish adds a level of grace and charm that makes the vegetation in Hashem’s world so beautiful to look at.

The Darchei Noam explains that the Torah is meant to do the same thing to us. It is meant to refine and polish those who study it. That is why the detailed laws of Parshas Mishpatim precede the building of the Mishkan in Parshas Terumah. While the purpose of the Torah is indeed to facilitate the creation of a dwelling-place for Hashem in this physical world through the Mishkan, the fact is that even the Mishkan is only a means to an end.

The pasuk says at the beginning of Parshas Terumah that “they shall make a Mishkan for Me and I will dwell among them” (Shmos 25:8). As the Alshich and the Shlah HaKadosh explain, “It does not say ‘in it.’ But instead, ‘in them’ – within each and every person.” The final goal in the building of the Mishkan is not only that the Divine Presence rest in it, but rather, it is a means to allow Hashem’s Presence to dwell within each and every Jew.

Accordingly, we must first refine and polish ourselves so that we will be fitting vessels for Hashem’s light. We must make ourselves the kind of refined people with whom Hashem wants to spend more time. That is why the fine, detailed raindrops of the halachos of Parshas Mishpatim must precede Parshas Terumah.

The essential theme of all of the laws in Mishpatim is: do not harm, damage, or hurt others. This sensitivity comes from incorporating the Torah into our lives. It must polish

PHOTO BY M.D. YARMISH

and refine us to the point that our exalted nature expresses itself even in how we treat our own and others’ property. One cannot keep someone up late at night by leaving his light on while he studies the Alter Rebbe’s teaching in Torah Ohr regarding Hashem’s desire to have a dwelling-place in the lower world chassidus and kabbalah and think that he has even touched what Hashem is looking for a Jew. Awareness of and sensitivity to others is how one knows when he has become a refined vessel for G-dliness through his Torah learning.

Hashem set things up such that we must live with and around people who are very different from ourselves. Why else would He create a world in which men and women, who are as different as night and day, must live together for a lifetime? Torah’s purpose is to refine us so that we learn to respect others’ sensibilities and property. We do not cross the street against the traffic light, thus making cars wait. We do not make noise late at night outside, thus keeping people awake. I spoke with one woman who cannot have children. Whenever she gets together with her sisters-inlaw, the only thing they talk about is their children. They have absolutely no awareness of the effect of their words have on their childless sister-in-law. It does not occur to them to tone down the child-oriented conversation so that she will not go home and cry in her pillow once again that night.

We see from the Midrash that those who study Torah in the right way – for the purpose of growing spiritually and connecting to Hashem – become refined, noble people. They become the ultimate vessels for Hashem’s Presence in this world, giving G-d a magnificent dwelling-place on earth.

The qualities of consideration and refinement are indicative of a person who has allowed himself to be influenced by Torah and thereby become a vessel for G-d’s Presence. That is the quality of the tzaddikim that is so endearing. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, was the greatest posek of the generation, but he had such sensitivity toward others. Watching him, one saw how he was constantly recalibrating how he was talking to people, always adjusting the way he treated people out of a sensitivity to who they were and their sensibilities.

Hashem placed Parshas Mishpatim before Terumah because he wants us to know that He wants to live with sensitive, refined people. We must first make sure not to harm others before we can think about attaining higher spiritual levels.

Unfortunately, one need go no further than his shul to find people who have studied Torah without internalizing its polish and refinement. Listening to a message such as the Darchei Noam’s regarding sensitivity and refinement, such people respond, “But that’s not who I am! Why should I change how I act just because someone else is uptight? That’s their problem!” This approach is not the way of the tzaddikim and is not the way of the Torah. It is not the way of the gentle raindrops of the Torah.

Let us consider those who talk during davening, putting aside how wrong it is spiritually and how the Zohar (Terumah, 131b) says that one who talks in shul has no portion with the G-d of Israel. Let us also put aside the fact that the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 124:7) says that the sin of one who talks during the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei is “too great to bear,” using the same language Kayin uses to describe the severity of his sin when he murdered his brother (Bereishis 4:13). Let us consider only the issue of consideration for other people. There are people who are incredibly offended if, while they are talking in shul, another person dares to “shush” or glare at them. “How dare he try to quiet me down? Does he think he’s so much better than me!”

Let us face facts. Even without

all of the spiritual weight behind those who elect not to talk in shul, it is a synagogue – a place for prayer. So if there is a dispute between two people regarding whether to talk or not, the non-talkers should win. They are the home team. How oblivious of one’s environment and other people’s feelings and sensibilities must one be to talk when people are trying to daven or listen to the Torah reading? How has none of a person’s Torah learning made him an even minimally sensitive and considerate person?

May we merit to study Torah for Hashem’s sake such that it polishes and refines us, bringing out the latent nobility we carry with us as children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. May we thereby become sensitive, respectful people with whom Hashem wants to spend time!

The final goal in the building of the Mishkan is not only that the Divine Presence rest in it, but rather, it is a means to allow Hashem’s Presence to dwell within each and every Jew.

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.