Everyone loves a sequel, right? Parshat Mishpatim, the companion parsha to last week’s Parshat Yitro, delves deeper into the mitzvot that make up the Aseret HaDibrot, the Ten Commandments. The first 80% of the parsha gets into the laws of damage to another person, property, how to treat those who work for you and the manner in which we provide for those less fortunate than ourselves. Dense to say the least.
Parshat Mishpatim is a parsha that is not written in chronological order. First we read about the laws and then, as if we travel back in time, we return to the moment prior to Moshe’s ascent up Har Sinai, Mountain Sinai, to receive the luchot, the tablets. Moshe, along with the entourage of Ahron, his brother, Yehoshua, his protégé, and a group of 70 elders took part in receiving the commandments from Hashem. The Torah does something rather out of character - it repeats itself….sort of.
וַיָּבֹ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיְסַפֵּ֤ר לָעָם֙ אֵ֚ת כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֑ים וַיַּ֨עַן כׇּל־הָעָ֜ם ק֤וֹל אֶחָד֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נַעֲשֶֽׂה׃
And Moshe went and told the people all that Hashem had spoken including all the laws. The people responded in one voice saying, “All that Hashem said we will do.” - Shemot 24:3
וַיִּקַּח֙ סֵ֣פֶר הַבְּרִ֔ית וַיִּקְרָ֖א בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נַעֲשֶׂ֥ה וְנִשְׁמָֽע
And he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people and they said, “All that Hashem said we will do and we will listen.” - Shemot 24:7
In the third verse the Jewish people, in one voice, dedicate themselves to completing the commandments that Moshe received from Hashem. In the seventh verse we seem to repeat and rededicate ourselves to the same objectives as we did in that earlier verse. I know that my short term memory is slowly failing me but this is overkill. Are we missing something?
The Ramban, Nachmanides, asks this exact question. He explains that there were a few parts of the Sinai experience that we are being told about in these verses:
Verse 3:
- Moshe stands in the fog that engulfs the top of Har Sinai as he hears the Aseret HaDibrot from Hashem
- He steps out of the fog and shares these ten edicts to the Jewish people
- The Jewish people, in complete unison, shout from the the bottom of the mountain that they will do all that Hashem has directed them to do
Verse 7:
- Moshe, after completing a few ritual activities (korbanot, sacrifices), he returns to the people with something new - Sefer HaBrit, the Book of the Covenant.
- This contractual agreement dedicated the Jewish people to that which Hashem related to them through Moshe up until this point and thereafter
- Once Moshe saw their dedication, he returned to the fog where he heard the remainder of the commandments that Hashem had set out for him
These two events do not depict the same act twice. They tell of a deeper connection that is being forged between Hashem and His people. It was an event that every person, child to adult, participated as one heart, one soul and one voice. The Jewish people’s formulation of their commitment sealed their covenant with Hashem for time immemorial. That covenant was forged in the fire of their final commitment to both that which was already shared with them and that which will come in the future. The Jewish people took a leap of emunah, faith.
This covenant is not any ordinary type of bond. This everlasting covenant speaks to the people that we strive to be and the approach to life that we observe. In his book, Crisis and Covenant: Jewish Thought After the Holocaust, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l wrote about the power of covenant in Jewish liturgy:
“Torah is the constitution of the covenant between God and Israel. As such it is a relational concept. It involves One who proposes the covenant and those who accept it as binding; One who commands, and those who are commanded. It embodies two ideas, the giving of the Torah and the receiving of the Torah.”
The process of giving the Torah was Hashem extending himself to us. The act of receiving the Torah took place first at Har Sinai and takes place over and over throughout our history. Each day we make choices to receive Hashem’s gift, His partnership in moving the world from where it is to where it ought to be, and in receiving His covenant that bonded the generations that came before us and that will precede us with Him. Today, everyday, we have a choice.
Are we ready to say נעשה ונשמע?