Mishpatim

“And” introduces the Torah portion this weekend, Mishpatim.  Being a conjunction, “and" connects this week’s reading with last week when we read the Ten Commandments.  For our sages this is poignant and meaningful as Misphatim contains the vast legalities of a just society.  Both the Ten Commandments and the intricate discussion of how to enact them are sacred from Sinai.

Religion is not just a matter of spiritually.  The Jewish path is far greater than that.  Judaism connects us upward toward God in tandem with a horizontal outreach to one another.  

Justice is at least as valued as having faith in God.  

What good is being humble before God while we ignore the pleas of the oppressed?  Or to allow justice to be skewed in favor of the rich or the poor?  

Until we recognize the godliness in everyhuman being we can never have a full relationship with the Almighty.  The two are intertwined and inextricable.   To put in terms that Rambam might have said, ‘There is not division between civil and religious law.  They are one.  Caring for God means caring for one another.’

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