PARSHAS Mishpatim 5784
Partners in Holiness
Rabbi Daniel Nabatian
Co-Director,
JSU Central Florida
Last week’s Torah portion described the great experience of the Jews receiving the Ten Commandments. It was an out-of-body experience, where the entire Jewish nation felt the presence of G-d in a palpable way. This week’s portion seems to bring the spiritual high down to a very practical, and seemingly basic level.
The Torah presents 53 mitzvot, including payment for damages, returning lost objects, and alleviating the suffering of animals. Why did the Torah “bring us down” to the minutiae after such a spiritual experience described last week?
The answer is predicated on a fundamental principle of Judaism: some religions describe holiness as separating oneself from their society. Sitting in a monastery separate from the people around you seems to be one way to understand holiness.
Judaism, on the other hand, teaches that holiness comes from how we interact with the world around us. How do we handle a tough business arrangement where there is plenty of gray area? How do we react when we find something valuable and we could, if we would extend ourselves, find the rightful owner?
The Torah lays out for us precisely how to conduct ourselves in a holy way by giving us a guide to follow, in order to uplift seemingly mundane activities into holy acts. We say in the final prayer of every service “litaken olam bmalchut Shakai”: that G-d should grant us the strength to repair the world in the kingdom of Shakai (one of the names of G-d). Why choose this name in this context?
The Talmud teaches us that this name is a contraction of “she’amar dai – the one who said enough.” Hashem created the world and then said, “Enough. Now I leave it to human beings to become partners with me in finishing my creation.”
Looking out for a friend and lifting up the downtrodden are not basic acts. They are vehicles to become partners with G-d in creation. May we merit to take the lessons from the seemingly basic laws and truly become partners with G-d.
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