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Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston YIBONEH Midrashiah in Baka, Jerusalem (Video Length: 42m) Ex 21:1 "And these are the judgments that you shall place before them." Parashat Mishpatim / פרשת משפטים Next read in the Diaspora on 25 February 2017. Parashat Mishpatim is the 18th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Exodus 21:1 - 24:18Next week: Parashat Terumah / פרשת תרומה Next read in the Diaspora on 04 March 2017. Parashat Terumah is the 19th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Exodus 25:1 - 27:19

Mitzvot, the commandments which G-d enjoins upon the people, can be classified into three groups: Mishpatim -- the social legislation: rulings similar to those every society espouses -- a grid of rational social intervention. Edut -- the testimonies of our culture and history: commemorations similar to every society's need to remember and keep alive its past. Chukim -- the super-rational dictates only the Divine can comprehend and mortals follow on faith alone. Our Torah portion's name is Mishpatim; it deals with the first category, the mitzvot, the precepts, of social legislation that has a basis in logic. "And these are...

Israel eagerly accepts the "Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven" in this week's Torah portion, with the unusual declaration, naase venishma, "We will do and we will hear."1 Why they promised to do first and hear (or "comprehend") later, has supplied preachers with sermonic material for countless years. Many Jews are in a quandary regarding observance of mitzvot. In an age of questioning and understanding, the relevance and meaning of many Jewish practices are obscure. "Why?" is the constant challenge; "What will this observance do for me?" is the implicit demand. There may be certain human experiences that can be...

The great part of the Torah portion is concerned with laws of society (damages, criminal law, debts, etc.), an area popularly regarded as beyond the strict province of "religion." Our world has succeeded in defining the rightful sphere of religious influence, immunizing other aspects of life of the demands and criteria of religion. Morality itself has become "secularized," its origins and nourishment from religious teachings obscured. These laws of justice are readily comprehended; there seems to be little of the mystical involved. Man's intelligence subscribes to these laws and would probably have developed most of them, in principle at least....