These are the Ordinances

"And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them."  
(Exodus 21:1)
Shevat 27, 5770/February 11, 2010

The Torah has just concluded its description of the Sinai revelation, the receiving of the ten commandments by the entire nation of Israel, in which every man, woman and child heard and saw the "thunder claps and lightning flashes, and a thick cloud... upon the mountain, and a very powerful blast of a shofar... " (Exodus 18:16) This experience, of which our sages teach us that the simplest of handmaidens saw a vision of the heavens even greater than that of the prophet Isaiah, has no sooner concluded than, as the Torah reading of Mishpatim commences, the nation of Israel is preoccupied with learning the minutiae of civil ordinances (mishpatim), laws that deal with damages, torts, theft, negligence, murder, manslaughter, and many, many more of the very mundane rule of conduct that, in fact, enable us to live together in peace and prosperity. But this radical juxtaposition from Sinai's world-changing transcendence to the ho-hum of getting along with our neighbor, begs the question. Why? What is Torah teaching us?

In fact, immediately before the Sinai revelation the nation of Israel was also preoccupied with matters of civil law. From morning to night the people were lined up outside Moshe's tent, waiting patiently for him to address their matters of litigation. The Sinai experience was actually bookended by the every day concerns of an entire nation. And this is precisely as it should be.

The point that Torah is making is not that the powerful sensory-transcending total spirit and soul attachment to G-d at Sinai was a one time thing, marooned, as it were, in a sea of everyday mundanities, an all too brief and ephemeral appointment with the Divine, and, if you missed it all you can do is to read about it in a book, but the exact and emphatic opposite. Devaykut - the spiritual attachment to G-d can and should be an every day reality to be strived for, but such a goal can only be attained when those laws that govern how we behave in our social attachments and commitments to others, are scrupulously adhered to. Spiritual wings can only be spread when we recognize and maintain the holiness of our fellow man.

Torah is absolutely consistent concerning this. G-d created this world for us to manage and to preserve. It is how we conduct ourselves concerning the matters of this world that determine the breadth and the depth of our spiritual reach and closeness to G-d. A society void of justice is abhorrent to G-d, a lesson He made clear to Avraham concerning Sodom. Rather than being the busy work when we're not occupied with our direct relationship with G-d, maintaining justice and social responsibility in our communities affords us the opportunity to revisit the Sinai experience even in the midst of our busy lives.

The one-time historical reality of Sinai would soon find a continuous daily expression, first in the mishkan, the Tabernacle, and later in the Holy Temple. The stretching of time and space, the merging of earth and heaven, which took place at Sinai, was a constant, fixed but ever new reality of the Holy Temple. Little wonder, then, that the Great Sanhedrin, the seat of Torah justice where the greatest sages of Israel would rule on all matters, great and small, was located in the very walls of the Holy Temple courtyards. "Ve'eleh hamishpatim - these ordinances" that G-d has set before us, these guard the gates to Sinai and the gates to the Holy Temple.

Tune in to this week's Temple Talk as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven come crashing back "down to earth " after Sinai, in Parshat Mishpatim, whose basic laws form the foundation of the Torah-based society Israel is to create. Is there a bridge between these two Torah readings, which, properly understood, communicates our Creator's message to man? That bridge is manifest in the concluding verses of last week's Torah reading. The message: the heavens are fine, but this world, with all its base physicality and nitty-gritty reality, is what really counts. The best tribute and avenue of approach to a G-d who has no end? An altar of earth.

The Month of Adar and the Half-Shekel Contribution: This upcoming Saturday night, motzei Shabbat, (February 13), - is Rosh Chodesh Adar - the first day of the new month of Adar, the twelth and final month of the yearly cycle that begins with Nisan, ("the first of your months" Exodus 12:2), the month of the exodus from Egypt. When the Holy Temple is standing and the Divine service is being performed daily, the month of Adar is full of preparations for the upcoming Passover pilgrimage festival which begins on the 15th of Nisan. In addition, the month of Adar is the month that the half-shekel is collected. To learn more, please click here.

Today also features the new Light to the Nations teaching by Rabbi Chaim Richman, entitled, "An Altar of Earth: We have just completed the Torah reading of Yitro, in which we received Torah at Sinai, and this week we are proceeding to the Torah reading, Mishpatim, in which we learn the details of Torah’s instructions for everyday living. How do we make such a fast and radical transition from the ethereal to the “mundane ” civil ordinances? The earthen altar, described in the closing lines of Yitro, provides the answer, and why the Temple Institute’s current Altar Project is so essential to mankind today." Click here to view.

Unemployment, foreclosures, faltering economy, terrorism, grifters, Presidents Obama's State of the Union Address, and the 16th of March: What do all these things have to do with the building of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem? President Obama and the Holy Temple Today: The answer to all these questions are addressed by Rabbi Chaim Richman in this straight talking five minute video. View it now!

"All that the L-rd spoke we will do and we will hear." (Exodus 24:7) The very essence of our relationship with HaShem: We will do even before we fully understand G-d's word. The secret of Israel. Click here to view Rabbi Richman's short teaching on parashat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1 24:18).  

Blessings from the holy city of Jerusalem,

  Yitzchak Reuven

  The Temple Institute