Appreciating the Mundane – Mishpatim
Parshat Mishpatim is filled with myriad mitzvot (53 in fact) and whole masechtot of the Gemara are based on it, so in this “bonanza” of important issues, it is very easy to overlook the little things – like references to bread. As I have said before, in every parsha in the Torah there is a reference to bread, directly or indirectly and Mishpatim is no exception.
In addition to the two direct references to bread in our parsha, we also have two indirect ones.
The first indirect reference is the isur of charging interest –
"אם כסף תלוה את עמי ... לא תשימון עליו נשך" (שמות כב, כד)
This is an indirect reference to the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim, whose numerous parts each symbolized something in connection with money and parnasa. The pipes under the Lechem Hapanim – מנקיֹתיו, in gematria is ריבית. This is one of the many messages of the Lechem Hapanim, how to relate to and behave with material possessions.
The second indirect reference is when we read about Moshe ascending Har Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights and, although it is not mentioned in this week’s parsha, we know it from later in parshat Ekev –
לחם לא אכלתי ומים לא שתיתי (דברים ט ,ט)
Perhaps to go without food for 40 days is physically feasible and not unprecedented, but 40 days without water? the human body cannot survive without water for more than 2 or 3 days. However Moshe, when he ascended Har Sinai attained the level of Adam Harishon before the sin, where his existence was entirely spiritual and his physical body did not need material sustenance. This gives us a deeper insight to what the “trees” were in Gan Eden, that they were not fruit trees like we know it, they were spiritual concepts, for example the עץ החיים was the Torah. The only tree in Gan Eden that had “physical” fruits, the kind we are familiar with, was the עץ הדעת. Adam could survive on spiritual sustenance alone, like Am Yisrael in the desert with the Mann. But that is the subject of a different shiur.
The first direct reference in our parsha to bread is the mitzvah to eat matzot on Pesach, which I already covered in my shiur on parshat Bo (https://www.showbreadinstitute.org/bo2021).
In this week’s shiur I would like to talk about the second direct reference to bread, a little thing in this busy parsha, so little in fact it often gets overlooked.
ועבדתם את ה' א-לקיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך והסירותי מחלה מקרבך. לא תהיה משכלה ועקרה בארצך את מספר ימיך אמלא. (שמות כג, כה-כו)
Hashem is telling Am Yisrael what will be when they conquer and inherit Eretz Yisrael and what idyllic lives they will lead.
In other references to Eretz Yisrael the Torah tells us that it is an ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, dripping with many delights and abundance. When the מרגלים were sent to spy the land, Moshe specifically told them to bring back the luscious fruits to show the people.
Here however, when Hashem details what an idyllic life we will have if we adhere to His laws - there are none of the above trimmings, no honey, no milk, no luscious fruits. What can we look forward to in our idyllic lives if we serve Hashem? Lots of bread and water, no illness, no infertility, no premature death and our enemies won’t bother us. That’s it.
Perhaps for recently freed slaves that is …. WOW! but for most other folk, even ourselves today, it doesn’t seems like something that knocks your socks off. That’s the idyllic life? What about all the trimmings? What about the delicious fruits, the beautiful views, the milk and honey, the miracles, the sitting under the fig tree and grape vine studying Torah?
Ample bread, lots of water, your enemies not bothering you ….. it sounds a lot like Sweden or many other OECD countries! Is that what Hashem is telling us we have to look forward to – another Sweden? I don’t have anything against the Swedish or the OECD countries chas veshalom, but these kind of things are basic stuff, that most people take for granted, bread to eat, water to drink, friendly neighbors, longevity. Most of our brothers in the Diaspora enjoy these things as a matter of course. True, here in Israel we still have a neighbor problem, but there is plenty bread, water (we desalinate it), longevity, a great medical system. OK so there is still sometimes illness and infertility, but most of the stuff is there. So what is the big DEAL! Bread, water, longevity, lack of illness, fertility, peace - that’s such an idyllic life we have to look forward to? That was the promise made to the Avot? These seem like the basic necessities for survival, not anything idyllic!
Humans have always tried to “control” their lives and in certain spheres we have made some “progress”, for example longevity and fertility. Due to scientific advances we enjoy greater longevity today than, say in last 2000 years and many advances have been made in fertility treatment. But what about before 2000 years ago? Moshe lived until 120, the Avot lived much longer than that. Yosef died young, before his brothers, aged 110! Even Pharaoh, a non-Jew, lived well over 100 years. So the longevity we enjoy today is not such a “groisse metziah” compared to that!
Yes we are making inroads on extending longevity and treating infertility, but even with all our scientific advances, the following things, when all is said and done, are undeniably in G-d’s hands, the weather (and hence our food supply), illness, life and yes, even peace (we like to think that peace is in our hands to achieve, but it is not. What we need to do is listen to Hashem and obey His commandments and peace will follow naturally, not by any work of our own hands).
But still, these are not “trimmings”, they are basic necessities for living a “normal” life, certainly not an “idyllic” existence (or what we may perceive an “idyllic” existence to be).
How do you picture an idyllic existence?
Is it freedom from financial burden? Sunning yourself on a beach with a tequila? Unlimited quality time with your family? Free lifetime subscription to Netflix?
Modern society feeds us this concept of the “good life” (you notice it repeatedly in adverts and on billboards) - the fancy car, the house on the beach, the vacation in France, the yacht, the fancy clothes and jewelry, etc. – everything the “celebrities” have! Celebrities are what we all strive to be, right? These are the “trimmings”. Does Hashem’s idyllic life have none of these?
So obviously the Land of Israel was (and could be again) flowing with milk and honey - including all the trimmings. There was milk and honey, great views, flowing rivers, abundance, quality time with the family, sipping tequilas and all the other good stuff.
In the time of the Beit Hamikdash there was such a degree of abundance that people had to work for only 2 hour a day to make a parnasa. The rest of the day they had free to spend quality time with their families, relax, sip tequilas on Netanya beach, (no scratch that), learn Torah under their fig trees and grape vines! The material abundance was so overwhelming it overflowed to the rest of the world who got only a small taste of it, but that was enough that they paid homage to Hashem every year in the Beit Hamikdash on Sukkot, back then we were the “celebrities” everyone strived to copy.
Look at תהילים קמד, a mizmor many sing on motzei Shabbat before ma’ariv, where David Hamelech describes how idyllic it really was. Sure there were trimmings ….. and then some!
So why doesn’t Hashem tell us about all that in our parsha as well, why suffice with the mundane, the “bare minimum” most of us regard as “essential” for a normal life?
There were trimmings, but they were icing on the cake. The actual cake, the things that are REALLY IMPORTANT in this life appears in the passuk in our parsha. We may consider them mundane, but when you strip everything else away, these are really important and all the rest is secondary.
On your El Al flight to the south of France for your annual vacation, you may have a mixture of secular, religious, charedi and even non-Jews, some intent on watching the in-flight movie, others getting peeved that the stewardess hasn’t been round a while with the refreshments, others playing with their cell phones and getting irritated with the kid bouncing on the seat behind them, or having a heated discussion with the wife how much to spend at the duty free when you land. Then they hear on the intercom …… “This is your captain speaking, we are cruising at 30,000 feet and…..there has been a malfunction and all our fuel has leaked out, we are going to crash land!”
Suddenly no-one is interested in the in-flight movie, or the kid on the back seat, or the refreshments or the duty free. The person on his cell phone closes Facebook and hurriedly calls his mother to say his last goodbyes, the husband tells his wife how much he really loves her, the lady who couldn’t live without another round of peanuts furiously starts writing her last will and testament and stuffs it into her empty water bottle – perhaps somehow it will survive and everyone, including EVERYONE is focused on only one thing – life. Five minutes ago it seemed mundane and trivial, but when you face the prospect of being denied it, suddenly it resumes its TRUE value and proportion.
Isn’t that the way of the world? We take these things for granted until we are denied them. That is what is happening now with COVID-19. We are being taught a lesson in what is REALLY important. Unfortunately many of us haven’t learnt the lesson yet and the only thing some of us can think about is getting back to “normal” – to worrying about things like vacations to Abu Dabi, duty free and in-flight movies.
These are nice, but they are the icing on the cake. First you need to TRULY appreciate the cake, even though it may seem mundane, it is the עיקר. If you appreciate these “mundane” things to the fullest, you will also merit all the trimmings as well. However, when you reverse the order and make the trimmings the עיקר - that is called וישמן ישורון ויבעט. 99.9% of the punishments we have received from Hashem are because of that! Because when you are punished, you are denied what you took for granted. It is the captain on the intercom! (lehavdil).
As frum Jews we know that the focus is all about using this world to prepare for Olam Habah, but while we are living in this material world, we need to focus more on the cake and not the icing.
That is the profound message of this little passuk, tucked away – almost unnoticed in this busy parsha, that it is almost missed, but it contains the secret to an idyllic existence, the kind we had when the Bet Hamikdash existed and the kind we pray will return again במהרה בימינו, providing we learn the lesson this time and don’t keep repeating our mistakes.
