Parsha for Kids: Mishpatim 2023
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Mishpatim 2023.
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Season 2 Episode 6:
Hello! My name is Chana, and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Mishpatim. Mishpatim means laws.
You see, the ten commandments were just the beginning. There were many more laws that Bnei Yisrael needed to learn. These laws would help Bnei Yisrael learn how to conduct themselves properly by teaching them what to do in all kinds of situations. For example, some laws focused on mitzvot directed towards God, like not having other gods or idols. But there are also mitzvot that focus on how we should treat our fellow Jew. For example, what happens if a Jew causes damage to another Jew’s property?
Some of the laws in this week’s parsha apply even nowadays. Others applied in a time when Bnei Yisrael were able to rule themselves with their own court systems, but do not apply in our current time. One of the laws we will learn about, which focuses on a Jewish servant, would not apply today.
Our parsha begins with the story of a Jewish man who stole money and cannot pay it back. This man is then sold by the Beit Din, or Jewish court, to another Jew. He is sold for as long as is needed for him to repay the amount of money that he stole. But he cannot be sold for longer than six years.
Even though the thief sinned and was punished by becoming a slave, God has strict instructions for how we may treat him. The master cannot sell the thief to another person. He must give the Jewish servant the same food he eats (even if it is expensive steak). He must give his servant the exact same type of bed that he uses. He may not assign the servant lowly jobs simply to make him feel bad, and he also cannot assign the servant to do unnecessary work. If the thief was married to a Jewish woman and had a family with her, it is the job of the master to support them as well.
We might have expected the master not to have to do all these nice things for their servant, especially one who was a thief! This leads us to address an important idea when it comes to the purpose of criminal justice. The question to consider is: why do we have laws?
There are five main theories of criminal justice, which refers to why we punish criminals. These are:
Deterrence- We punish a crime so that other people won’t be tempted to commit that crime. When people see how bad the punishment is, they will decide it’s not worth it to make the wrong choice. We also want to send a message to society that this is the wrong action to take.
Incapacitation- The reason we punish a crime is to make sure the person who made the wrong choice won’t be able to do it again. For example, in American law, if someone violently hurts someone, he will be put in jail. One reason for that is to make sure that he is locked up so he won’t be able to hurt someone again.
Retribution- Here, we punish a crime because we believe it is just, or fair, to make the criminal suffer just as they made the person they hurt suffer.
Restitution- This is where we punish the crime by making the criminal pay for whatever he stole or damaged.
Rehabilitation- In this approach, our biggest focus is on helping the criminal to change his ways. We want them to learn new skills and ways of behaving so they can lead a life that does not involve committing crimes.
Many people or societies combine some of these approaches when establishing their system of criminal justice.
Of these approaches, when it comes to the Jewish servant, it seems like the Torah is focused on restitution, a bit of deterrence, and rehabilitation. Let’s focus more on rehabilitation. Why does a person steal? There are many reasons, but one of them might be that the person feels like no one cares about them anyway, so why should they care about others? That’s why it doesn’t bother them to take something that belongs to someone else.
But then the Torah takes that thief and puts him in the home of a Jewish person who treats him with respect. In fact, he even treats him equally to himself, the master! Over time, the servant might come to realize that people actually can care about them, and this might make him rethink his actions and what he did when he chose to steal. Perhaps now he will no longer consider stealing as an option.
After six years have passed, God declares that this Hebrew servant go free. However, it is possible that the servant likes his living situation. If so, his master must bring him back to the judges of the Beit Din who sold him. His master will bring him to the doorpost and use an instrument called an awl to pierce his ear. Why the ear? Rashi explains that this man heard God say at Har Sinai, “You shall not steal” but he went against it. Moreover, Bnei Yisrael are supposed to be servants of God and not have any other master aside from God. The ear of this servant heard that as well, yet he has chosen to stay with a human master. Because of this, God wants him to have a reminder on his body of this choice. After this servant’s ear is pierced, he remains in his master’s service until the master dies, or goes free when the Yovel year arrives. Yovel is the 50th year that occurs after seven cycles of Shemitah. Shemitah occurs once every seven years and is a time when everyone in Bnei Yisrael had to let the land lie fallow.
TRANSITION
What happens to a Jew who commits murder?
One of the first questions is: what kind of murder was it?
That may seem odd. So let me clarify. Was it a deliberate murder, where one Jew planned and plotted to harm the other one, then killed him? Or was it an accidental murder, where for example a Jew was cutting down a tree, the blade of his ax flew off, and it struck someone else, who then died?
The reason it matters is because intention matters. Someone who chose to kill is different from someone who did not have that intention and didn’t want the other person dead.
God explained that if a Jew murders another Jew on purpose, after he was warned not to and two witnesses observed him, he is put to death. If a Jew kills another Jew by mistake, God set up certain cities to be Arei Miklat, Cities of Refuge. The accidental murderer is allowed to run away to that place and live there until the Kohen Gadol, or High Priest, dies. (We will learn more about these cities during a different week when we study Parshat Maasei.)
I use The Little Midrash Says to help me prepare this podcast. This book includes a helpful segment this week that explains how exactly a Beit Din would put a deliberate murderer to death.
First, the Beit Din had to be comprised of at least twenty-three judges. The judges fasted on the day when they had to decide whether someone should be put to death. After listening to the witnesses and discussing the case, the judges voted. At least 13 had to agree the person deserved the death penalty.
There are four types of death penalty.
These are: Chenek/ Choking, where the sinner was choked, Hereg/ Killing, where the sinner’s head is cut off with a sword. Sraifa/ Burning where the sinner was forced to open his mouth and hot liquid lead was poured down his throat, burning the inside of his body. And Sekila/ stoning, where the sinner was taken up to a platform at least twelve feet high and pushed off by the witnesses. The fall would usually kill the sinner but if he is still alive afterwards, the witnesses pick up a heavy stone and drop it on him.
TRANSITION
A Jew is not allowed to hit his parents. If the child is over Bar or Bat Mitzvah age and deliberately wounds his parent until blood flows from the wound, Beit Din puts that son or daughter to death. Similarly, a Jew is not allowed to curse their parents, and if a Jew over Bar or Bat Mitzvah age curses their parent using one of God’s names, Beit Din puts them to death. Of course, this assumes the parent is a typical parent who loves their child and is not harming them. The law would be different if this was a parent who was harming their child, because in that case the child is acting in self defense.
If a Jew hurts another Jew- for example, he fights with him and knocks out his eye- Beit Din makes him pay for five types of damage.
These are:
Nezek/ damage- Damage to the victim’s body. Beit Din considers how much the person would be worth now if they were sold as a slave as compared to how much they would be worth BEFORE they sustained the energy. The attacker has to pay for the difference.
Tzaar/ pain- The attacker pays for the pain he caused his victim.
Ripui/ healing- The attacker must pay the victim’s medical expenses.
Sheves/ workman’s compensation- The attacker pays the victim for every day he missed of work because of the damage.
Boshes/ shame- The attacker pays for the shame he caused the victim.
We learn from here how seriously God takes our relationship to our fellow man. We are responsible for the harm we cause them and we are also responsible for healing them. We cannot just say, “Oh, well, if God allowed me to hurt you it must be because He wanted it to happen.” No- it is very clear that God wants the person who was attacked to be healed and whole and regain all of his abilities.
TRANSITION
There is a puzzling statement in this week’s parsha. It is
עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת שֵׁ֑ן יָ֚ד תַּ֣חַת יָ֔ד רֶ֖גֶל תַּ֥חַת רָֽגֶל:
This translates to: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. It seems to indicate that if a person knocked on someone’s eye, their own eye is knocked out in punishment.
Rashi clarifies this is not so. He explains that if a person knocks out someone’s eye, he is obligated to pay him for the value of his eye. Note that the value of his eye might be different if the person who was harmed does a kind of work that can be done even without seeing as opposed to work where his eye is very important (like being a surgeon, for example). Beit Din will help determine the value of the person’s eye.
The parsha then goes on to focus on damage caused by a person’s animal as opposed to the person himself. Some of you may own dogs. Hopefully your dogs are well trained and sweet. But what would happen if your dog bit someone? What would you owe the person who was bitten?
In the time of the Torah, most people did not own dogs as pets. Most people had domestic animals that would help them with their work of plowing and planting the fields. For example, they owned an ox or a goat. If an ox or goat, usually considered harmless, does damage, the owner pays for half the damage.
However, if the ox or goat pushes a person or another animal three times, the owner is warned by Beit Din to guard the animal. It is considered a “muad” or warned animal, and after that, the owner must pay the full damage that this animal causes.
What happens if someone’s animal kills another Jew?
In that case, the animal is stoned to death by Beit Din. The owner is not allowed to kill it in order to eat it or sell its meat. If the animal was a “muad” the owner pays a sum of money to the victim’s family.
You may wonder why the animal is stoned to death when it does not have the same free will as a human. Part of it is out of respect for the dead person. If the animal was allowed to just walk around or go back to work, people would say, “Oh, do you see that ox? It’s the one that killed so-and-so” and that would not be very respectful.
This section of our parsha teaches us about personal responsibility. It is easy for people to claim that certain things are not their fault. They could say, “I don’t know why my animal pushed you; he’s normally so sweet!” That doesn’t matter. If the animal does damage, their owner is responsible. And when we see how strict the Torah is with an animal that harms or kills someone else, we realize how strict God will be with a human who harms or kills someone else!
TRANSITION
It is a mitzvah to be especially kind to the ger, almanah and yatom. Ger literally means stranger, but means convert in this context. That is someone who wasn’t born Jewish but who decided to become Jewish. Almanah refers to a widow. Yatom refers to someone who has had at least one of their parents die. In Judaism this person is considered an orphan.
We are told not to oppress any of these individuals. It’s especially important not to hurt them because they do not have the same support and family structure as others. If someone is a convert, the rest of their family are probably members of a different religion. This means they could be lonely. If someone is a widow, her husband has died, which means she may be working very hard to support herself and her family and may not have someone to assist her. And a child who is an orphan may be missing out on some important experiences they would have with their father or mother.
We need to be sensitive to all of these individuals and to their pain. The Torah expresses this by reminding us that we were gerim, strangers, in the land of Egypt. Even though here gerim doesn’t seem to mean converts, but rather literal strangers, the idea of being lonely and different from others would still apply. It can be hard for people to feel lonely.
If you know someone who is in one of the situations we just mentioned- a convert, widow or orphan- it’s good to try to include them as much as possible. You can invite them over to play, make sure they are included in activities at school, and think about ways to help them feel like they fit in. It’s also important not to bring up the past or God forbid make any negative comments about the fact that the person wasn’t always Jewish, in the case of a convert. The fact that someone chose to convert to Judaism is very impressive and we want them to feel like they are one of us, and not like we are bringing up their past in order to say they are different from us.
TRANSITION
Another law we learn in this parsha has to do with lending money to other people. It is a custom to hold on to a piece of the person’s property until they pay back the money you lend them. For example, maybe you were going to lend the person one hundred gold coins. He gave you a special silver cup to hold onto until he paid back the one hundred gold coins to you. That silver cup is called collateral.
However, what does one do in the case of a poor person? A poor person doesn’t have much that they can offer as collateral. So maybe they would offer their clothing to you- perhaps the shirt that they would wear each day. The Torah explains that if this is the case, you need to return the shirt to him every morning. It is important that the poor person has clothing to wear and is treated in a dignified fashion. You can take the shirt back from him after sunset because he will not need it when he goes to sleep.
From here we learn how important the honor of a poor person is to God, and how important it should be to us as well!
TRANSITION
Another important mitzvah we learn in this parsha is that of hashavat aveidah. This refers to returning lost objects. The Torah says that if you see your enemy’s bull or donkey wandering around, you must surely return it to him. It’s interesting that the Torah specifies that this is your enemy’s animal! But it is important because if it was your friend who had lost their animal, you would naturally be inclined to help him. If it’s your enemy, however, your yetzer hara, or evil inclination, might tell you, “I don’t like him anyway! Why should I help him? Let his donkey be lost- see if I care!” The Torah tells you that is not the right way to behave. It’s important to help others, even people you don’t necessarily like.
The Torah follows up this scenario by offering another scenario. What happens if you see your enemy’s donkey having fallen down under the weight of its burden? This is a case of tzaar baalei chayim- pain being caused to the animal. You and your enemy must work together to take the heavy load off of the donkey so that it can stand up again. You might have thought, once again, that you don’t have to help your enemy- but you would be wrong. It is important that it says in the pasuk that you AND your enemy need to work together to unload the donkey, however. Your enemy cannot expect you to do all the work on your own.
Going back to our first scenario, Hashavat Aveidah is a law that is commonly applied today. Many schools have lost and founds so that children can locate their lost items. Synagogues may also have flyers posted where someone indicates that they found an item, such as a ring, and asks that people contact them if they think the ring might belong to them. The person who thinks it might be theirs then has to describe the item they lost so that the person who found it can make sure they are returning it to the right individual. Have you ever done hashavat aveidah? What lost object did you find, and who did you return it to?
TRANSITION
At the end of the parsha, the Torah tells us what happened before Har Sinai. This happens multiple times in the Torah- sometimes the same story is told through different lenses. Sometimes the focus is on one part of the story and other times it is on a different part of the story.
The day before God gave the Jews the Torah, on the fifth of Sivan, Moshe built a mizbeach, or altar, at the bottom of Har Sinai. The firstborn of Bnei Yisrael offered sacrifices there. According to the Midrash, Moshe read to the Jews from the Torah beginning from “Bereshit” until the section they were about to experience, Matan Torah. He also repeated any mitzvot Bnei Yisrael had already been taught.
Bnei Yisrael all together stated, “Naaseh v’nishma”- “we will do and we will listen.” This meant that they were ready to keep all of God’s mitzvot even before they were told what they would be! This shows how committed Bnei Yisrael were to God.
On the sixth of Sivan, Bnei Ysrael stayed at the bottom of Har Sinai, behind the fence. Moshe, Aharon, the zekenim, or elders, and Aharon’s sons Nadav and Avihu were permitted to go further up the mountain.
After Bnei Yisrael received the Aseret HaDibrot, or Ten Commandments, God commanded Moshe to come up the mountain. There, God told Moshe, He would give him the Luchot, stone tablets, and the Torah which included additional laws. Moshe’s helper Yehoshua walked him as far as he could go, but stayed behind the fence. Moshe himself went up the mountain, which was covered in cloud, and stayed in heaven for forty days. At the end of forty days, God gave him the luchot to bring back to Bnei Yisrael.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
This parsha is chock full of important laws. The laws often include significant information about how we should treat others. For example, we learn:
We are responsible to help rehabilitate the Hebrew servant, even though he stole. We need to treat him with dignity and respect.
We are responsible to help heal someone we hurt, and to pay money to accomplish this.
We are responsible to be kind to the convert, the orphan and the widow, all people who might feel especially lonely in our community.
We are responsible to give back a poor person’s shirt if we loaned them money and this was their collateral. This is so that they have clothes to wear each day.
We are responsible to help return a wandering or lost animal to our enemy.
Learning about these responsibilities can help us develop into better people. In each situation, God is helping us to be more sensitive to others around us and making sure we treat them with kindness.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!