“If you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden, you shall surely help him with it...” (23:5)
My daughters aren’t big cat fans. That is except for my youngest, who loves them. There was a marmalade tom who used to come around to get fed by my youngest, and the other girls strictly forbade her to give him anything. Early one morning my wife was going into the kitchen when she saw my daughter taking some meat scraps out of the microwave.
“For the cat?” my wife asked.
“Yes, Ima.”
“But why are you heating it up?”
Said my daughter, “Look Ima, this cat doesn’t have any Olam HaBah — so I want him to have as much Olam HaZeh as possible.”
Parshat Mishpatim is about caring when no one is looking.
The Torah commands us not to cause unnecessary suffering to animals.
Not just for the sake of the animal, but because cruelty damages the human soul.
The Torah demands kindness precisely where there is no gratitude, no recognition. Animals won’t thank you. They won’t remember.
But you will.
Parshat Mishpatim teaches us that a person becomes righteous through the quiet choices that shape who they are.
Olam HaBah is built in Olam HaZeh — standing in a kitchen, warming food for a creature that can never repay you.
Holiness is built when no one’s looking.
