The Set Table
At last! The Jews had their long-awaited encounter with HaShem at Mount Sinai! They had stood at the foot of the mountain and heard the Ten Commandments spoken by HaShem Himself and by their great teacher, Moshe. It was a tough act to follow, but there was more to come . . .
To be able to live the way HaShem wanted them to, the Jews needed detailed instructions. Moshe was told to present the Torah's laws like a "set table." (In Hebrew, the expression is "Shulchan Aruch," which is the name of the book containing the Code of Jewish Law compiled by Rabbi Yosef Karo in Tzfat, Israel, in the 16th century.) When you set a table, you lay out the plates, silverware, and glasses in a neat and orderly way -- and that's just how Moshe explained the laws to the Jewish people.
HaShem began by teaching His laws for how one person should act toward another person. These laws are called "mitzvot bein adam l'chavero" -- commandments between a person and his friend. (Later they would learn more about the "mitzvot bein adam l'Makom," how Jews should act toward HaShem.)
These laws between people are also called mishpatim -- which is the name of this parsha.
But before getting into the details of the mishpatim, HaShem laid down the ground rules. All court cases between Jews must go to a Jewish court of law, called a Beit Din, and not to a regular, non-Jewish court -- even if the non-Jewish court would decide the case the exact same way.
And now, presenting a sampling of important mishpatim from this week's parsha.
How To Treat A Slave
Long ago, some Jews had slaves -- other Jews who were sold by the Beit Din as punishment for stealing money and not being able to repay it. A thief could be sold for as long a period of time it takes to repay the amount stolen, but no longer than six years. In the seventh year he was sent free.
You might think that since the slave is being punished, his master could treat him any way he wanted. Absolutely not! There were strict rules about how a master could treat his slave. In fact, he had to be very nice to him! The servant had to be treated more like a brother than like a slave. Here are some examples:
- A master had to give his slave the same tasty food he himself ate, and the same comfortable kind of bed he himself slept on -- soft, fluffy pillows and all.
- He was not allowed to insult his slave by giving him embarrassing or unpleasant jobs to do.
- And he definitely wasn't allowed to ask his slave to do "busy-work," like washing the floor ten times in one day even if it wasn't dirty.
Now you can see why it says in the Talmud (Kiddushin 20a), "Whoever buys himself a slave, it is as if he has bought himself a master!"
Slaves were treated so well that sometimes the slave wouldn't want to leave his master when the six years were up. He might say, "I love my master - I don't want to go free!" Well, that's not what HaShem had in mind when He gave the rules about keeping slaves. Slaves are supposed to go free after six years, so that they can go back to serving their true Master, HaShem, with 100% of their energy. If a slave still insists on continuing to work for his master even after the six years are up, then the Torah gives a special procedure that he must follow in order to stay.
