Six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall go free. (Ex. 21:2)
"Six years" symbolizes the six thousand years of the world's existence. "Shall he serve" refers to our mission to learn Torah and perform the commandments. "In the seventh" refers to the seventh millennium, when "he shall go free" - when the Messianic Era shall reign on earth and G-dliness will no longer be hidden but revealed. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
For all manner of transgression...of which he can say, "this is it" (Ex. 22:80)
Pride is the root of all transgression. The essence of sin is when a person says of himself - "this is it" - "I am the most important thing in the whole world!" (Rabbi Yisrael of Modzitz)
If you lend money - kesef. (Ex. 22:24)
The Tzemach Tzedek, the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, explained that the Hebrew word for "money" - "kesef" - comes from the root word meaning "longing and yearning." The soul, he explained, always yearns to go upward, attaining higher and higher levels of spirituality. "If you lend money" - G-d "lends" the eternal soul to each of us for a certain period of time, to dwell in a physical body in this world. It is up to the individual to utilize that loan to the fullest, taking advantage of every day that is granted on earth. (Hayom Yom)
And He will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst (Exodus 23:25)
Most illnesses are caused either by food that is ingested, or from an intensification of internal forces within the body. G-d therefore promised to send His blessing in both of these areas, blessing the food one eats - "your bread and water" - and "removing sickness from your midst" - making sure that illness does not come from within. (Kli Yakar)
You shall not afflict any widow or orphan (Exodus 22:21)
Whenever Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reached this verse he would cry out. "Master of the Universe! You instructed us in Your holy Torah to be kind to widows and orphans, and yet we are like orphans in this bitter exile! You must therefore take us out of this exile at once!"
And He will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst (Exodus 23:25)
Most illnesses are caused either by food that is ingested, or from an intensification of internal forces within the body. G-d therefore promised to send His blessing in both of these areas, blessing the food one eats - "your bread and water" - and "removing sickness from your midst" - making sure that illness does not come from within. (Kli Yakar)
Reprinted from the Parashat Mishpatim 2003/5763 edition of L’Chaim, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization.
