Shabbos Parashas Mishpatim - 5774
Shabbos Parashas Mishpatim - 5774
Rabbi Hal Miller
Distance yourself from a false word, do not kill one who is innocent or one
who is righteous, for I shall not exonerate a wicked person. [Shemos 23:7]
Having last week read about the Revelation and the giving of the Ten
Statements, we now see the Torah begin to expand upon the system of law. Our
parsha begins with "And these are the judgments that you shall place before
them." The rest of the portion is one law after another. In fact, until the
end of this very long portion, there is no story-line, only laws. Our pasuk
is buried deep in the list, and one might be forgiven for missing its
importance. Isn't it obvious that we should avoid falsehood? What is the
Torah trying to teach us here?
On the surface, the pasuk discusses three things: falsehood, killing one who
does not deserve it, and G-d's reaction to one who is wicked. How do these
relate? On the surface, the answer is simple. This chapter is a discussion of
the laws of judges. The Torah tells judges to search for truth when rendering
judgment. It doesn't mean that the judge should not lie; that should be self
evident from other parts of the Torah. Here it means that the judge must
search closely through the evidence and witnesses, and to uphold the truth
regardless of pressures, such as the previous verse about bribery.
But is that all the Torah is teaching? Why are so many verses strung together
to explain this fairly simple concept? Does it only apply to judges?
King David said, "I hate falsehood and I abhor it, but Your Torah I love."
[Tehillim 119:163] The Torah tells us elsewhere not to lie. Nechama Leibowitz
says, "The exhortation not to deal falsely is included in the chapter headed
by the command 'you shall be holy', referring to the daily life of the
individual. The Torah does not demand in this case more than the negative:
you shall not deal falsely." In other words, elsewhere we are commanded to
stay clear of falsehood. If it comes to us, we must back away. But our verse
comes to add something. Now we are commanded to actually take affirmative
action to avoid untruths. We don't just back away, we have to 'distance'
ourselves before it comes.
Was the earlier command not enough? Why do we need this positive commandment
in addition to the negative one? What makes this so important to warrant the
extra attention?
Nachshoni points out something interesting with regard to comparing
commandments. In another context, he writes, "Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim
explains that the relative severity of selling and slaughtering stolen
livestock is because thieves customarily do so to make their act untraceable.
In just the same way he explains the severity of stealing sheep and cattle
over stealing other items. The more susceptible something is to being stolen,
the more severe its punishment. Livestock are normally kept in the fields and
cannot be guarded as one would guard a household object. Their theft is
therefore more severe."
Rambam is saying that the more difficult it is to guard something, the more
the punishment will be if someone steals something. If we put that in the
opposite framing, we see that the easier it is to steal something, the greater
the punishment will be for the theif. The greater the enticement, the stronger
the disincentive must be.
If the penalty for a violation of a command that involves something one has
reason to think he can "get away with" is stiffer than a violation for which
he thinks he is more likely to get caught, then all the moreso, in our case,
where truth is very hard to pin down or to guard, the penalty should be
even more severe. By giving us both a positive and negative commandment, the
Torah is telling us we will receive enhanced punishment for falsehood.
Be holy in all you do!