THE VEIL OF NATURE
This week’s Parsha, Mishpatim, is packed with many laws and their many details. Our Parsha begins with laws dealing with ownership, responsibility, liability, tort, civil issues and so on.
Every society requires such laws and create them to satisfy their needs. One might suggest that the Torah gives us these laws to satisfy our societal needs. HaShem, in His kindness saved us the trouble of having our Rabbis create these laws and gave them to us already done. If this was the case there would be no need to emphasize the source of these laws. The only issue of import would be what these laws are. If society will be able to run smoothly it is irrelevant who wrote them. However, our Sages teach us otherwise.
Our Parsha begins “And these are the laws that HaShem commanded Moshe…”. Our Sages point out that the additional word “and” is a tool that the Torah uses to indicate that what follows is connected to what preceded. In this case the Torah is teaching us that these laws are a continuation of the previous Parsha. In the previous Parsha HaShem gave us His Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Hence, the “and” is teaching us that just as the Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai so was the compendium of laws found in our Parsha given at Mount Sinai.
The question is why is it important on which geographic location these laws were received? In fact, why is it even important who gave them to us. All we need to know is what those laws are and how to implement them? Mount Sinai is more than a geographic location it is an experience. Mount Sinai was the moment in time when the Creator revealed Himself to His people and gave them His instructions for accomplishing the world’s destiny.
HaShem created the world and set it into motion under the cover of Nature. He uses Nature as a veil to cover Himself. The purpose of covering Himself was to give Man the opportunity to uncover Him and to give Man the opportunity to bring Godliness into this otherwise ungod-ly world. When Man succeeds in uncovering HaShem and reveals HaShem’s Presence, the world is perfected and Man has brought the world to its destiny, to its perfection.
In order for this feat to be accomplished HaShem must expose Himself once revealing Himself to Man and giving His instructions on how to bring Godliness into the world. After that revelation HaShem can recede behind His veil of Nature and let Man do his job. Sinai w as that moment. Sinai was the moment in history when HaShem introduced Himself and His Law to His people. Sinai was the watershed when Man was set up to accomplish his mission.
Let us return to our question, what is the significance of where the laws of our Parsha were given? What is the significance of who gave us those laws? Although these laws are necessary for the successful operation of a functional society that is not the function of these laws. Every one of these laws are vehicles by which we bring Godliness into the world, because their origin is from HaShem at Sinai. These are as much part of Torah and the des-tiny of the world as the Ten Commandments.
So the mitzvah to pay for damages that your cow caused your neighbor and the mitzvah of returning your neighbor’s sweater and the mitzvah of paying your bill in a timely manner are not merely societal decencies. They are the method by which we bring Godliness into HaShem’s world.
How fortunate we are that every part of our daily life from wishing our neighbor a good morning to offering respect to an elderly gentleman carries within it the meaningfulness of the destiny of the world itself!
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind