משפטים

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Rashi explains that ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם is teaching that we shouldn’t go to non Jewish courts. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that even if the judgement will be the same as in a Jewish court it is still not allowed because then you will think that the money you get from court is not coming from ה׳.  Also, Rav Shlomo Horowitz explains that אלה המשפטים teaches us that we do the מצוות not because they make sense but because we are commanded to.  The כלי יקר explains that אלה המשפטים means that בין אדם לחבירו should be put in front of other מצוות.

The מאור עינים explains that נעשה ונשמע means that we will keep the תורה even on those days that we are feeling down and don’t have inspiration.

Several thoughts related to the עבד עברי:  1) The רל״ג explains that we pierce the ear by the מזוזה because it is gematria 65 which is the same א-ד-נ-י because we are telling the slave that we are doing this because he didn’t listen to ה׳, but rather decided to be the slave of a human. Furthermore, he is called a נרצע because it stands for נר צריך עיון meaning that the light in the slaves נשמה needs to be looked into because obviously it is not fully with ה׳.  2) Rav Shlessinger explains that he is called an עבד עברי because he will not remain a slave forever which we can see in the word עברי, meaning עבר in the past. 3) The אמרי אמת explains that we pierce his ear because he must have been listening to bad things which impacted his heart away from ה׳.  4) Rav Moshe explains that he is called an עבד עברי because someone who is poor and sells them as a slave is called a עבד יהודי, so why is this person who stole called an עבד עברי? So Rav Moshe explains since he stole he is not acting like a Yid, so we call him by our name that we had before מתן תורה. 5) The Ger Rebbe explains that we pierce the ear because after 6 years he still wanst to be an עבד so it must be that he doesn’t regret stealing. And the reason we do it by the ear lobe is because the גמ׳ tells us that the ear lobe was made so we can close our ears to not hear inappropriate things, so this person must not have closed is ears and because of that his נשמה was tainted to the point that he didn’t think stealing was that bad.  The רל״ג explained that someone who steals has to go under a master because by stealing he showed that he is afraid of people but not ה׳, so we are showing that he in fact has a master. 6) The אוצרנו הישן explains that we bring the עבד to the door to be free because we are telling him that he could be free. The רל״ג explained that we go to the door because the מזוזה is there and that is showing that the guy that if he really believes in ה׳ then he wouldn’t stay a slave.

Based on Rav Aharon Soloveichik, the reason why it says עין תחת עין even though it means money is to teach us that we cannot understand the תורה שבכתב without the תורה שבעל פה.  Another idea:  the פסוק says ״ורפו ירפה״ because even though you might be going to a doctor, still it is really all from ה׳, and that is why the second word starts with a י׳.

Rav Ari Marcus explains that at הר סיני the זקנים saw a “coal” or a “brick” even though that is not the most magnificent site because it is to teach us that we cannot see the full picture.

The גר״א explains that the reason that תורה first says בור with a ו and then בר without a ו is because the פסוק of בור is discussing opening an already complete pit, symbolized by the complete word בור, but the פסוק of בר is when there is no pit yet and you dig it.  The כלי יקר explains that ועבדתם is לשון הרבים and לחמך is לשון יחיד because serving ה׳ we do ברבים, but eating our bread we do by ourselves.

Rav Itzele of Volozhin explains that there is a double לשון of crying out by an אלמנה or יתום when they are afflicted because since they have no one else to cry ה׳ hears them even more.

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