Parashat Mishpatim
Torah: Exodus 21:1 - 24:18
Haftarah: Jeremiah 34:8-22; 33:25-26
Haftarah: Jeremiah 34:8-22; 33:25-26
Shevat 24, 5785 / February 21-22, 2025
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This d’var torah is offered in memory of Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz.
Say their names.
And may the memory of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah and all their supporters be forever erased.
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This d’var torah is offered in memory of my aunt, Shirley Schack, whose yahrzeit falls on Sunday, Shevat 25. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah. Her memory is a blessing.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the hostages.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.
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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On February 24, we'll be at Ein Ya'akov Vol. 3, Chagigah, p. 29 (BT Chagigah 16a):
"...דרש רבי יהודה ברבי נחמני מתרגמניה דריש לקישש"
"R. Juda b. Nachmeni, the interpreter of Resh Lakish, lectured ...'"
https://hebrewbooks.org/9632
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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BEING
MINDFUL OF BEING THERE
'And
the Lord said to Moses: "Come up to Me to the mountain; and be there; and
I will give you the stone tablets and the Torah and the commandments that I
have written, that you may teach them."' Exodus 24:12
Moses on Mount Sinai - Jean-Léon Gérôme (ca. 1900)
Menachem
Mendel of Kotzk (aka The Kotzker Rebbe; Poland, 1787-1859 - his yahrzeit is on Shevat 22, the date I am writing this) says, "There is
a difficulty here. If Moses went up the mountain, of course he would be there!
Perhaps this is to show that one may struggle to climb the peak, being able to
arrive there, yet not really be there. He may be standing at the summit, but
his head is in another place. The main thing is not the ascent, but to be
there, and only there, and not to be going up and down at the same time."
This is
more than a rejection of the notion that the journey is more important than the
ultimate goal. For the Kotzker, "being there" is not just physical,
to be in a specific location. Being there is temporal and spiritual. The mind,
heart, and soul, having struggled to reach God, must remain focused on the
moment - what came before, and what will come after, are not then relevant.
If this
seems very much like the Buddhist concept of mindfulness - it is - and you can be
pretty sure the Kotzker Rebbe never had any exposure to Buddhism. Mindfulness
is equally a Jewish concept, and always has been so. Indeed, the Kotzker himself was well-known for his meditative practices and his reclusive life.
When
engaged in prayer, when lighting the Shabbat candles, when reciting Kiddush,
when blessing your children, when performing any mitzvah - be there. When you
are fully present in the present, you experience the wonder of the moment. The
awesomeness of the summit can only be experienced - and only for so long as one
does not think about how one got there or how one
will get down or what it all means. Our ancestors knew this. That is why they
said, "All that the Lord has said, we will do and we will hear."
Exodus 24:7.
In
short - do it, experience it – and then try to understand.
Have an awesome Shabbat!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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