And Make it Count. Mishpatim 5784

 Imagine you are writing an anthology.  You are embarking on a new volume, discussing a whole new subject - laws.  Your opening sentence might be:  “These are the laws that apply in the following cases.”  You would not open with “And these are the laws.”  Yet this week’s Parsha  opens just like that.  Hashem tells Moshe:  “And these are the laws that you shall place before them,” and then proceeds to teach many laws about the day-to-day life of a Jew. While it is true that many chapters of Torah open with “and,” it would seem that this is a completely new subject, so why start with “and?”

Rashi comments that although this is a new subject, the laws of daily life and commerce, it is also a continuation of the previous subject, the Commandments that were given at Sinai. “Just as the earlier commandments were given at Sinai, so were these.”  So this “and” carries a profound message. We don’t separate the great revelation at Sinai, when Hashem descended onto the mountain and opened all the heavens, from what happens daily in our mundane lives. 

This lesson goes both ways. One takeaway is that the laws that we consider part of the normal social contract are also G-d given. This is important because there can be all kinds of excuses for wiggling out of a law in certain circumstances. Maybe I don't feel like this person deserves that I treat them honestly. Everyone bends the rules here. Etc. But if we are observing the laws because they are from Hashem, we are obligated regardless of the circumstances. 

Another lesson is that the way we express our connection to the G-d who revealed Himself to us at Sinai and the way we live a spiritual life, is through the day to day mundane rules. There are not two sets of lifestyles - holiness and spirituality represented by the Sinai revelation, and the “real world” of business, family life, health and welfare, leisure, etc.  The Torah tells us:  Hashem revealed Himself at Sinai in all His spiritual glory, AND he gave us day-to-day laws, they are all part of who we are and why we are here.

This also explains why, when Hashem Himself gave His one and only sermon in the history of the world at Sinai, He commanded the Jews not to kill or steal, rather than focusing just on spiritual matters.  Living our lives in the world according to Torah, that is how we transform the world and achieve true holiness and transcendence.  

I was asked last week, how do we retain the Jewish awakening that we have experienced around the world since the tragic events of Simchat Torah?  So many people have had a spiritual awakening and reconnected with their Jewish identity, how do we make sure that does not fade? I think that part of the secret is “AND these are the laws...”  When we take the spiritual inspiration and translate it into practical Mitzvot, this connects the spirit with the action and carries through into the future.

Chassidus explains that when we have an “awakening from above,” which we ourselves did not bring about, the way to keep it going is by capturing it and making it our own.  This is one reason that we have encouraged people to start lighting candles 18 minutes before sunset on Friday, to put kosher Mezuzot on all the doors, to increase acts of kindness and love for one another, for men to put on tefillin and many other Mitzvot that bring the light of G-dliness into our day-to-day lives.  This in turn spreads light throughout the world, bringing closer the final redemption.