Parshas Mishpatim
9 maamarim of the tzaddikim on this week's reading, each in Hebrew and English with a takeaway.
Lehavas David
Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz ›Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzMishpatim from Sinai: Keeping Every Law as a DecreeIt is easy to keep the mitzvos we understand, especially the honest dealings with money that every decent society expects, but a mitzvah that rests on our own reasoning will bend…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzCustoms of Israel: The Handles That Guard the TorahThe customs of Israel and the fences of Chazal are the handles by which we hold the whole heavy vessel of the Torah, and they too come from Sinai. That is why the Torah was…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzEven Monetary Laws from Sinai, Not from ReasonEven the laws of money, which reason itself would approve, are to be kept only because Hashem commanded them at Sinai, and they hold the same holiness as the Ten Commandments…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzBeyond Understanding: Keeping Even the Logical Laws as DecreesThe laws between a person and his fellow make sense to us, and that is exactly why they are the real test: we are to be honest and fair not because our reason demands it, but…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzHumanly Holy: Sanctity through Eating and DrinkingWe tend to think that holiness belongs only to learning and prayer, but “people of holiness” asks us to be humanly holy, bringing Hashem into what we eat and how we eat it…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzCommunal Prayer, Elevated Eating and HealingA time of Hashem's favor comes when we pray together with the congregation, as one. That favor then reaches into our meals, so that each of us, at his own level, can raise up the…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzServing Hashem at the Table: Eating as AvodahPrayer is a service open to everyone, but the Torah also asks us to serve Hashem at the table: eating out of desire closes the heart to Torah, while eating for the sake of Heaven…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzElders and Youths: Every Jew's Own MissionNot every role in serving Hashem is meant for every person, and another's place at the head is no slight to us. The elders led with wisdom at the Exodus and at Sinai, the youths…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz“Be There”: Torah with Total Self-SacrificeGoing up the mountain is not the same as being there: a person can sit in front of a Gemara while his thoughts wander far away. Acquiring the Torah takes mesirus nefesh, the hard…