Parasha: Mishpatim · Aliyah: Sixth (Yesod)

הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך, "Here I am sending an angel ahead of you, etc." The author feels that the angel described here is not an intermediary, one of G'd's ministering angels, but the "great angel," the one who redeemed the patriarchs, a concept familiar to Kabbalists. He says that by definition we do not recognise a force as an intermediary, i.e. an independent power to whom we have to show respect and obeisance. [I believe that the reason for this statement is that reading verses 21 and 22 could lead one to believe that G'd inserted some angel between Himself and us. Ed.] Only at the end of time, will the world recognise that G'd and His name (those speaking in His name, such as angels) are One; compare Zachariah 14,9.

השמר מפניו, "Take heed of him, etc." In this verse G'd defines our relationship with this angel as involving both a positive and a negative commandment. The negative commandment is contained in the words השמר מפניו, just as in all other places where the word השמר introduces a negative commandment. The positive commandment is contained in the words ושמע בקולו, "listen to his voice."

אל תמר בו, "do not rebel against him;" Here too the Torah contains a moral/ethical lesson in addition to the plain meaning of the words. The Torah hints that exchanging good for evil will result in the king being replaced by a slave and the maidservant inheriting the authority of the mistress (compare Proverbs 30,23). The message is that when Israel is sinful it will be subject to an attribute of G'd which takes "revenge" rather than elevates sins to a lesser level. The angel under discussion is not authorised to do this. When the Torah speaks of כי שמי בקרבו, this means that man has forfeited the presence of G'd in his midst because of his sins, and G'd's former presence within man is now centred in that angel. Sanhedrin 38 teaches that the numerical value of מטטרון, Mattaron (the angel G'd appointed in charge of running the universe), is the same as that of his Master, G'd's attribute שדי,=314. When man sins, G'd no longer considers Himself as "his" G'd, i.e. שדי. This is the mystical dimension of Isaiah 19,5: ונהר יחרב ויבש, "the river will fail and dry up." The intelligent reader will comprehend that the words כי אם שמוע תשמע בקולו, "if you will surely listen to his voice," sounds as if G'd is speaking about a third person, whereas the Torah continues: ועשית את אשר אדבר, "and you will do what I say." G'd was careful not to say אשר ידבר, "which he will say," in order to remind us that His name is in the midst of the Jewish people.

ואיבתי את אויביך, "For I will be an enemy unto your enemies, etc." Perhaps the Torah hints here that by means of busying oneself with Torah and the performance of its commandments G'd will uproot the source of the קליפה, i.e. Satan, as well as the various branches which are constantly active trying to seduce people and thereby to degrade and dishonour the banner of Torah. You are advised to read what I have written in connection with the confrontation between Cain and G'd in Genesis 4,9-15.

והביאך…והכחדתיו, "and he will bring you there…and I will cut them off." The Torah means that the Jewish people will become the insrument by means of which these nations will be cut off. Please read what I have written on Numbers 14,9 in connection with the words: "their protective shadow has departed from them (while G'd is with us)." The reason is that sanctity will suck up the nutritients (of people who are wicked) so that those lacking sanctity will remain like defeated corpses. This is the mystical dimension of Shabbat 34 "he set his eye on him and the victim turned into a pile of bones." This happened as a result of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai "sucking" up the nutrients of the body of the person who had accused him of declaring cemeteries as ritually pure.

לא תשתחוה לאלוהיהם, "Do not bow down to their deities, etc." Why did the Torah have to record this prohibition once more when it has already been recorded several times? Seeing that the Torah just forbade even mentioning the name of these deities why was there any need to state once more that one must not bow down to them? Nachmanides writes that the more serious a sin the more frequently the Torah warns us not to commit it. This is not very satisfactory in light of the fact that Nachmanides has himself equated the sin of idol worship as equivalent to a violation of all the commandments of the Torah both with respect to the punishment due, and for the reward due for rejecting such idol worship. Seeing a person who bowed down to idols has already been guilty of violating 613 commandments, what point is there in adding one more commandment for such a person to violate?

I believe there are three reasons why the Torah saw fit to write this verse. 1) The Torah warns us not to appear as comparable to the nations of the world in their deeds. Had the Torah not first mentioned that we must not bow down to and worship their deities, it would never have occurred to anyone that kneeling or prostrating oneself on the floor even for a perfectly secular activity would be forbidden. We would have been convinced that the Torah merely forbade a Jew to prostrate himself for idolatrous purposes. Now that the Torah writes: "Do not prostrate yourself and serve their deities" the Torah reveals what had been meant by the words: "do not act as they do." It refers to activities which were intended to be perfectly secular in character if such activities represented a religious rite for the pagans. We are not to wear the kind of garments idol worhipers wear (as a religious symbol) nor are we to sport the kind of haircut which they use in deference to some religious belief of theirs. The Torah here includes a variety of activities listed in Shabbat 67. The second reason why the words we have in verse 24 are necessary is because the Torah informs us that everything the pagans do contains an idolatrous element. G'd knows man's thoughts and the root of everything he does. If a Jew were to perform deeds which are exclusively the domain of the Gentiles he would unconsciously savour the taste of idol worship. The third reason why the Torah has to warn us here again is that G'd does not only want us not to practice any semblance of idol worship but He wants us to uproot its traces wherever and whenever we are able to do so. This is why He had to introduce the commandment to destroy all such deities by first forbidding us to prostrate ourselves in front of them. G'd implies that if a Jew does not prostrate himself in front of an idol but does not destroy it either, he is considered as if he had actually worshiped this idol. G'd is alert to our thinking, and He interprets the reasons for our not destroying such idols as a reluctance to uproot the philosophies symbolised by such deities from our hearts. You will find that the commandment to destroy such deities and their temples became operational only after the Israelites entered the Holy Land and began to conquer it. (compare Deuteronomy chapter 20).

ועבדתם את ה׳ אלוקיכם, "and you will serve the Lord your G'd, etc." Perhaps we should understand this verse as related directly to what the Torah wrote in 23,24. If Jews are careful to destroy all remnants of the idolatry practiced by the pagans in the Holy Land the result will be that they will serve the Lord with all their hearts and that G'd will bless them and protect them.

The Torah writes ואת מימיך, "and your water;" seeing that water is the source of all weakness, carrier of bacteria and origin of most serious diseases, G'd promises that He will ensure that our water will be turned into a source of healthy growth. We all know the importance of מים חיים, i.e. springwater, and man's efforts to reside near the source of such water. For all these reasons G'd's blessing is of such importance here. You may do well to study what the Talmud (Berachot 59) has to say about the quality of the water in the river Euphratus.

והסרותי מחלה מקרבך. "And I will remove sickness from your midst." G'd characterised the blessing as composed of three components. 1) Man (the Israelites) will be healthy in order to enjoy G'd's bounty. The Torah speaks about: "I will remove sickness," i.e. G'd will do this as an act of providence. Unless there is physical health and wellbeing all food will become repulsive instead of enjoyable. 2) There will not be a woman who miscarries, i.e. nature will co-operate; 3) people will live out their allotted years. In all these matters G'd demonstrated His blessing; without these conditions G'd's usual gifts, i.e. health, food, etc., His blessings would not be recognisable as true blessings.