18 Feb PARASHAT MISHPATIM: TORAH & OUR IMPERFECT LIVES

Many years ago, a father
brought his son before
his bar-mitzvah to
meet a certain Hassidic
Rebbe. The Rebbe, to
the boy’s astonishment,
turned to him and asked if he was a sports
fan.
“Sure,” the boy replied. “I follow baseball.”
“What team do you root for?” the Rebbe
asked.
“The Brooklyn Dodgers.”
The Rebbe then asked the boy if he ever
attended a Dodgers game.
“Of course,” the boy said. “Actually, my
father took me to a game just a few days
ago.”
The Rebbe asked what happened in the game.
“It was a terrible game,” the boy said. “By
the seventh inning, the Dodgers were losing
10-0, so we just left. There was no reason to
stay.”
“I see,” the Rebbe said. “But what about the
Dodgers players? Did they also leave?”
The boy giggled. “Of course not. They need
to stay and play the whole game. I’m just a

fan, so I can leave whenever I want.”
The Rebbe smiled.
“You’re becoming a bar-mitzvah, which is
very exciting,” the Rebbe explained. “Once
you become a bar-mitzvah, you’re a member
of the team. And you know what that means?
It means that you can’t leave during a ‘bad
game.’
“Every baseball player knows that not every
game is going to be good. It’s not always
going to go well. But he has to show up and
play his hardest even when his team is losing
10-0 in the seventh inning. And the same is
true about being a member of Am Yisrael’s
‘team.’ We have to stick with it even it’s hard.
We can’t just leave and give up when things
get difficult or complicated.”
Parashat Mishpatim continues the description
of the events of Matan Torah, which began
in last week’s parashah, Parashat Yitro.
Surprisingly, the Torah interrupts the story
of Matan Torah with a series of detailed and
intricate laws, dealing mainly with situations
of civil disputes. We find in this parashah
laws regarding theft, damages, accidental
murder, fights that break out between people,
people who physically assault their parents,
items that one borrowed or was asked to

watch and which were lost, and helping one’s
enemy who is struggling with his cargo. Why
does this series of laws interrupt the exciting,
dramatic narrative of Matan Torah?
The Rabbis teach that as Beneh Yisrael stood
at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, they
were in a state of perfection. They had been
fully cleansed of all spiritual impurities. Even
physically, they were cured of all illnesses,
and healed of all injuries. They were also
completely unified, with no fighting or
tension between the people. Hashem wanted
to teach them that the Torah they were now
receiving is binding not only in a state of
perfection, but also in a state of imperfection.
The Torah governs our lives even when our
lives get very complicated and very difficult.
It guides us even in unfortunate situations
of theft, even when people are in a fight,
when property gets damaged, when children
rise up against their parents, when things go
terribly wrong.
I don’t know anyone who isn’t fighting
a battle of some kind. Some deal with a
medical issue. Some struggle with a child
or several children. Some have difficulties
in their marriage. Some can’t pay their bills.
Some are in a fight with family members,
neighbors, business associates, or others.

And some are dealing with several of these
kinds of problems simultaneously.
It is for this reason that the story of Matan
Torah is interrupted by the mishpatim, the
section of civil laws. The complications of
life are an integral part of Torah life. The
Torah was not given only for a perfect reality.
It was given to empower us to overcome even
very imperfect realities, to grow and achieve
even when we struggle and face difficult
challenges. We must “play” every “inning”
and every “game,” even the “games” that
aren’t going well.
We must never break down or despair when
we face challenges. We must firmly believe
that Hashem has sent us these challenges
for us to overcome, and that He has given
us the strength to overcome them. We are
privileged to “play” on the greatest “team” in
the world, and this requires us to keep going
even on bad days. Let us respond to all our
struggles with faith and conviction, realizing
that Hashem has given us what it takes to
meet every challenge that He sends our way.