10 Feb LIGHT AND DARKNESS

This week’s parsha, Mishpatim, opens with
the words “V’eileh hamishpatim, And these
are the ordinances.” (Shemos 21:1) “V’eileh,
And these.” One little letter, vav, meaning
and, connects the previous parsha of Yisro to
parshas Mishpatim. The word and signifies a
continuation. Rashi brings a Midrash, that just
as the Aseres HaDibros, the Ten
Commandments were given at Sinai, so, too,
were the civil laws contained in this parsha
given at Sinai.
The Aseres HaDibros were given in the boker,
the morning, when the sun is shining and all
looks bright. A time of clarity. Bnei Yisroel
stood at Sinai and witnessed the miracle of a
dry, desert mountain, bloom with magnificent,
fragrant flowers and beautiful greenery. Not
only was the mountain transformed, but the
people in need of healing were cured.
Miraculously, the blind were able to see, the
deaf were able to hear, the lame walk, the
mute were able to speak and all those whose
bodies were weary and ached from years of
harsh slave labor, were revived and
strengthened. Simply stated, Har Sinai was a
place of cure and healing. (As an aside,

perhaps this explains why there are so many
hospitals and health centers named Mount
Sinai.) It was a true boker, morning light,
bringing hope to the darkness of life.
In contrast, the mefarshim note that the
mishpatim, civil laws, were transmitted to
Moshe during the evening, the erev. The word
erev shares a root with the word irvuvi’ah,
meaning chaos, confusion. A time of darkness,
pain and challenge. Laws that deal with a
variety of life situations, including
circumstances that aren’t always pleasant. The
Torah given at Sinai was not only meant for
moments of clarity and inspiration, but also
for the complex, painful, and confusing
moments of real life.
The parsha tells us of the eved Ivri, one
who stole and has to sell himself to work
as a servant in order to make restitution.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-
1888) writes that the parsha opens with
the laws of an eved Ivri to teach us how
important it is to value each and every
individual. Even though he stole, he still
has to be treated with respect and dignity.
In fact, it is stated in the Talmud, “That he
who acquires an eved Ivri acquires a
master.” For example, the servant must be

served the same food as the
master, and he cannot be assigned
any degrading tasks.
Furthermore, if there is only one
pillow available, it must go to the
servant.
We learn of the desperate father who
cannot provide basic needs for his
daughter. He sells her as a
maidservant, in order that she will be
well taken care of. In each of these
cases, there are humanitarian laws
whose purpose is to protect the rights
of the servant. Laws that teach us the
importance of kovod habriyos,
extending honor and respect to all.
And so, the parsha continues. Laws
of accidental manslaughter, of murder and
kidnapping. Of inflicting harm or cursing a
parent. Of causing bodily injury to another. Of
open pits that could bring harm. Of damage
caused to another’s property, and so many and
countless other laws governing the rough
edges of human interaction.
To Bnei Yisroel, the life lesson was clear.
While they experienced the boker, the sun
shining through the darkness, seeing flowers
on the mountains, and everyone being cured
from whatever ailed them, there were also
moments of erev in life. Times of darkness.
Days of chaos and confusion. But it is one
Torah, with answers for all times.
A life lesson that remains with us to this very
day. We, too, have boker and erev, light and
darkness, very often at the same time in our
lives. This tension is not unique to Torah; it
is a universal human experience. I think of
Charles Dickens who wrote in A Tale of Two
Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times.” Life has its ups and downs.
We could be successful in business, yet at
the same time have problems at home. We
could see nachas from one child, while
another is challenging. We could be living in
the lap of luxury, yet have health issues.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746)
writes in Mesilas Yesharim, Path of the Just,
“All that befalls us in the world, the good as
well as the bad, are tests.”
Yes, the good too. What we do with our G-d
given blessings is a test. If we are blessed do
we give adequately to charity? If we are
given the gift of spare time, do we use it to
help others? It’s all in our hands.
And what if we mess up? If we fail a life test.
If we let an opportunity to do and accomplish
pass us by.
Shlomo HaMelech teaches “Sheva yipol
tzaddik v’kam, A righteous person falls
seven times and gets up.” (Mishlei 24:16)
The mark of a righteous person is one who
could stand up – even after falling. One who

doesn’t give up, because he knows that he has
a mission here on earth. Though he may
stumble, and even fall, he picks himself up
and continues on, knowing that HaShem is
with him.
For some, the erev of life is metaphorical. For
others, it is historical, overwhelming, and
enduring. My mother, a”h, wrote a book Life
is a Test, a subject she knew only too well. She
lived through the turbulent time of the
Holocaust. A time she poignantly portrayed as
follows: “The powerful Nazi influence
transformed anti-Semitism into a politically
correct ideology. Overnight, the world became
a hunting ground. We Jews became the hunted,
and the remainder of the world the hunters. As
young as I was, the reality of death never left
me.”
My mother lost many aunts, uncles and
cousins to the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
After the war, my mother and her family came
to the shores of this country. Here, she and her
family were no longer the hunted. They
resolved to become builders. She wrote in
Life is a Test, “We were committed to build a
better, kinder, more peaceful world.”
With time, my mother met my father, another
Holocaust survivor. Both had the same dream,
the same aspiration, to build a better world.
On their life journey together, there were
many bumps along the way, they endured
many tests, but never gave up their dream. A
lesson to learn.
This Shabbos, we bentch Rosh Chodesh Adar,
the month in which we celebrate Purim. The
Talmud teaches, “Mishenichnas Adar Marbim
B’Simcha, When Adar arrives, we increase in
joy. Let the spirit of Adar bring light to
whatever darkness we experience, be it
personally or as a people. May we experience
boker, as we will read in Megillas Esther,
“LaYehudim Haysa Ora V’Simcha, The
Jewish people had light and joy…” May we
learn to recognize the light even when it is
hidden, and to carry it forward—into our
homes, our communities, and our world.