06 Feb PARSHAS MISHPATIM: THOSE IN A THANKLESS ROLE DESERVE A THANK-YOU

The parsha begins with
the words “And these
are the laws which you
shall place before
them.” [Shemos 21:1]
In commenting on this
pasuk, the Medrash
cites the passage: “Through justice a king
establishes a land, but the man of Terumos will
destroy it.” [Mishlei 29:4]
The Medrash elaborates: If a person will make
himself like the Terumah portion which is set
aside from the rest of the grain and placed in
the corner of the house… In other words, if a
person sets himself apart and says: “why
should I have to get involved in the problems
of the community?” If he takes the attitude,
“why do I need this hassle of community
involvement?” If he takes the attitude of “I
will take care of myself…” Regarding such
people, the passage speaks by saying “the man
of Terumos will destroy it.”
The Medrash then cites an incident involving
Rav Assi. When Rav Assi was about to die, his
nephew entered and found him crying. Rav
Assi’s nephew asked him, “Why are you

crying? Is there any area of Torah that you
have not learned or have not taught? You have
many disciples who can testify to the contrary.
What are you afraid of? Is there any area of
Gemilas Chessed [acts of kindness] that you
have not performed? And your greatest praise
is that you distanced yourself from rendering
judgment — you did not involve yourself in
litigation and dinei Torah and did not sully
yourself with messy communal matters. What
could be wrong?”
Rav Assi responded, “It is for this very
negligence (of not occupying myself with
litigation and communal matters) that I am
crying. Maybe I will face Heavenly
Punishment over the fact that I could have
rendered judgments for Israel and abstained
from doing so.”
Terumah is holier than chullin [non-sacred
produce]. It is set aside, on its own. The man
of Terumos that the Medrash refers to is the
person who considers himself like “Terumah.”
He feels that he is above the masses that are
“chullin”. He feels “I don’t need all this” and
refuses to sully himself with the needs of the
common people (hamon am). “Let me do my

own thing. Let me be for
myself. I want to be like
terumah that is set aside in
the corner.”
This attitude, the Medrash
states, is destructive. The
lesson we must take from
this Medrash is that not only
those who are worthy to be
judges must occupy
themselves with
congregational needs. We
are all called upon, on many
occasions and under many
circumstances to get involved — to become
the chairman, to sit on the committee.
Everyone who has sat on a committee or been
involved in communal needs knows that it is
full of aggravation. It is so easy to take the
attitude “I don’t need this.”
One gets involved in a shul and what does one
get for it? Rarely a thank-you, only complaints!
Someone was involved in putting out
mimeographed divrei Torah for a shul. What
did someone comment to him? “You shouldn’t
have printed it on pink paper!” Is there a

‘yasher koach’ for doing it? No! The only
comment was that someone did not like the
color of the paper! This is what one can expect
when getting involved — whether it is the shul
or the school. All one can expect from
involvement in any communal organization is
grief. Guaranteed.
That is why Chazal say that one has to do it.
Regarding one who says, “Not me; I will sit in
my corner, learn my daf-yomi, and send in my
check, but don’t get me involved,” the
Medrash quotes the passage “The man of
Terumos will destroy it!”