The phrase “and these” (ve’eileh) implies that they are a continuation of what is written before. This is to teach us that just as the laws written above (the Ten Commandments) are from Sinai, these too are from Sinai.
(Mechilta; Rashi)
Since the majority of laws set forth in the Parshah of Mishpatim are logical laws, the Torah wishes to emphasize that these too are divinely ordained.
(Commentaries)
If you purchase a Hebrew slave . . . (21:2)
There is nothing more difficult for a person than to be subjugated to another person. This is why the Parshah begins with the laws of how the Hebrew slave is to be treated.
(Ibn Ezra)
The law that the Hebrew slave must be set free in the seventh year is reminiscent of the exodus from Egypt referred to in the first of the Ten Commandments. As the Torah says regarding the Hebrew slave: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and G‑d redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today” (Deuteronomy 15:15). It is also reminiscent of the work of creation, because like the Shabbat, the seventh year is when the Hebrew slave gains respite from serving his master. . . . All time cycles are ordained as cycles of seven—to refer to the seven-day cycle of creation. Thus it is fitting that this mitzvah should come first in our Parshah.
(Nachmanides)
His master shall bore his ear through with an awl (21:6)
Why the ear? The ear that heard at Mount Sinai, “For the children of Israel are My servants” (Leviticus 25:55)—yet this person went and acquired a [human] master for himself—that ear should be pierced.
(Rashi)
If a man did not lie in wait [to kill], but G‑d caused it to come to his hand, I will appoint for you a place to which he shall flee (21:13)
Of what case does our verse speak [when it says that “G‑d caused it to come to his hand”]? Of the case of two persons who had killed, one in error and another with intent, there being witnesses in neither case [so that neither receives his prescribed penalty from a human court]. G‑d arranges that they meet at the same inn; the one who killed with intent sits under the ladder, and the one who had killed in error comes down the ladder, falls and kills him [in the presence of witnesses]. Thus, the one who had killed with intent is slain, while the one who had killed in error is exiled.
(Talmud, Makkot 10b)
If men fight together, and one strikes another with a stone or with his fist . . . (21:18)
A person is always liable [for damage he causes], whether inadvertently or willfully, whether awake or asleep: if he blinded his neighbor’s eye or broke his articles, full compensation must be made.
(Talmud, Bava Kamma 26a)
He shall pay for the loss of his work, and he shall fully heal him (21:19)
From here is derived that a physician is allowed to heal [and we do not say that since G‑d afflicted the person, it is forbidden to cure him].
(Talmud, Bava Kamma 85a)
The young wife of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch had fallen ill, and the doctors were unanimous in their opinion that there was no hope of her recovery.
When her father-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, was told of the doctors’ verdict, he said: “The Talmud specifically derives from the Torah that ‘a physician is allowed to heal.’ But nowhere has a doctor been given the right to declare a human being incurable.”
If an ox gores a man or a woman, so that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned (21:28)
Just like a person can be sentenced to death only by a sanhedrin (tribunal) of 23 judges, so an ox that kills can be condemned to death only by a sanhedrin of 23.
(Mechilta d’Rashbi)
He shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep (21:37)
Said Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai: G‑d is considerate of a person’s dignity. For an ox, which the thief leads on foot and is not thereby degraded, he pays fivefold. For a sheep, which the thief had to carry on his shoulders, he pays only four times its value, since he was degraded by it.
Said Rabbi Meir: See how valuable work is. For an ox, whose theft deprived the owner of its labor, the thief pays fivefold. For the theft of a sheep, which caused no such loss of labor, he pays only four times.
(Mechilta; Rashi)
If a man . . . allowed his beast to go forth and feed in another man’s field (22:4)
Goring is not normal behavior for an ox, so the owner pays only half-damages, unless this ox has gored three times in the past, in which case he pays full damages. On the other hand, eating and trampling is common behavior for an ox, which the owner should have anticipated; so for damages thus inflicted, he must pay full compensation.
(Talmud, Bava Kamma 2a ff.)
Of the best of his field . . . shall he make restitution (22:4)
This is to teach us that if he wishes to pay with land for damages he or his animal caused, he must pay with prime land. (A debtor, on the other hand, can settle his debt with land of average quality.)
(Talmud, Bava Kamma 7a)
If a man shall give to his fellow money or vessels to keep (22:6)
There are four guardians: the unpaid guardian, the borrower, the paid guardian and the renter. The unpaid guardian swears on everything [and is absolved]; the borrower pays for everything; and the paid guardian and the renter swear in the case of breakage, robbery and death, and pay for loss and theft.
(Talmud, Bava Kamma 93a)
Who is the author of this mishnah, who maintains that there are four guardians?
Said Rav Nachman: “It is Rabbi Meir.”
Said Rava to him: “Why? Does not everyone say that there are four guardians?”
Said Rav Nachman: “This is what I mean: who is the one who holds that a renter pays like a paid guardian?—this is Rabbi Meir.”
“If so, there are not four, but three, classes of guardians!”
Said Rav Nachman: “There are four classes of guardians, but only three sets of laws that apply to them.”
(ibid.)
When you lend money to any of My people (22:24)
Wherever the Torah says the word im (“if” or “when”), the implication is that we are speaking of an action that is optional, except in three instances, where the spoken action is obligatory; this is one of them. (In other words, a person is obligated to lend money to a fellow in need of a loan.)
(Mechilta; Rashi)
You shall not act toward him as a creditor (22:24)
Do not show yourself constantly to him. . . . Do not press him for payment when you know that he is unable to pay.
(Mechilta; Rashi)
Neither shall you eat any meat that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs (22:30)
This is to teach us that G‑d does not deprive any creature of its just reward. Because the dogs did not bark at the Israelites when they came out of Egypt (see Exodus 11:7), G‑d said: Give them their reward.
(Mechilta)
You shall not hear a false report (23:1)
This is also to warn against hearing a true report in a manner that results in falsehood, such as when a judge agrees to hear one litigant without the other being present.
(Mechilta)
Put not your hand with the wicked to be a corrupt witness (23:1)
Even to retrieve monies that are justly yours.
(Mechilta)
[Rabbi Eliezer and the sages debated a point of law regarding the ritual purity of a certain type of oven.] Rabbi Eliezer declared it clean, and the sages declared it unclean . . .
On that day, Rabbi Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument, but they did not accept them. Said he to them: “If the law agrees with me, let this carob tree prove it!” Thereupon the carob tree was torn a hundred cubits out of its place. (Others say, four hundred cubits.) Said the sages: “No proof can be brought from a carob tree.”
Again he said to them: “If the law agrees with me, let the stream of water prove it!” Whereupon the stream of water flowed backwards. Said the sages: “No proof can be brought from a stream of water.”
Said Rabbi Eliezer: “If the law agrees with me, let the walls of the study hall prove it!” Whereupon the walls inclined to fall. But Rabbi Joshua rebuked them, saying: “When scholars are engaged in a halachic dispute, what have you to interfere?” Hence they did not fall, in deference to Rabbi Joshua, nor did they resume standing upright, in deference to Rabbi Eliezer; and they are still standing thus inclined.
Finally, Rabbi Eliezer said to them: “If the law is as I say, may it be proven from heaven!” There then issued a heavenly voice which proclaimed: “What do you want of Rabbi Eliezer? The law is as he says!”
Rabbi Joshua stood on his feet and said: “The Torah is not in heaven!” . . . We take no notice of heavenly voices, since You, G‑d, have already, at Sinai, written in the Torah to follow the majority.
Rabbi Nathan subsequently met Elijah the prophet and asked him: “What did G‑d do at that moment?” [Elijah] replied: “He smiled and said: ‘My children have triumphed over Me, My children have triumphed over Me.’”
(Talmud, Bava Metzia 59b)
If you see the donkey of your enemy collapsing under its burden, and are inclined to desist from helping him, you shall surely help along with him (23:5)
The Hebrew for “donkey,” chamor, also means “material.” Thus, this verse also instructs us as to the proper attitude toward the body and physicality:
“When you will see the chamor of your enemy”—initially you will see your material self as your enemy, as something that obstructs and hinders your spiritual growth.
“Collapsing under its burden”—in such a state of animosity between body and soul, that the body resists the Torah and its commandments, making them an unbearable burden for it . . .
One’s first inclination may be “to desist from helping him”—to shun the body, suppress its instincts and deny it its wants.
Says the Torah: “You shall surely help along with him.” Aid the material self with its “burden,” by training it to recognize that the Torah is the vehicle for its own refinement and elevation.
(Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov)
If you see the donkey of your enemy collapsing under its burden . . . you shall surely help along with him (23:5)
If the owner of the animal went and sat down and said to him, “Since the obligation rests upon you, if you desire to unload, unload,” he is exempt, because the verse says, “You shall surely help along with him.” (If, however, the owner was old or infirm, one is bound to do it himself.)
(Talmud, Bava Metzia 32a)
An impoverished widow once came to the beit din (courthouse) of the great sage Rabbi Yehoshua Kutner. Weeping bitter tears, she begged him to summon to the court a man she accused of having wronged her.
Rabbi Yehoshua summoned the man to appear before the court, but referred the case to another rabbi, refusing to preside over it himself. “The Torah forbids the taking of bribes,” he explained. “Do you think that a bribe is only a gift of money? Tears can also be a bribe that ‘blinds the clear-sighted’—especially the tears of a poor widow.”
(Maayanah Shel Torah)
Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk (23:19)
Meat stems from the divine attribute of justice, milk from the attribute of mercy.
(Shaloh)
You shall serve the L‑rd your G‑d, and He will bless your bread and your water (23:25)
In Hebrew, the pronoun “you” has both a singular and a plural form. The above verse, as written in the Torah, is a grammatical abnormality: the words “your bread and your water” (et lachmecha ve’et meimecha) are in the singular form, while the “you” in “you shall serve” (va’avadtem) is plural.
Explained the Rebbe of Kotzk: A Jew praying, even a single Jew praying alone, is nevertheless praying for—and together with—the entire community of Israel. On the other hand, a thousand people eating together are each eating for the sake of their own selves.
To Moses He said, “Go up to G‑d . . .” (24:1)
The commentaries differ as to the timing of the events described in the closing verses of Mishpatim (Exodus 24:1–18).
According to Rashi, the Torah now returns to fill us in on the events that occurred before the revelation at Sinai and the speaking of the Ten Commandments (recounted in chapters 19–20 above). Moses’ summons to the top of the mountain mentioned here was on the 4th of Sivan, two days before the giving of the Torah. On that day he relayed to the people of Israel (as mentioned in verse 3) “the words of G‑d” commanded in chapter 19 (to fence in the mountain and to sanctify themselves in preparation for the giving of the Torah), as well as “the laws” which they had already received in Marah; he also “wrote all the words of G‑d” (v. 4)—i.e., from the beginning of Genesis until the middle of Exodus, bringing the Torah “up to date” until the revelation at Sinai. The altar mentioned here (verses 4 and 6) was built, and the sacrifices (vv. 5–8) were offered, on the 5th of Sivan, which is also the day on which the people of Israel made the famous proclamation: “We will do and we will hear” (v. 7). Then the Torah describes how they “saw the G‑d of Israel” (v. 10) at the giving of the Torah on the 6th of Sivan. Finally we read how, following the (general) giving of the Torah, Moses is summoned to the top of the mountain for 40 days to receive the detailed communication from G‑d (including the laws we just read in the earlier chapters of Mishpatim). This is consistent with the rule that “there is no earlier and later in Torah”—i.e., that the Torah does not necessarily relate events in the order in which they occurred.
According to Nachmanides, the Torah is following chronological order. All the laws that we read in the earlier chapters of Mishpatim were communicated to Moses immediately after the giving of the Torah on the 6th of Sivan—before the events related in chapter 24, which occurred on the 7th of Sivan, the day after the revelation. Hence, “the words of G‑d” and the “the laws” which Moses related to the people (v. 3), and the divine words which Moses transcribed (v. 4), are the Ten Commandments and the laws we just read in the earlier part of Mishpatim. Following that, Moses ascended the mountain for 40 days to receive the rest of the Torah.
[Moses] took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people; and they said: “All that G‑d has spoken, we will do, and we will hear” (24:7)
When the people of Israel gave precedence to “we will do” over “we will hear,” a heavenly voice issued forth and exclaimed to them: “Who revealed to My children this secret, which is employed by the angels?” As it is written (Psalms 103:20), “Bless the L‑rd, His angels, those mighty in strength, who fulfill His word, who hear the voice of His word”—first they “fulfill” and then they “hear” . . .
There was a certain Sadducee who saw Rava engrossed in his studies while the fingers of his hand were under his feet, and he ground them down, so that his fingers spurted blood. “You rash people,” he exclaimed, “who gave precedence to your mouth over your ears, still persist in your rashness! First you should have listened, and if it is within your powers, accept; if not, you should not have accepted!”
(Talmud, Shabbat 88a)
The greatness of the people of Israel was not that they were prepared to “blindly” do G‑d’s bidding without understanding (in which case they would have said only “we will do”), but that they placed their doing before their understanding. G‑d desires that we should do as well as “hear” and comprehend His will, so that we serve Him not only with our hands and feet, but also with our minds and hearts. But our doing should serve as the basis of our understanding, rather than the other way around.
(The Chassidic Masters)