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Parshat Mishpatim, Shabbat
Shekalim: Exodus 21:1-24:18,
30:11-16; // Kings 12:1-12:17.

I

n parshat Mishpatim, Israel
is camped at Sinai. The 10
Commandments have been spo-
ken, and God tells Moses, "These are
the rules you shall set before them:'
The laws that follow are known
as the Book of the Covenant. After
Moses has received the full collection
of laws from God, we read, Moses
"took the Book of the Covenant and
read it aloud to the people:'
The Israelites respond to
what they hear by saying,
"We will do, and we will
hear:' First, do. Next, hear.
First, do? Next, hear? In
the Talmud, the dramatic
nature of this response
is clarified: Rav Avdimi
quotes from parshat Yitro,
"And they took their places
at the foot of the moun-
tain:' He understands the
phrase actually to mean
"underneath the moun-
tain:'
Rav Avdimi says, "This teaches that
the Holy Blessed One inverted the
mountain over the Israelites." Then,
according to Rav Avdimi, God said to
them: "If you will accept the Torah,
great! If not, there, under the moun-
tain, will be your graves!"
Yep, if I had a mountain hanging
over my head, I'd likely be very will-
ing to do first and then listen later!
But why was this moment, of all
moments, the most important event
in human history?
The answer rests in what Israel's
acceptance of Torah — proclaiming
before God: "We will do, and we will
hear" means for us today. Torah is,
of course, more than a collection of
laws. Torah, in fact, is compared to
water, oil, fire, a tree of life, milk,
honey and more. Maimonides states
that the object of Torah is the well-

being of both body and soul. The
mishnah tells us that Torah is the
source of freedom, honor and life
itself!
Emmanuel Levinas, the French
Jewish philosopher, commented on
the story of God inverting the moun-
tain over the Israelites. According to
Levinas, revelation becomes the basis
for all future relationships; Torah
teaches us how to interact with each
other so we don't bring the
mountain down on our-
selves.
When we are as con-
cerned for the poor, the
orphaned or our enemy
as much as we are about
ourselves and our relation-
ship with God, we will be
following Mishpatim's blue-
print for society.
What our ancestors were
offered at Sinai was the
knowledge that the world
can be a better place. This is Torah
for Rav Avdimi. If the Israelites are
willing to accept the responsibility
of creating a just and ethical society,
great! If Israel rejects, they bring
the mountain down on themselves,
for what kind of life could they have
anyway?
Today we still stand "under the
mountain:' Our tradition teaches that
Torah must be accepted in every gen-
eration. So long as we exist, so long as
we seek Torah, we continue to strive
for that just and ethical society.
Our challenge is to seek Torah and
to use the blueprint that our ancestors
received at Sinai when they answered
"all the Lord has spoken we will faith-
fully do!"

❑

Robert Gamer, a native of Oak Park, is

the rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom in

Oak Park.

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February 12 • 2015

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