Parshas Mishpatim
1. In this week's Sidrah it says: "על כל דבר פשע על כל אבידה אשר יאמר כי הוא זה עד האלקים יבא דבר שניהם גו׳ ישלם שנים לרעהו" ("For every matter of trespass… for any lost thing of which one says, 'This is it' — the cause of both parties shall come before the judges… he shall pay double to his fellow"). The Gemara says that this verse speaks of a guardian (shomer) who claims that the deposit entrusted to him was lost — a claim that exempts him from paying: for an unpaid guardian (shomer chinam), a claim of theft or loss, and for a paid guardian (shomer sachar), a claim of unavoidable accident (onsin) — and he swore an oath to support his claim, and in the end it emerged that he had actually been negligent with the deposit and had committed a breach1 in his oath. The law then is: "the cause of both parties shall come before the judges… he shall pay double to his fellow."
We have already spoken many times about how all matters of the revealed part of Torah exist also in spirituality; on the contrary, precisely because these matters exist in spirituality, they subsequently descend into the revealed plane.
So too the law of negligence, of misappropriating a deposit (shlichus yad bapikadon), of a breach in an oath, and the verdict — "the cause of both parties shall come before the judges" — all exist in spirituality as well.
2. The holy honor of our master, teacher and Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, whose soul is in Eden, explains in a maamar (Chassidic discourse) the verse "For every matter of trespass…" in terms of the spiritual avodah of the human soul. We will review part of that maamar that is relevant to this, with some additions, by way of suggestion:
Within every Jew there is found a deposit of the Almighty — that is the neshamah (soul)2 — which he must guard so that it remains whole and is not, Heaven forbid, blemished; and more than that, he must elevate the neshamah even higher than it was before its descent, as is known that the descent of the soul into the body is "a descent for the sake of an ascent."
The guarding which a Jew must exercise over his soul is also bound up with an oath, as our Sages say3, that when a soul must descend below, "משביעין אותו תהי צדיק ואל תהי רשע" ("he is made to swear: Be righteous and do not be wicked").
"For every matter of trespass" — that he is negligent with the deposit and commits a breach in the oath — what brings this about? The verse says: "על שור על חמור על שה ועל שלמה" ("for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a garment"). These are particular categories within the animal soul (as will be explained below), which bring about "for any lost thing" — that the G‑dly soul becomes, the Merciful One save us, lost. This goes so far that "of which one says, 'This is it'" — that about "Hu" ("He," the hidden) he says that it is "Zeh" ("this").
"Zeh," in its true meaning, refers to holiness and G‑dliness. One cannot say "Zeh" about anything except about the Almighty, for two reasons:
a) "Zeh" means: this is "it," and "it" can be said only of the Almighty. For a created being's existence is not truly itself, but only the G‑dly life-force which continuously brings it into being from nothing to something. In the words of the Rambam: "אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו" ("There is no true existence besides Him").
b) "Zeh" means: here it is — wherever and whenever one is, one can say, here it is. And this applies only to G‑dliness, for every created being is limited; it is not present everywhere, and consequently it is not applicable to say "Zeh" about it. But "שם שמים שגור בפי כל" ("the Name of Heaven is fluent in everyone's mouth")4. Only of the Almighty, Who is present everywhere — "דלית אתר פנוי מיניה" ("there is no place devoid of Him") — is it fitting to say, here He is — "Zeh." However, because of the concealment and hiddenness of the animal soul, one exchanges them, and says about "Hu" that it is "Zeh."
3. Regarding the particular levels of the animal soul, which the verse includes in four categories — ox, donkey, sheep and garment — the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, explains in the maamar that "ox" means "שור נגח" ("a goring ox"); "donkey" — "חמרא בתקופת תמוז קרירא ליה" ("a donkey feels cold even in the heat of Tammuz"); "garment" (salmah) — "ובגד בוגדים בגדו" ("the treacherous have dealt treacherously," from the word beged, a garment); and "sheep" — "שה פזורה ישראל" ("Israel is a scattered sheep").
Although one must guard oneself against all the categories of the animal soul, since all of them can lead to the loss of the G‑dly soul, the Merciful One save us, nevertheless in every era there is its own particular kelipah, and one must stand up against it in particular. Therefore we will dwell mainly on explaining the matter of the "sheep," which is especially relevant in our generation.
4. On the verse "Israel is a scattered sheep," a question is asked: "Israel" is a name of distinction, while "a scattered sheep" is a deficiency; why then, when he wishes to say "a scattered sheep," does he mention specifically "Israel"? The point, however, is that this is exactly what the prophet is asking. Since Jews are designated with the name Israel — "כי שרית עם אלקים ועם אנשים ותוכל" ("for you have striven with angels and with men and have prevailed"), meaning that a Jew has the power to be a master — "sarisa" — not only over men — "anashim" — but also over angels — "Elokim" — how then does it come about that he has no firmness within himself, to the point that he trails after everyone else, and he is "a scattered sheep"?!
This was also the accusation of Haman, the prosecutor in Heaven, to Achashverosh — "זה הקב״ה שאחרית וראשית שלו" ("this is the Holy One, blessed be He, to Whom the end and the beginning belong"): "ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים גו׳ ואת דתי המלך אינם עושים" ("There is one people scattered and dispersed among the nations… and they do not keep the King's laws"). "There is one people" — there is a nation whose essence is "one"; they can make [everything] "one" everywhere, even down on earth, as it says, "גוי אחד בארץ" ("one nation on earth"). And notwithstanding their greatness, they are "scattered and dispersed among the nations" — they are impressed by everyone, and consequently "the King's laws" — the laws of the King of the world — "they do not keep."
5. The order as it ought to be is that wherever a Jew comes, he must lead (the spirituality — which is the true existence — of) the entire city, the entire surroundings, the entire country. But instead of that, he loses himself: not only is he not one who influences (a mashpia), he even becomes one who is influenced (a mushpa), imitating the follies of the country, of the environment and of the city.
Instead of influencing the entire environment in every matter so that the Shulchan Aruch should be their arbiter (posek), instead of that, his arbiter is the environment, and the "next-door" — the neighbor — is for him the final authority (posek acharon), according to whom he arranges his entire household conduct.
6. The matter of "Israel is a scattered sheep," the lack of firmness, goes so far that even in the education of the children — who are, after all, the hope and the foundation of every home and of the entire Jewish people — even there it is evident that firmness is lacking.
Regarding Jews even in the harshest exile, the exile of Egypt, it says: "מלמד שהיו ישראל מצויינים שם, שלא שינו את שמם לשונם ולבושם" ("This teaches that Israel were distinguished there, for they did not change their names, their language, or their dress")5. Instead of that, in our time people have no firmness within themselves, and they seek all sorts of stratagems so that it should not be recognizable on the child that he is a Jew.
What ought to be is that when a Jewish child walks in the street, it should be recognizable even from afar that a Jew is walking, for "Israel" is, after all, a name of distinction. Instead of that, people are actually ashamed of it, and try by every possible means to hide it.
7. Based on this one can also explain what the Gemara6 asks regarding the law of a lost object: "שה דכתב רחמנא למה לי" ("Why does the Torah need to write 'sheep'?"), and the Gemara says, "שה דאבדה קשיא" ("the 'sheep' of the lost-object passage is difficult") (what does it teach us — that one must return it? That is obvious). Regarding ox, donkey and garment there is a novelty as to why one returns the lost object (as the Gemara explains), but not regarding sheep.
What, indeed, does one do with the sheep? According to what we said earlier, one can explain this in terms of man's avodah (briefly, at least): a) ox — goring; b) donkey — which, despite the "sun of G‑d" in the full heat of Tammuz, feels cold; c) garment — betraying, being treacherous with Torah and mitzvos. In these it is a novelty that they can return, "ושב ורפא לו" ("and he will return and be healed"). But the "scattered sheep," which merely loses itself among the nations — what does it teach us that one returns such a lost object? It is surely an a fortiori case from the ox, etc. To this the answer is: on the contrary, "the 'sheep' of the lost object is difficult"7 — it is the hardest of all to return, since what is missing is the foundation and beginning of all four sections of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch, "אל יבוש מפני המלעיגים" ("one should not be embarrassed before those who mock") — so how will he come to the Shulchan Aruch? And this is the novelty: that even such a difficult lost object is returned. "אין לך דבר העומד בפני התשובה" ("There is nothing that stands in the way of teshuvah").
8. The verse in the Sidrah goes on to say that the verdict and the remedy for negligence with the deposit, caused by ox, donkey, garment and even sheep, is: "the cause of both parties shall come before Elokim" — the judges (dayana). This refers to the first judge — Moshe — and to "אתפשטותא דמשה בכל דרא ודרא" ("the extension of Moshe in every generation")*, who gives the power to do teshuvah properly. "He shall pay double to his fellow" — "his fellow" refers to the Almighty8: he will repay the Almighty doubly, compared to before the sin, as it says in Igeres HaTeshuvah9: "היה רגיל לקרות דף אחד יקרא שני דפים כו׳" ("If he was accustomed to read one page, he should read two pages, etc.").
And then the Almighty will give him measure for measure, so that even the willful sins will become merits, and even the animal soul will assist in the service of G‑d.
In particular: from the animal soul at the level of "ox" will come "ורב תבואות בכח שור" ("and much produce comes through the strength of the ox")10. From "donkey" — "יששכר חמור גרם" ("Yissachar is a strong-boned donkey")11 — the avodah of accepting the yoke, like a donkey bearing its burden. From "Israel is a scattered sheep" — which is also what it says, "תעיתי כשה אובד" ("I have strayed like a lost sheep")12, he wanders like a sheep that has no firmness of its own and becomes lost — there comes "בקש עבדך" ("seek Your servant"), "משכני אחריך" ("draw me after You"), that he is drawn after the Almighty above reason and intellect. From "garment" — "וריח שלמתיך כריח לבנון" ("and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon")13.
In general, this means that even the animal soul assists in the service of G‑d, as our Sages say14: "ואהבת את הוי׳ אלקיך בכל לבבך — בשני יצריך" ("'You shall love the L‑rd your G‑d with all your heart' — with both your inclinations").
(From the sichos of Simchas Torah and Shabbos Parshas Bereishis 5715)
9. In this week's Sidrah it says, "אם כסף תלוה" ("If you lend money"). Our Sages say15 that although it says "if," this does not mean something optional; rather, it is a mitzvah and an obligation.
On the verse "מגיד דבריו ליעקב חקיו ומשפטיו לישראל" ("He tells His words to Yaakov, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel"), our Sages say16 that what the Almighty commands Jews to do, He Himself also does. This is the meaning of "His statutes and His ordinances" — His own statutes and His own ordinances, which He Himself fulfills.
From this it is understood that the Almighty, too, fulfills "If you lend money to My people."
10. The concept of a loan is: one gives another person money although it is not due to him. The other does not give anything in return for it. Yet it is not a gift; rather, the other becomes obligated to return it later.
So too, the Almighty gives a Jew matters and powers, but He demands that one use all of it to carry out His mission — to return it in the form of "His statutes and His ordinances."
11. In the matter of giving something on condition that it be given back, there are two modes: a borrowed article (she'eilah) and a loan (halva'ah). The difference between the two is: with a borrowed article, the borrower must return the very same item that he took; it does not become his. But a loan — "להוצאה ניתנה" ("is given to be spent") — it becomes entirely the borrower's, and he can use it for all sorts of matters.
The reason the empowerment from the Almighty — "If you lend money" — is called by the name "loan" is because Jews can take this power and use it to accomplish things in their own matters, even when these are lowly matters.
12. The application of this in practice, and particularly in the study of Chassidus, is as follows:
There are those who think that with learning Chassidus one must wait until he will first be careful to perfection even in a minor detail of the words of the Scribes and in the beautification of a mitzvah. As long as he still worries that he has not yet reached that point — not to speak of when he knows that he may at times slip in the beautification of a mitzvah and in a minor detail of the words of the Scribes, and all the more so if he fails even in a Rabbinic law, and sometimes even in a Torah law, whether in a matter of "קום ועשה" ("arise and do," a positive commandment) or in a matter of "שב ואל תעשה" ("sit and do not do," a prohibition) — then, he thinks, he cannot occupy himself with the study of Chassidus and with the avodah of prayer, and in general with lofty matters.
To this we say: "A loan is given to be spent." Notwithstanding the loftiness of the teachings of Chassidus — for which the Alter Rebbe gave the parable of a precious stone set in the king's crown17, without which precious stone the entire crown is no crown — nevertheless, every Jew is given permission to take the king's crown and use it in his own matters.
Every Jew is required, however low he may be, not to miss even a single day of his set study (shiur) in Chassidus. And even on the very day on which he stumbled, Heaven forbid, in a Torah law, whether in a matter of a positive commandment or of a prohibition, he should also not miss his shiur in the study of Chassidus that day — and not only a matter of avodah, but also a matter of intellectual comprehension of G‑dliness, and even such an intellectual matter that, because of its loftiness, he does not know at all how to bring it down to himself.
13. As to the reason for this empowerment which the Almighty gives — "If you lend money" — the verse says: "את עמי" ("to My people"), and our Sages say18: "עמי ונכרי — עמי קודם" ("My people and a gentile — My people come first"). Since one needs to caution and say "My people come first," it is understood that there is room to say otherwise, and nevertheless we say "My people come first."
From this it is understood that the empowerment comes from such a place where the service of the created beings has no effect — the level of "אדון יחיד שרש השרשים" ("the Singular Master, the Root of roots")19, as it says20, "איני יודע באיזה מהם חפץ" ("I do not know which of them He desires") — in the deeds of the righteous or in the deeds of the wicked. There must be a teaching about this, because there, there could be room for it to be otherwise. Rather, by virtue of the essential choice — in that the Almighty chose the souls of Israel — "My people come first."
And this is the level of which it says, "הלא אח עשו ליעקב נאם ה׳ ואוהב את יעקב ואת עשו שנאתי" ("Is not Esav Yaakov's brother? says G‑d; yet I loved Yaakov, and Esav I hated")21. The deeds of the lower beings do not touch that level; therefore "Esav is Yaakov's brother" — both are equal. And nevertheless, by virtue of the essential choice and love, "I loved Yaakov…"
And this is also why it says "If you lend money (kesef)": "kesef" alludes to love, from the expression "נכסוף נכספתה לבית אביך" ("you longed greatly for your father's house")22 — meaning that the loan, the empowerment, comes not by virtue of one's avodah, but by virtue of the Almighty's essential love for Jews.
14. Since the empowerment comes from such a place where the deeds of the lower beings are of no consequence, the empowerment is consequently given to every Jew, for in the place from which the power is drawn, the absence of avodah has not caused any blemish.
And this is also what the verse continues: "את העני עמך" ("the poor man with you"). Although he is poor — he has reflected on his standing and situation and is broken by it, and indeed has reason to be broken — nevertheless he must know that he too has the power from Above, for the essential love reaches everyone, him too. On the contrary — precisely because he is poor; for it is known that the Almighty is found specifically in "a broken and contrite heart."
"לא תהיה לו כנושה" ("Do not be to him as a creditor"): if the borrower has nothing with which to pay, so that demanding will not help but will only distress him, one may not demand from him. Moreover, one may not even pass by the borrower in a way that will distress him23.
As was said earlier — "He tells His words to Yaakov…," what He commands His children He Himself does — so it is also Above: when demanding through the "left line" and with sufferings accomplishes nothing, it is pointless to demand — "Do not be to him as a creditor." As it says, "על מה תכו עוד תוסיפו סרה" ("Why should you be beaten further, as you continue to stray?")24. "Why should you be beaten" — since it does not accomplish anything; on the contrary, "you continue to stray." When the Almighty sees that with the left line nothing is accomplished, He will begin again with the right line — with closeness in kindness and mercy, with visible and revealed good.
(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim 5712)
15. In Midrash Tanchuma it says on the verse "If you lend money to My people, the poor man with you," that through this one lends to the Almighty: "מלוה ה׳ חונן דל" ("One who is gracious to the poor lends to G‑d") — by being gracious to the poor, by giving tzedakah, one lends to G‑d; one makes a loan to the Almighty.
When the Almighty repays, He repays according to His measure. The Almighty is, after all, infinite (beli gvul), so He also repays without limit (without a boundary).
As was discussed at the farbrengen of Yud Shevat, regarding what the Tzemach Tzedek explains at the beginning of Sefer HaChakirah: although actual infinity is not applicable to created beings — for even if more and more is continually added, ultimately it still remains within limitation —
that, however, means only that actual infinity does not exist in created beings; but potentially, the Almighty can give further and further, generation after generation, without end. The matter goes deeper: in something limited in time, its "beginning of the end" — change and weakening — starts long beforehand. As the well-known expression25 puts it, created beings26 "from the day they were created, go on drying up." From this it is understood that when one sees an influence in which, over a long period of time, there is no weakening27 — on the contrary — this belongs to the category of actual infinity. This is the general concept of drawing the infinite into the finite.
In tzedakah — of which "שקולה צדקה כנגד כל המצות" ("tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos") — there is the highest form of tzedakah, namely gemilus chassadim (lending with kindness), according to the saying of our Sages28: "גדולה גמילות חסדים יותר מן הצדקה, דצדקה הוא לעניים דוקא וגמילות חסדים בין לעניים בין לעשירים" ("Gemilus chassadim is greater than tzedakah, for tzedakah is for the poor only, while gemilus chassadim is both for the poor and for the rich"). For the sake of tzedakah there must be rich and poor, for if all were rich — "חסד ואמת מן ינצרוהו" ("kindness and truth — who would preserve them?")29 — hence "לא יחדל אביון מקרב הארץ" ("the needy shall not cease from the midst of the land"). But for the sake of gemilus chassadim there need not be any poor person — "אפס כי לא יהיה בך אביון" ("however, there shall be no needy among you") — for gemilus chassadim is also for the rich.
Tonight there takes place the meeting of the Gemilus Chassadim Society "Shomrei Shabbos" (the words "Shomrei Shabbos" are actually not fitting, for just as in gemilus chassadim there should be no distinction between poor and rich, so too there should be no other distinctions either; but it is presumably meant as a goal). Everyone should participate in it, lending money to the fund for the longest possible time, for then the fund will be able to lend larger sums for longer periods, and thereby all those participating will fulfill gemilus chassadim.
And just as in gemilus chassadim there is no limitation of poor and rich regarding to whom one lends, so too here there should be no limitation regarding who should participate; therefore everyone should give to the fund.
This accords with Parshas Shekalim, which is read today, and with the well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe that one must live [the text continues beyond the pages in the source — OCR ends here]
Notes
1) See the discourse beginning "משביעין אותו" (in the book Kitzurim VeHe'aros LeTanya, p. 57ff.), [where the word for oath is explained] in the sense of "ומשביע לכל חי" ("and You satisfy every living thing").
2) See Shabbos 152b, and in many places.
3) Niddah 30b.
4) See Torah Or 18b: "Even small children, etc."
5) "Their names and their language" — Mechilta, Shemos 12:6; Vayikra Rabbah 32:5. "Their dress" — Midrash Lekach Tov, Parshas Va'eira.
6) Bava Metzia 27a.
7) See Zohar III, 124b: "difficult" — from the side of [OCR unclear].
*) Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 69.
8) Shemos Rabbah, beginning of Parshas Yisro.
9) End of ch. [OCR unclear].
10) Mishlei 14:4.
11) Bereishis 49:14.
12) Tehillim 119:176.
13) Shir HaShirim 4:11.
14) Berachos 54a.
15) Mechilta, cited in Rashi's commentary on the Torah.
16) Shemos Rabbah 30:9.
17) See HaTamim, booklet 2; Bitaon Chabad, booklet 5.
18) Bava Metzia 71a.
19) Avodas HaKodesh, part 2, ch. 3, cited in the Shelah (31b). The matter is explained in the discourse beginning "צאינה וראינה עטרת" and in the discourse beginning "לא תהיה משכלה" 5712.
20) Bereishis Rabbah, end of ch. [OCR unclear].
21) Malachi 1:2–3.
22) Tanya, beginning of ch. 3.
23) Bava Metzia 75b.
24) Yeshayahu 1:5.
25) Hemshech Mayim Rabbim 5636, sec. 33; see there.
26) Meaning created beings that endure only as a species.
27) See Yerushalmi Berachos 1:1: "The day enters, etc.… the heavens and the earth as on the day they were created, etc."
28) Sukkah 49b; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 249:1.
29) Shemos Rabbah 31:5; Tanchuma, ibid.
Key Lesson
The soul is G‑d's deposit entrusted to every Jew, and the "scattered sheep" — a lack of firmness that makes a Jew follow his surroundings instead of leading them — is the special challenge of our generation; yet even this lost object can be returned through teshuvah. Because G‑d's empowerment comes as a loan from His essential love, not as a reward for one's avodah, no Jew, however low, should miss even one day of his study of Chassidus. And just as G‑d does not press a borrower who cannot pay, He responds with kindness and revealed good.