Mishpatim

Mishpatim

[These Are the] Rules
Exodus
21:1−24:18

These are the rules that you shall set before them. - Exodus 21:1

Summary: 
  • Interpersonal laws ranging from the treatment of slaves to the exhibition of kindness to strangers are listed. (21:1-23:9)
  • Cultic laws follow, including the commandment to observe the Sabbatical Year, a repetition of the Sabbath injunction, the first mention of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, rules of sacrificial offerings, and the prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk. (23:10-19)
  • The people assent to the covenant. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascend the mountain and see God. Moses goes on alone and spends forty days on the mountain. (24:1-18)

When do we read Mishpatim?

2014 Jan 25 /24 Shevat, 5774
2015 Feb 14 /25 Shevat, 5775
2016 Feb 6 /27 Shevat, 5776

RECENT COMMENTARY

  • By Marci N. Bellows

    I’m your typical oldest child, fitting many of the characteristics that psychologists love to identify: a natural leader, a people-pleaser, a perfectionist, and so on. As the oldest of four, I have loved watching my siblings make choices in their lives that I would never have considered and behave in ways that I never would have conceived. When I asked my parents for something, they gave me an answer and I accepted it. This was their role and this was how my world worked. I rarely questioned them, and if I didn’t like their answer I just learned to deal with it.

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