Rabbi
Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi,
Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – ASHAR
Principal
– Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS MISHPATIM
5776
“THE EAR THAT HEARD”
I
have studied many times
The
marble which was chiseled for me—
A
boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In
truth it pictures not my destination
But
my life.
For
love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow
knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition
called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet
all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And
now I know that we must lift the sail
And
catch the winds of destiny
Wherever
they drive the boat.
To
put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But
life without meaning is the torture
Of
restlessness and vague desire—
It
is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
--Edgar
Lee Masters[1]
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After the Torah completes its description of the great
revelation of Sinai, the Torah launches into a detailed exposition about the
practical laws of daily interpersonal living.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt’l explained that the Torah
immediately segues from the lofty revelation to these laws because ‘idealism
without legalism will never endure. The idealistic aspects of the Torah are not
enough; it must be cloaked within the mantle of the law.’
The first law which the Torah discusses is that of
the Jewish slave. The slave is acquired until the Sabbatical year. During his
years of slavery his master is permitted to marry him to his Canaanite maid so
that the children produced will be future slaves. When the Sabbatical year
arrives the slave is free to leave and return to his home and original family.
“But if the slave will say, ‘I love my master, my
wife, and my children – I will not go free. Then his master shall bring him to
the court and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master
shall bore through his ear with the awl, and he shall serve him forever.”
Rashi explains that it is specifically the
servant’s ear which is pierced because, “The ear that heard at Mount Sinai ‘For
the Children of Israel are slaves unto Me’ and he went and acquired a different
master for himself, let it be bored.”
What is the significance of the door and the
doorway vis-à-vis the slave?
A doorway symbolizes transition and change. One
stands before an unknown doorway with a certain measure of trepidation, not knowing
what lies behind the door and where proceeding through it will lead him. A door
represents instability and diffidence.
When Cain was jealous and angry that Hevel’s
offering had been accepted by G-d while his was rejected, G-d told him[2], “If you do not do good, at
the entrance sin crouches; its longing is toward you, and you will rule over
it.” Man’s free choice – to succumb to the blandishments of his evil
inclination or to resist and overcome – is analogous to a doorway. In that
sense what lies beyond the doorway is his prerogative.
On Chanukah there is a mitzvah for one to light
the menorah opposite the mezuzah on his doorpost[3]. The Mezuzah, which is
affixed to our doorpost inclined inward, symbolizes the need for us to
spiritually protect our homes from the luring impurities of the outside world. Our
homes are to be citadels of holiness, not allowing our traditions to be
compromised.
The Chanukah candles, which shimmer glowingly in
the darkness outside, represent our mission to illuminate the outside world. Our
mission is to be a beacon of light for the entire world, the bastion of
morality and sanctity.
Rambam[4] writes that one of the
Syrian-Greek’s nefarious decrees was, “One should not shut the door to the
entrance of his home, lest he exploit the privacy of his home in the observance
of mitzvos.” This decree was a terrible breach of the morality and modesty of a
Jewish home. But on a deeper level it represented the inner struggle that each
Jew maintained at his doorway. Does he succumb to the Greek’s aesthetic
lifestyle, or does he remain behind the threshold, steadfastly maintaining the
traditions of his fathers.
The Menorah is lit in the doorway to symbolize our
desire to remain resolute in our convictions and not ‘waver in the doorway’.
Kli Yakar writes that the servant’s ear is pierced
in the doorway because the Torah granted him ‘an open doorway’, i.e. he had a
way to ascend and move beyond his pitiful lifestyle, but he allowed the door of
opportunity to slam in his own face.
There are periodically doors that open before us
in life. But it requires tremendous courage and conviction to leave the comfort
of ritual, trite as it may be, to plunge into the potential of the unknown.
When the servant’s ear is pierced in the doorway
it leaves a mark of blood on the doorway. This is reminiscent of an earlier
time in our history. On the night before the Egyptian exodus, Moshe commanded
the anticipating nation to host their first Pesach Seder. Earlier in the day
they were to have taken the blood of the Pesach offering and smeared along
their doorposts, symbolizing that their home was a Jewish home. That act
symbolized a level of transcendence over their former captors.
Chazal relate that any Jew who did not wish to
leave Egypt
They died because they were unwilling to open the
door and traverse the threshold. The prospect of leaving the comfort of Egypt
The Jewish slave settled into a routine during his
years of servility. But now the door of opportunity is open before him. He has
the chance to begin anew, make amends, and make something more of himself. His
decision to ignore the opportunity is a tragic failure.
In the timeless words of Shlomo Hamelech:
“I am asleep but my heart is awake. A sound! My
beloved is knocking. “Open for Me My sister, My beloved, My dove, My
perfection…” I have doffed my shirt how can I don it? I have already washed my
feet how can I soil them?[5]”
When opportunity knocks are we willing to open the
door? Or do we allow the fear of the unknown to dominate us and compel us to
remain paralyzed at whatever level we are on?
“His master shall bring him to the door“
“At the entrance sin crouches”
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