Parashat Mishpatim (Judgments) – Weekly Parashah

Texts: Exodus 21:1-24:18 || Jeremiah 33:25-33:26; 34:8-34:22

NOTE:  Kol HaTor, in its commentaries on the weekly Parashot, endeavours to search for and accentuate the Torah Messages contained in the Parashot as applicable to the main Theme of Tanach of the Return of the House of Israel, i.e. the Lost Ten Tribes of Northern Israel and their Reconciliation with Judah to form the reunited 12-Tribed Kingdom of Israel. 

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DISCLAIMER –  The authors whom we quote from for this Commentary are not associated with KOL HA’TOR and need not agree with our views  expressed herein or in our other publications.  While we publish their  views for its relative value to the interpretation of the Parashah, KOL HATOR does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by these  authors.

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We have seen in our Parashot thusfar, how that the promised Return of the Lost House of Israel will be a strange and unusual option for G-d’s People already in the Land of Israel today. Just like Moses, Yosef and Yithroh were strangers to the People of G-d at the time, coming from ‘foreign lands and even cultures.

This week’s Parashah reveals how that HaShem intends to settle His People in the Promised Land over a period of time:

Exodus 23:23  “ My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. ²⁴ Do not bow down before their gods or worshipthem or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. ²⁵ Worship HaShem your G-d, and His blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, ²⁶ and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.²⁷ I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. ²⁸ I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. ²⁹ But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.“

So, it is clear (and logic) that possession of the Land is about demographics – ‘sufficient numbers’.

Israel’s current problem is a demographical problem:  lack of sufficient numbers of Jews to inhabit the Promised Land.  This specter has been raised by Israel’s most leftists politicians.  They then conclude and suggest that we “withdraw into a smaller Israel”, the borders of which will simply be indefensible.

On the nationalistic, Zionist (rightist) side which includes mostly orthodox religious factions, a spirit of demographic blindness and protectionist self-interest reigns.  It is fragmented with ‘sectarianism’ and the blocking out of secular residents from the religiously ‘walled-in’ settlements acts like a process of shooting themselves in the foot all the time.  The clearest and saddest example of this is the Gush Katif forced evacuation of 10 000 Jewish souls from their homes (even from their graves) in 2005, because of the demographical imbalance which could not be justified by Israel’s rulers in the face of world pressure.

The anti-dote example of this degenerating force which is applied on the Promised Land of HaShem, is the city of Ariel in Shomron.  The pioneers of this city is not threatened by the ‘foreign Egyptian like statures’ of prospective citizens. It serves as a model city of Israel, judged on all aspects of Zionism,  religion, nationalism, commerce, industrial and education.

The two examples mentioned above, should serve as guidelines “How” and “How not to” secure our Divine Heritage of a Promised Land which HE is busy leading His People to.

Destination:  “Greater Israel”

Our Parashah this week specifies the surprising borders of the Promised Land:

Exodus 23:31  “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them outbefore you. ³² Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

Shall we rebel against His leading us there?  Shall we oppose His Will and Intent of His Ultimate Purpose of ruling over the world with a Selected Body of rulers?

For explanations, sources, refer: britam.org

It was this Greater Land that HaShem promised to Avraham.  It was in order to lead His People to this Greater Land that HaShem used a ‘stranger to the Hebrews’, a Moshe, a Yosef, and to be advised also in its Justice System by a ‘Yithro’ from a ‘foreign land’. From this we learn to expect, accept and respect re-identifying and re-awakening 10-Israel to be strangers from foreign countries when they do one day turn up.

Looking at this Biblical Map of the vast expanse of the Biblically Promised Kingdom of Israel, it should be obvious that the 15 million Jews of the world (from the Tribe of Judah mainly) can NOT POSSIBLY populate this Promised Land – not even the current heavily disputed area, West of the Jordan river, which equates the size merely of a nature reserve in the Greater Map of Israel!

HaShem holds the Trump Card:  Multi millions of Lost Ten Tribers who will return to their Hebrew Roots – like a Valley of Dry Bones coming Alive, putting on flesh and imbued with the Spirit of HaShem (Ezek. 37:1-14).  Ref. Demographic Solution for Israel.

The Answer to a 2-State Solution

Many countries of the world are pressuring for a 2-State solution, viz. for Jewish Israel to share the Promised Land with a nation without historic foundations whatsoever; a nation that opposes the Act of HaShem leading His People to the Land He has promised them.  This ‘nation who is not a nation’ also manages masterfully to gain the support of the entire world for their Cause of driving Jews out of the Land which they claim belongs to the Palestinians.

How will we further provoke Him in His leading us to the Greater Israel:

• by being willing to make a covenant with the ‘no nation” inhabitants of the Land, the Palestinians;
• by being prepared to share the Promised Land with our self-declared enemies;
• by bending to the pressure of the world.

Our Parashah gives us the clear directions – read them again!

What should our response be in order to warrant HaShem’s Blessing?

THIS should be re-awakening 10-Israel’s Watchword!  THIS is what they should qualify themselves for – in humility and respect for Judah.  This is what they should help Judah achieve – not from an arrogant position of insolence, but, with a sustaining spirit, reflecting understanding and insight.

THIS is what Judah should value them for and accept them for! For it behooves HaShem, the G-d of Israel, to call His People from a foreign Land – like a Moses, a Yoseph and a Yithroh!

“Let us not give advice to Hashem on how to redeem His people.”  (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, 1893).

From our Haftarah we have the Blessed comforting Divine Promise:

Jeremiah 33:25-26

“This is what HaShem says: ‘If I have not made My Covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David My Servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.'”