Sicha, Shabbos Mishpatim 5734
A. “We Will Do and We Will Listen”?
After the Ten Commandments that we read in Yitro, our reading opens with a list of social laws (“Mishpatim”) that are understandable with human reason (Source 1). After about a hundred verses, the Torah returns to describe again the preparations for the Giving of the Torah and the declaration of the Jewish people: “We will do and we will listen,” events that chronologically occurred before the Giving of the Torah (Sources 2–4).
The question arises: although “there is no earlier and later in the Torah,” why did the Torah choose to write this here, in a later location?
B. Do We Need the Torah to Command Basic Morals?
The commandments are divided into three categories: laws (above reason), testimonies (reminders of events, understandable through reason), and Mishpatim (laws of reason).
Even though human reason requires adherence to the Mishpatim, the Torah emphasizes that “even these are from Sinai.” The reason is that reason alone is not stable enough to guarantee consistent moral behavior in real-life testing.
C. Morals and Ethics Must be Absolute
Human reason is exposed to “bribery” — personal inclinations, self-interest, pursuit of honor, and comfort. The Torah states that “bribery blinds the eyes of the wise.”
Historical example: Germany used its reason and knowledge to carry out unprecedented cruel acts against the Jewish people. Yet, just a few years after the war — alongside maintaining economic relations for the purpose of purchasing weapons (which can be justified by its life-saving aims) — representatives were sent to participate in the Olympics on German soil. How is this possible? (Source 5).
At first, everyone claimed that this was the same nation and that it was obligatory to remember and not forget its past crimes, and suddenly the narrative changed and they began to claim it was a “different nation” (the artificial separation between “Germany” and “Nazi Germany”).
Where does this come from? From the bribery involved in accepting budgets and from the need for honor through comparison to the nations. This demonstrates how morality can be flexible and twistable due to personal influences.
D. Reason and Faith
The instruction from the reading of Mishpatim is twofold:
- Even with logical commandments, we must act with acceptance of G-d’s authority that is not dependent on personal judgment — “even these are from Sinai.” This is the anchor that ensures morality does not bend.
- On the other hand, it is necessary to use reason to understand and delve into the Torah (“Mishpatim”). Why was reason created, if not to understand the wisdom of the Torah?
Here we reach the explanation of the question — why was “We will do and we will listen” written in the Torah after the reading of Mishpatim? To teach us that even within logical, reason-based laws, we must always precede the “We will do” before the “We will listen.”
