I was asked to teach about this weeks parasha, Mishpatim, but actually I didn't get past the first letter in Hebrew:
וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם
And these are the laws that you shall present to them... (Exodus 21.1)
Why 'and'? It seems to refer to something that happened previously, and that question opened up a whole rabbit-hole of sources and traditions. Were the basics laws of justice given at Sinai, or after the crossing of the sea, or during slavery in Egypt, or to Noah, or to Adam, or even before creation itself?
You can read the sources I used, and listen to the podcast shiur (or find '58th Century Judaisms' in spotify, apple, google etc.)
I'll tell you why I think it matters. The last two years have severely weakened the authority of law for many people. The constantly changing regulations, uncertainty, protests and cynicism has brought us to treat the question "What's the law today?" as normal. And although we are usually referring to Covid-related restrictions of gathering and movement, the effect is to bring law itself into question. Just reading the newspaper raises other questions of the connections between law and justice. In that light, I explored Jewish sources on where law begins, and how particular or universal it is.
We finished up with the radical ideas of truth and law being created before creation. Ok. But what kind of truth? I find the twist in the comparison of Moses and Aaron as two kinds of judges.
וכן משה היה אומר יקוב הדין את ההר אבל אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ומשים שלום בין אדם לחבירו שנאמר (מלאכי ב, ו) תורת אמת היתה בפיהו ועולה לא נמצא בשפתיו בשלום ובמישור הלך אתי ורבים השיב מעון
Moses would say: Let the judgment smash the mountain. But by contrast, Aaron was a lover of peace and a pursuer of peace, and he would apply peace between one person and the other, as it is stated: “The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity” (Talmud Sanhedrin 6b)
You might have imagined 'truth' to be referring to Moses' harsh judgement. But it actually is brought in reference to Aaron, the harmonious seeker of compromise. In his manifestation of God's truth, whatever works is true, whether it corresponds to facts or not. Some are scared of fuzzy ideas like post-truth, we know where they can lead. Moses's truth is firmer. Aaron's... stays away from war. Perhaps that's the justice we need now.
We are a few days away from the beginning of Adar I, which is a month away from Adar II, which is fifteen days from the fuzziest festival in the Jewish calendar, and my favourite: Purim! I hope to bring some more Purim thoughts before then. In the meantime, welcome to look at last year's Purim thought process here.
Wishing you all truth and peace. And health.
Josh
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[Invitation: 5 minutes of weekly Torah in slow simple Hebrew here]