Monday, February 20, 2017
Mishpatim #1- What Sentences?
In פסוק א׳ of משפטים, it says "these sentences". Why does it add the word these? Why can't they just have written 'sentences'? Rashi interprets the word 'these' as adding to something previously stated. He explains that these sentences are an addition to the Ten Commandments from Mount. Sinai, which was already given to us before these sentences were.
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Rav Avigdor Meyerowitz elaborates on Rashi's comments and he says that the laws mentioned in Parshat Mishpatim were not simply a continuation or an addition of what was stated before, i.e. the Aseret Hadibrot. Rather he stresses that the pasuk adds the "Veila" to teach that these civil, everyday, common laws which can unfortunately be taken lightly are just as important and must be kept as strongly as the Aseret Hadibrot.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Avahu, quoting Rabbi Yossi ben Zimra says that the word "Elah" represents a break in the sentence, but "Va Elah" represents some type of continuation in the sentence. I think that this idea fits well with the pshat of the pasuk and is a logical reason for why it says "These sentences" rather than just "sentences".
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the other explanations, the Daat Zakenim points out that if the pasuk had just written "Elah" then it is known that the pasuk is not continuing what had been previously discussed. In this pasuk, however, the vav before "Elah" signifies some kind of continuation. In this specific case the pasuk is telling us that what is about to be said is also from when Moshe learnt Torah with Hashem on Har Sinai.
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