This idea is expressive of a true Judaic way of life. We are all looking for spiritual highs in life and very often these feelings of spirituality come to us in a jolting transforming way.
We read last week how the Jewish People reacted with great enthusiasm by pronouncing נעשה ונשמע as they stood at Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from Hashem.
This week's Parsha begins with the Hebrew letter vav"ו" as a continuation of last week's Sedrah - as Rashi suggests ואלה מוסיף על הראשונים, to emphasize and show the need for the same enthusiasm and passion to be exhibited by עם ישראל in their adherence of the laws of Mishpatim as they demonstrated at Sinai.
With this thought in mind,I am reminded of the Gemorah which states:
על שלשה דברים העולם קים, על האמת, על הדין, ועל השלום.
By three things is the world sustained, by truth, by Justice, and by peace.
The Gemorah goes on to say , that justice, truth, and peace are, in reality, one. If justice is executed, and truth is vindicated, peace results. How true this is and how sorrowful it is that our world today neglects this idea of the need for truth and justice and because of this neglect, our world suffers from a serious lack of peace.
Yes, we must first have the Ten Commandments, and the acceptance of Hashem as our Supreme Being, and then we must pursue all the dictates that we find in ואלה המשפטים, enunciating the power of justice and truth.
It is written that one of the Greek philosophers was asked, "When will man achieve a life of Justice?"
He replied, "We shall receive Justice when those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are.
Looking around we see the injustice that has taken hold of our country with so many acting with violence, and even more with their expression of hatred and Anti Semitism that is espoused daily throughout our country and especially on our college campuses. I cannot countenance to those who rationalize to me with "Well that's society". No! That's not society. That is us. We are so complacent that our own children do not realize what's going on. They have become, as we have, indifferent to this serious problem. We may not be able to cure the ills of society, but we must speak out vehemently against this abhorrent exercise that they call 'freedom of speech'. Hatred and anti Semitism is not and must not be a rationalization to achieve our freedom of speech. Know well that this rationalization is pure hatred of the Jew and is against the State of Israel.
The world is experiencing so many rallies and protests against societal complaints, legitimate or not. This must be our cue to begin to rally vociferously for our Judaic causes and especially to show the world that Israel is and will remain forever a Jewish State.
These are our Mishpatim of life and the more we raise our voices in a positive way the more the world will realize that עם ישראל חי.
Every day that we wake up, is a good day. Every breath that we take is filled with hope for a better day. Every word we speak, is a chance to change what is bad into something good.
לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה
שבת שלום ומבורך
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