This shiur has been generously sponsored by Rachel Pekarsky in the merit that we all have continued strength and clarity in our challenges and decisions. To dedicate a shiur please email us at Nitzotzos@gmail.com so that we may continue this holy project. וְאֵ֨לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם: " And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them ." (Shemos 21:1)
Our Parsha begins with the words vieileh hamishpatim, AND these are the laws… The letter vav (and) implies this Parsha is a continuation of a previous subject. But the Torah is unclear? Since we are at the very beginning of the Parsha, what topic are we continuing? Rashi offers two explanations. The first answer is that just as the Aseres Hadibros, the Ten Commandments, in the previous Parsha were given at Har Sinai, so too all of the many laws given in Parshas Mishpatim were given over to Bnei Yisrael at Har Sinai. The “vav” that implies a continuation is not a continuation of a previous topic but a conceptual connection that exists between the Aseres Hadibros and the financial laws we find our Parsha. The second answer that Rashi gives is that Parshas Yisro ended with a discussion about the mizbeach (the altar) and Parshas Mishpatim, with its many financial laws, is a continuation of that discussion. How is one connected to the other? The connection is not conceptual but geographic. The semichas haparshiyos teaches us that the Sanhedrin that adjudicates the financial matters discussed i
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