KabbalaOnline.org "I'm An Ox?" [Mishpatim 5783]

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The week of MISHPATIM 5783

This Torah teaching is dedicated to

MR. & MRS. SANDER AND TRACY GERBER AND FAMILY שי'

With blessings for much material and spiritual success, good health,

simcha, nachat and revealed good.

Talks on the Parshah by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz a’h asks an obvious question. In last week’s Torah portion, Yitro, the Torah described the descent of G-d on Mount Sinai and His giving His will and wisdom, the Torah to the Jewish people. What should come next? If G-d were a novelist and the only purpose of the Torah document was to keep our attention, I would think we would read of lofty ideas like our eternal connection to G-d; how exalted we are, and can be, if we go in His ways . But no. Most of this week’s Torah portion of Mishpatim is about laws. And not just any laws, but very practical detailed laws between man and man.

Really, if you think about it, what comes in the next portion after ours, Terumah, should be the follow up. Making a dwelling for G-d in this world through the Tabernacle! Keeping G-d’s presence in the world all the time! Rabbi Steinsaltz’s actual answer is completely counter intuitive. Don’t make a mistake - the real revelation of G-d is in the small details of our living a Jewish life in a world where G-dliness is hidden. When we demand from ourselves to go against our nature and do what the Torah requires rather than what our body and society dictates to us, this is bringing G-d into the world big-time. It is a challenge. But we can do it.

Based on this, let’s us look at one of the laws, the law of a goring ox (Shemot/Exodus 21:29 and onward). The Torah made a distinction between an “innocent” ox (tam) and a habitually goring ox (mu’ad). An innocent ox is one that generally does not do damage, while a goring ox is one that has done damage repeatedly until its nature is to gore. Its owner has already been warned three times in a front of a rabbinical court. Based on this, the responsibility of the owner in a case of damage done by the two oxen is different and therefore their obligation as far as payments is also different.

Everything in the Torah can be studied on a variety of different dimensions. The laws of the goring ox also exist in the human soul. In general, an ox is representative of the “animal” [vivifying] soul of a person. This soul on its own is not necessarily evil. It has good characteristics (see Tanya, end of the first chapter) and a lot of strength that we can harness for holiness. However, it has animalistic tendencies and therefore has to be guarded so it does not cause damage.

The normal state of an animal soul is like an “innocent” ox. Its essential nature is to desire only things that the Torah permits. Therefore, in a situation when the soul stumbles into sin, it is something irregular and relatively easy to return to normal, and to repent.

But what happens when a person sins repeatedly and becomes accustomed to this, convincing themselves that this behavior is normal and completely permissible? This is when the soul becomes a mu’ad. Negative behavior becomes customary and we can expect the negative behavior to continue.

So, now what? The way the Torah changes a mu’ad to a tam is to retrain it not to gore. Maimonides, in his monumental treatise on Jewish law, the Yad HaHazakah (Property Damage 6:7) describes this as, “The children will be using the ox and it will not gore”. It has returned to its status of being a docile animal. This is when an ox is again considered a tam.

So it is with serving G-d. When a person returns completely to G-d’s ways and thoroughly purifies their animal soul to negate their negative desires until , in the same situation they do not sin, then the designation of mu’ad is lifted and they return to the status of a tam.

But what about a situation where a person does not succeed in retraining and purifying? In this situation, there is another law. The Rambam judges (Property Damage 6:6), if the ox goes to a different place, i.e. to different owners, its law changes back to a tam. The reasoning is simple. A new owner usually means different treatment so the animal’s nature will change until it is no longer a mu’ad.

So it is with Divine service. A Jew who wants to change their status from a mu’ad to a tam has to move to a different place, to invest their whole being in a new world of holiness. Their life must take on a new dimension. Regular Torah study, increased observance of the commandments, positive actions, more focus on prayer. Then, when we are completely in the realm of holiness, automatically the tendency of our animal nature to sin is removed.

This is how we can return to our innocence. And not just innocence in its regular sense. The Hebrew word tam can also mean purity and completion, that the animal soul is transformed completely to good until it is literally a full partner with the Divine soul in serving the Almighty.

[Adapted from Shulchan Shabbat from a talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Collected Talks, vol. 36, page 102]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rabbi Menachem-Mendel of Kotzk once invited his closest students to his room and asked them to share a new idea from the weekly Torah portion of that week, Mishpatim.

One of the students said, "This morning I reflected on the verse 'If, while breaking in, the thief is discovered' [Shemot/Exodus 22:1]. I contemplated that the verse can also be interpreted: 'If, when a person searches deeply in the innermost recesses of his soul, he will find hidden there the ‘thief’ - the Evil Inclination [yetzer hara]."

The Rebbe was very pleased and said, “Such words are fitting to be taught every day.”

[Shulchan Shabbat #1206]

Shabbat Shalom and a joyful new month, Shaul

This Shabbat is Shabbat Shekalim. We will bless the new month of Adar [Monday night, Tuesday & Wednesday].

Rabbi Shaul Leiter’s class on

the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov

from Keter Shem Tov

Monday, February 20, 2023

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Please use the following link:

https://ascent-co-il.zoom.us/j/81906073996?pwd=ZUk4SlR6N1kvUldIUUh0WTB1VVNUQT09

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