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Orchard of Delights
£Questions, Answers, Questions, Answers, Questions, Answers, mishpatim םיִט ָּ פְׁש ִּ מ
££
and the Secret of the Lettersettersetters
and the Secret of the Land the Secret of the L
“And it shall be when your son will ask you at some future time,
‘What is this?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a strong hand God £The Jewish Contribution £The Jewish Contribution The Jewish Contribution
£
removed us from Egypt from the house of bondage” (Exodus 13:14). to Civilization
to Civilization
to Civilization
This verse serves as the inspiration and educational model for the
Haggadah read on the first night of Pesach: a book that is in great
measure designed to impart the origins, early history, beliefs, and
values of the Jewish people to our children. The portion of Mishpatim follows the giving of the Torah at Mount
Sinai. Sefer Hachinuch, which enumerates and explains the 613
There are two other passages employing a similar question and mitzvot, counts fifty-three mitzvot in this portion. (Only one other
answer format that deal with educating our children about the portion, Ki Teitzei in the book of Deuteronomy contains more
exodus: a brief passage from Exodus – “And it shall be that when mitzvot, seventy-four.) Its ordinances and decrees span the breadth
your children say to you, ‘What is this service to you?’” (Exodus of Jewish life from laws between man and God to laws between man
12:26), and a longer passage from Deuteronomy: and his fellow man; from laws demanding individual responsibility to
laws governing a judicial system that demands communal integrity
If your child asks you tomorrow, saying, “What are the and promises societal punishment; from laws dictating ritual
testimonies and the decrees and the ordinances that God practice to laws governing moral action; from agricultural laws to
our God, commanded you?” You shall say to your child, festival observances. Following immediately after the giving of the
“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God took us Ten Commandments, the portion begins to fill in the parameters of
out of Egypt with a strong hand. God placed signs and those ten all-encompassing directives by providing, to put it briefly,
wonders, great and harmful, against Egypt, against detailed criminal, tort, and ritual legal systems for ensuring a just
Pharaoh and against his entire household, before our society as well as for worshipping God. A significant percentage of
eyes. And He took us out of there in order to bring us, the Mishnah and the Talmud, the basis of all subsequent oral law,
to give us the Land that He swore to our forefathers.” is dedicated to fleshing out and expanding the principles set down in
(Deuteronomy 6:20-23)
this portion.
The question and answer format adopted by the Haggadah is most Yet, it is not only the number of mitzvot that make the portion
famously evident in the questions that four different types of children of Mishpatim important but the enormous influence it has exerted
ask. Both their questions and the answers given reflect both the on both Jewish society and the entire world. Despite Israel’s long
pedagogical style and the content of the three passages mentioned history of persecution and oppression during its two-thousand year
above. The last of the four children, the one who does not even know sojourn in the Diaspora, there is no doubt that the Jewish people
how to ask, is also modeled on a biblical passage wherein the child exerted a tremendous influence on virtually every area of human
does not ask – “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It thought and practice. Although historians have largely concealed or
is because of this that God acted on my behalf when I left Egypt’” ignored this truth, whether out of ignorance, malice, or a misguided
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