 | The Judaism of tradition is full of laws. It's easy to get lost in the laws, miss their ultimate point and turn our backs. But societal moments that spotlight the rule of law often reveal grave risks when folks can accept or reject the role of law as they please. The point of law is to serve causes far beyond the individual. And spiritually speaking, the point of law's wise restraints that make us free is just that – a profound freedom of soul. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Mishpatim 5785 (2025)
"The wise restraints that make us free." So began my graduation from law school. Law, we legal eaglets heard, is that system of wise restraints that make us free. The purpose of law isn't duty and restraint for their own sakes, but for the sake of ordered liberty – a worthy freedom that unshackles the human spirit.
This week's Torah portion is about Judaism's equivalent. And at this societal moment that spotlights the rule of law itself, this point comes exactly on time.
Beyond the Ten Commandments of last week's Torah portion, Torah lays out another 603. This week's Torah portion (Mishpatim, literally "laws") gives 53 of them – labor law, a judicial system, civil and criminal penalties, Shabbat, holidays, marital relations, treatment of converts, agricultural crop rotation, social justice and more.
The message: the core Ten Commandments alone can't build and govern a society. To fully permeate our lives, the Ten Commandments must permeate life's messy details. Therefore we need subsidiary laws and rules to guide those messy details.
But even if God and holiness are in the details, liberalizing reforms of Western religion – Protestantism in Christian life, Reform in Jewish life, at-taqaddumi in Islam – pushed back against spiritual law. In one view of Torah, love and mitzvot are choices that we have liberty to refuse (Deut. 30:16-20). In one view of Qur'an, "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (Al-Baqarah 256). If so, then one can ditch law whenever one wishes to sidestep its binds.
We see today the grave risks when folks decide the rule of law for themselves.
True freedom doesn't mean doing whatever we want, whenever we want, no matter what. What freedom do we have if we are held hostage to vices and habits? What freedom do Israel's hostages in Gaza have? How about the victims of climate disaster? What is the freedom of people fearing hate that aims directly at them? What is liberty to a domestic violence victim fearing for her life? What would our highways be without enforced speed limits? And what about political corruption: does might really make right?
And spiritually, who are we if we defraud others? Who are we if we withhold tzedakah amidst need? What happens to our hearts and souls if Shabbat is just another day? What happens to a people that turns its back on community times that bind us together? As Dr. King rhetorically asked, can any of us truly be free when abuse and injustice chain others?
Mitzvot, Maimonides realized 900 years ago, tend to be good for us. Understood correctly, they cultivate love, compassion, discernment, communitarianism, generosity, discipline, lightheartedness, sustainability, wisdom, healing and joy. Mitzvot are wise restraints that make us truly free.
Laws and mitzvot aren't themselves the point. They're important pointers to a point. And this week's Torah portion makes that point profoundly.
After Torah recites 53 laws, the people famously proclaim, "We will do and we will hear" / נעשה ונשמע (Ex. 24:7) – which is backwards. Typically we hear and then do. These famous words reflect that sometimes we learn from the outside in – by doing and then deeply hearing the point. Because our ancestors agreed to do and hear, there was a mystical vision (Ex. 24:9-10):
Mishpatim 5785 (2025)
"The wise restraints that make us free." So began my graduation from law school. Law, we legal eaglets heard, is that system of wise restraints that make us free. The purpose of law isn't duty and restraint for their own sakes, but for the sake of ordered liberty – a worthy freedom that unshackles the human spirit.
This week's Torah portion is about Judaism's equivalent. And at this societal moment that spotlights the rule of law itself, this point comes exactly on time.
Beyond the Ten Commandments of last week's Torah portion, Torah lays out another 603. This week's Torah portion (Mishpatim, literally "laws") gives 53 of them – labor law, a judicial system, civil and criminal penalties, Shabbat, holidays, marital relations, treatment of converts, agricultural crop rotation, social justice and more.
The message: the core Ten Commandments alone can't build and govern a society. To fully permeate our lives, the Ten Commandments must permeate life's messy details. Therefore we need subsidiary laws and rules to guide those messy details.
But even if God and holiness are in the details, liberalizing reforms of Western religion – Protestantism in Christian life, Reform in Jewish life, at-taqaddumi in Islam – pushed back against spiritual law. In one view of Torah, love and mitzvot are choices that we have liberty to refuse (Deut. 30:16-20). In one view of Qur'an, "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (Al-Baqarah 256). If so, then one can ditch law whenever one wishes to sidestep its binds.
We see today the grave risks when folks decide the rule of law for themselves.
True freedom doesn't mean doing whatever we want, whenever we want, no matter what. What freedom do we have if we are held hostage to vices and habits? What freedom do Israel's hostages in Gaza have? How about the victims of climate disaster? What is the freedom of people fearing hate that aims directly at them? What is liberty to a domestic violence victim fearing for her life? What would our highways be without enforced speed limits? And what about political corruption: does might really make right?
And spiritually, who are we if we defraud others? Who are we if we withhold tzedakah amidst need? What happens to our hearts and souls if Shabbat is just another day? What happens to a people that turns its back on community times that bind us together? As Dr. King rhetorically asked, can any of us truly be free when abuse and injustice chain others?
Mitzvot, Maimonides realized 900 years ago, tend to be good for us. Understood correctly, they cultivate love, compassion, discernment, communitarianism, generosity, discipline, lightheartedness, sustainability, wisdom, healing and joy. Mitzvot are wise restraints that make us truly free.
Laws and mitzvot aren't themselves the point. They're important pointers to a point. And this week's Torah portion makes that point profoundly.
After Torah recites 53 laws, the people famously proclaim, "We will do and we will hear" / נעשה ונשמע (Ex. 24:7) – which is backwards. Typically we hear and then do. These famous words reflect that sometimes we learn from the outside in – by doing and then deeply hearing the point. Because our ancestors agreed to do and hear, there was a mystical vision (Ex. 24:9-10):
| וַיַּ֥עַל מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹ֑ן נָדָב֙ וַאֲבִיה֔וּא וְשִׁבְעִ֖ים מִזִּקְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ וַיִּרְא֕וּ אֵ֖ת אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְתַ֣חַת רַגְלָ֗יו כְּמַעֲשֵׂה֙ לִבְנַ֣ת הַסַּפִּ֔יר וּכְעֶ֥צֶם הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לָטֹֽהַר׃ | Moses and Aaron, [his sons] Nadav and Avihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended [Sinai]. They saw the God of Israel and under the legs was the likeness of a brickway of sapphire, like the essence of sky in purity. |
This makes no sense. None can "see" the God of Israel. Does the God of Israel really have "legs"? Torah trips over her words with metaphor – a "likeness" that is "like" something else – because our words are puny. In that moment, there was only awe beyond words.
The point of mitzvot is to structure society and human life to make room for awe – the truest freedoms of all that transcends words.
The prophet Ezekiel similarly tripped in describing an angelic vision (Ezek. 1:26-28):
The point of mitzvot is to structure society and human life to make room for awe – the truest freedoms of all that transcends words.
The prophet Ezekiel similarly tripped in describing an angelic vision (Ezek. 1:26-28):
| וּמִמַּ֗עַל לָרָקִ֙יעַ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־רֹאשָׁ֔ם כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה אֶבֶן־סַפִּ֖יר דְּמ֣וּת כִּסֵּ֑א וְעַל֙ דְּמ֣וּת הַכִּסֵּ֔א דְּמ֞וּת כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה אָדָ֛ם עָלָ֖יו מִלְמָֽעְלָה׃ וָאֵ֣רֶא ׀ כְּעֵ֣ין חַשְׁמַ֗ל כְּמַרְאֵה־אֵ֤שׁ בֵּֽית־לָהּ֙ סָבִ֔יב מִמַּרְאֵ֥ה מָתְנָ֖יו וּלְמָ֑עְלָה וּמִמַּרְאֵ֤ה מָתְנָיו֙ וּלְמַ֔טָּה רָאִ֙יתִי֙ כְּמַרְאֵה־אֵ֔שׁ וְנֹ֥גַֽהּ ל֖וֹ סָבִֽיב׃ כְּמַרְאֵ֣ה הַקֶּ֡שֶׁת אֲשֶׁר֩ יִהְיֶ֨ה בֶעָנָ֜ן בְּי֣וֹם הַגֶּ֗שֶׁם כֵּ֣ן מַרְאֵ֤ה הַנֹּ֙גַהּ֙ סָבִ֔יב ה֕וּא מַרְאֵ֖ה דְּמ֣וּת כְּבוֹד־יהו׳׳ה וָֽאֶרְאֶה֙ וָאֶפֹּ֣ל עַל־פָּנַ֔י וָאֶשְׁמַ֖ע ק֥וֹל מְדַבֵּֽר׃ | And above the expanse over [angels'] heads was like the appearance of sapphire stone [in the image] of a throne, and atop the image of the throne was like the appearance of a person on it above. I saw like the vision of electricity, like the appearance of fire all around from the appearance of its legs; above and from the appearance of its legs and below I saw like the appearance of fire radiating around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the appearance of the radiance surrounding, appearing as an image of the glory of YHVH – I saw, and I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speaking. |
For the ultimate, there are no words – just metaphor.
The purpose of law is to structure community and society with the wise restraints that make us free. The point is the truest of freedoms – transcending the mundane travails of physical life to touch the sapphire brickway, the awe of the infinite unfolding.
The purpose of law is to structure community and society with the wise restraints that make us free. The point is the truest of freedoms – transcending the mundane travails of physical life to touch the sapphire brickway, the awe of the infinite unfolding.
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