Date: January 27th 2022

February 9th, 2018



PARSHAT MISHPATIM – PREDICTORS OF FUTURE WRONGDOING AND PIETY


Parshat Mishpatim (23:1) contains the halacha (Torah law) that the courts do not accept the testimony of a person who had previously committed a major sin such as stealing. A first reaction to this halacha would likely be: “This is obvious! People who steal cannot be trusted to act honorably and testify truthfully.”

The “Sefer Hachinuch” (published anonymously in 13th century Spain) in Parshat Mishpatim (Mitzvah 75) offers a different explanation for this halacha. “Anyone who was not compassionate to himself about (desisting from) his own evil deeds will not be compassionate toward others, and it is thus not appropriate to believe him in a court of law.” It is not simply that people who steal cannot be trusted to tell the truth; when people steal they are acting cruelly toward themselves. This, in turn, predisposes them to lie in court and act cruelly as well to the one being defrauded by the false testimony. It is intuitive that the act of stealing certainly creates an inclination to dishonesty. However, the Sefer Hachinuch is saying that the lack of compassion to self demonstrated when stealing is what most strongly predisposes one to future sins of false testimony.


There are overarching human characteristics that manifest themselves in many disparate ways. Consider the major character trait of self-image - how people perceive themselves. Those with a good self-image will tend to be more friendly, upbeat, confident, and so forth. Those with a poor sense of self-worth will more likely be easily intimidated, despondent, and unsuccessful. It can, therefore, be argued that self-image is the core character trait and determinant of many different human feelings and deeds.


Parshas Mishpatim is describing an internal chain-reaction. An inner underlying cruelty toward one’s self leads to disregard the nobility of one’s own soul. That, in turn, makes the theft possible. If one has a fully developed sense of his own sacred dignity, he would not have defiled that sanctity by stealing from others. Cruelty and disregard of his own self worth then becomes an enduring part of that person’s psyche. This underlying cruelty portends the probability of falsifying evidence in court that would cruelly rob someone else of their just due. The likelihood that this will transpire is what disqualifies the person from testifying in court.


There are various references in Talmudic literature pointing to the ethic of “Kavod Haadam,” the honor of man - the paradigm that it is religiously important for a person to honor his or her self. This entails acting and speaking with nobility as well as being clean, refined, and to whatever extent possible, well-groomed (though not ostentatiously).

The great pre-WW II yeshiva of Slabodka produced many of the outstanding Torah luminaries who built yeshivos and revived Torah study after the desolation of the Holocaust. Slabodka was known in the world of Yeshivos for its emphasis of the Torah’s ethic of Kavod Haadam. Surviving pictures of the most scholarly, righteous and famous students of Slabodka show clean-shaven young men with (then stylish) long hair and elegant clothing. Someone once quipped that in Slabodka, if someone’s necktie was askew, it was seen as a lack of closeness to Hashem.

The Sefer Hachinuch taught that before virtually every human misdeed, a person first self-destructively disregards the inner voice of the Neshama that advocates on behalf of consummate personal spirituality. Similarly, those who more fully cultivate their own Kavod Haadam are acting in concert with the unremitting call of the neshama to act in an exalted manner. With all other factors being equal, a practitioner of Kavod Haadam will thus be far more likely to act with courtesy, generosity and kindness than someone else less attuned to Kavod Haadam.



The above is a revamped version of the Dvar that was emailed on February 9th, 2018.


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