Mishpatim: Land of the Free

After an emotionally charged and very dramatic Parshas Yisro, Am Yisrael figuratively descends Mount Sinai and enters into the world of nitty-gritty monetary laws. But these seemingly mundane, physical and financial ordinances contain within them deep secrets and relevant messages in Avodas Hashem.

The first set of laws discussed in the Parsha are the details of the Eved Ivri - a Jew, who for one reason or another becomes a slave. Torah says that he serves his master for six years. After his term as a slave he has one of two options: he can either go free, or he can choose to give himself over to his master for life.

Let’s first discuss going free. After his six years of service the Passuk tells us that he is released Chofshi Chinam - ‘Free; for no charge.’ Why does the Torah employ the repetitious terminology (‘double-Lahon’) of Chofshi Chinam? What do we learn from the fact that he leaves both Chofshi, free and Chinam which also means free? And while Chazal do learn out more monetary nuances from this double-Lashon, nowadays, when we don’t have the concept of Eved-Ivri, how does this apply to me?

But like we said, there is a second possibility. He can give himself over to his master forever. Why would he want to indenture himself forever? Simply because his master has to treat him really well. His master gives him a wife. If there is one bed, the master sleeps on the floor (the list of perks goes on). The downside is that at the end of the day, it’s still slavery, and the spiritual realities that are intrinsically rooted into the life of a slave are far from the best.

Hashem wants us to be His servants, Ovdei Hashem. He doesn’t want us to give ourselves over to human beings. He wants us to be , to accept the Yolk of Heaven, not Ol Basar Va’Dam, the yolk of another human. So if he does choose to give himself over there are consequences. The slave is taken to court and (take a deep breath) the officials take his ear and nail it into a doorpost. Not pleasant. The tool used is some sort of spike called a Martze’a.

With this information we have to add another question: Why smash his ear? What connection does his handing himself over have to his ear? He’s giving over his whole being!

Our answer begins by a seemingly ambiguous line in the Ba’al HaTurim. He reveals to us the hidden secret of the Martze’a. This word’s Gematria (numerical value) is four hundred. This corresponds to the fact that after four hundred years Hashem redeemed us from Egypt. After such redemption, this man wants to re-enter slavery from his own free will? So we smash his ear in with a Martze’a, the four hundred corresponds to the four hundred years of the long awaited redemption which he is now proactively rejecting.

This cute correspondence of four hundreds has a tremendous depth, revealed to us in the Sefer Amudei Hod in the name of HaGaon Rav Yitzchak Hutner and Rav Moshe Shapira Shlita.

Every year at the Pesach Seder we sing the song of Echad Mi Yode’a, commonly known as “Who knows one?” Every number is linked to a fundamental Jewish statistic. Three are the forefathers (Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov. and four are the mothers. (Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah.) The goal of the fathers was to generate the progeny, to make the nation. The goal of the mothers, and therefore intrinsically the essence of the number four, was to remove the bad from within the nation. Sarah Imeinu kicked out Yishma’el. Rivka took the blessings away from Eisav as to weaken him. Rachel and Leah convinced Yaakov Avinu to finally distance himself from Lavan so that he would not be able to leach off of Yaakov’s incredible holiness. So we see that four, when dealing with the realm of holiness is there to push away impurities that hold us back from taking upon ourselves Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim - the acceptance of the Yolk of Heaven (Living with the reality that God is running the show).

And the same applies in the realm of the opposite of holiness – in Tumah - as well. There are four nations which exile us, and there goal is to remove our ability to draw godliness into the world. When Yaakov Avinu was making his way to Eretz Yisrael, the path was blocked by Eisav, who came with four hundred men (The Maharal explains that the as any number grows by one decimal [four to forty, forty to four hundred] the meaning, significance and theme of that number grows with it. Thus the four hundred men is an exponential continuation of the theme of four.) And so too when Avraham tried to purchase Ma’aras HaMachpela, the gateway to Gan Eden, he had to pay four hundred silver pieces to gain entry. If four within the context of holiness represents the removal of blockages between man and godliness, then four within the realm of impurity represents the removal of Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim - Acceptance of the Yolk of Heaven.

Therefore when Hashem wanted to prepare us for Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim He brought the holy Jewish people to the most unholy place in the world - Mitzrayim. And He did so for specifically four hundred years. Why? Because this sets up the ultimate challenge to Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim. Anyone who can survive this is ready to go to the ultimate Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayaim at Har Sinai. And therefore he who willingly re-enters slavery is actively removing his Ol Malchus Shamayim and therefore rejecting everything that the whole Egyptian exile and redemption was all about! Therefore the rejection of four hundred comes back to smash him in the form of four hundred - the Gematria of Martze’a.

In short, this man who is choosing to re-enter slavery is rejecting Ol Malchus Shamayim, because by being a servant of a human being, it is automatically impossible to fully be a servant of Hashem. (One example: A slave is exempt from the twice daily recitation of Shema, which is our daily Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim.)

Perhaps with this in mind, we can bring forward the words of the holy Sfas Emes to explain why we specifically smash his ear. The answer is that Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim is done with hearing.

How do we know? From the famous words of this weeks Parsha - Na’aseh V’Nishma - We shall do and we shall listen. The question is famous: How are we going to listen after we’ve already done the action? Says the Rebbe Zatz’al, this is the secret to what Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim is all about. What is the acceptance of a yolk? A yolk on an ox means that it’s always ready to do work. The plow connected to the yolk means that he now has the opportunity to do so. The plow is not always connected, but as long as the yolk is still on, he’s ready. So to by Na’aseh V’Nishma.

Na’aseh means that we will do whenever we can. Whatever opportunity comes our way, we’ll jump on it. And Nishma? That’s how we say that after we do it, or even when there is nothing to do, we are still listening out for the next opportunity. There may be no plow, but I’m waiting with the yolk on. That’s Kabbalas Ol - the Yolk, the essence of being totally ready, fully invested in Avodas Hashem, and that comes specifically through hearing.

Thus, when a person is a slave of another human being there is a certain intrinsic freedom from Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayaim, because the very nature of his role causes him to be fully invested in the service of something other than God.

Says the Zohar, that this is the depth behind a certain negative spiritual reality, a Klipah called Chinam - freedom (U-S-A! U-S-A!). When a sense of disconnection to Ol Malchus Shamayim enters into a persons heart, because he is enslaved, because he is in servitude to something else, he is under the influence of the impure spirit called Chinam. And therefore when the slave in our Parsha goes free, he goes Chofshi Chinam! Meaning, he is going free from the status called Chinam! He can finally be Mekabel Ol Malchus Shamayim!

And now everything comes together. The value of four hundred that the Martze’a embodies come to strike the ear because this man is showing that he is not interested in his redemption from Egypt, and therefore not interested in Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim and therefore not interested in Nishma - We shall hear.

Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim means that I’m a servant of Hashem and nothing else. I’m always ready. I’m fully and totally invested. I’m focused. Nothing can pull me away. This is my life and I’m sticking to it. No matter what the situation is, I got my yolk on and I’m ready. I’m here to bring holiness into the world, and I’m not going to fail. HaKadosh Baruch Hu should give us a Bracha to be Mekabel Ol Malchus Shamayim B’Emes. Because if we can there is no doubt that we will live lives of Simcha and Shleimus, moving closer to the Creator and ultimately the Geulah Sheleimah!.