Several years ago, at around this time of year, my barber passed away. He was a good friend. We talked once a month and I always looked forward to hearing his view on things.
One thing that Neil and I disagreed on was eyelashes. He always wanted to trim my eyelashes and I never allowed it. He explained to me that he was once driving and making a right turn through an intersection when an eyelash fell into his eye and blurred his vision. I think he ended up totaling his car and going to the emergency room.
That is what Parshas Mishpatim is all about. This parsha is full of rules about things that are easy to disregard: How to take care of your dog and your property and your debtors and your employees and employers. How to adjudicate a dispute and be truthful in everything we do.
None of us is perfect and that we all know that we need to be working slowly toward our goal. At the same time we need to be careful not to minimize any of the mitzvos. If the Torah says to do something that is because it is very important. We do not have the ability to triage mitzvos and decide which Mitzvah is more important than the other.
Every single Mitzvah is a really big deal. Perhaps we need time to work on getting it right, but we can‘t give ourselves time by saying that it’s not a big deal.
Rashi at the beginning of the Torah tells us that Moshe put the laws of the Torah in front of the Jewish people like a table is set for a meal. I once heard from the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Aharon Teitelbaum, that when we sit down to a set table, we may not have an appetite for all of the delicacies that will come our way but we do have a structure and a framework and expectations. No matter we are on our journey toward greatness we need to know where we are headed
Moshe told the people, “Hishamer lachem me’alos behar – unegoa b’katzeihu”. “Be careful not to approach Mount Sinai or touch it’s edge”. We need to be very careful to make sure that we are always at the bottom of Har Sinai looking up and not thinking that we are at the top deciding this Mitzvah is important and this one isn’t.
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Thanks. I didn’t understand the eyelash story when I first heard it. (Because it was so funny that I couldn’t pay attention to the point). Now reading it I think I understand, but it’s hard because there’s something in my left eye.
Good shabbos