Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
The Torah urges us to embrace and choose freedom. This is scary to former slaves, and in Parashat Mishpatim, boundaries are set. Rabbi Matt Berkowitz instructs us to follow freedom.
Parashat Mishpatim opens appropriately with laws concerning slavery. Having achieved their freedom after 430 years of bondage, the Israelites are instructed regarding the laws concerning Hebrew slaves.
Why is Torah so quick to speak of these particular mitzvot at the outset of the Israelite journey? All too often, freed slaves are quick to become the oppressor. And Torah is consistently vigilant vis–à–vis this danger.
The Israelites are encouraged to remember their experience and recount it to future generations; yet, at the same time, they must remember their status as strangers. From this point on, they must be keenly attuned to the powerless among them.
Not surprisingly, then, Torah teaches that a Hebrew slave will serve six years, “and in the seventh year, he will go out free for nothing” (Exodus 21:2).
שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחׇפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃
What if the slave, however, refuses to go free?
Torah expounds on a most curious ritual in such a situation: “And if the servant will say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go free.’ Then his master will bring him before the judges, he will bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master will bore his ear through with an awl” (Exodus 21:5).
וְאִם־אָמֹ֤ר יֹאמַר֙ הָעֶ֔בֶד אָהַ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־אֲדֹנִ֔י אֶת־אִשְׁתִּ֖י וְאֶת־בָּנָ֑י לֹ֥א אֵצֵ֖א חׇפְשִֽׁי׃
וְהִגִּישׁ֤וֹ אֲדֹנָיו֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ֙ אֶל־הַדֶּ֔לֶת א֖וֹ אֶל־הַמְּזוּזָ֑ה וְרָצַ֨ע אֲדֹנָ֤יו אֶת־אׇזְנוֹ֙ בַּמַּרְצֵ֔עַ וַעֲבָד֖וֹ לְעֹלָֽם׃
How are we to understand the symbolism of this act?
The Babylonian Talmud, (Tractate Kiddushim 22b) offers one compelling explanation: Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai expounds this verse in a symbolic way. Why was the ear singled out from other parts of the body? Because God said, “The ear heard My voice on Mount Sinai when I proclaimed, for unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants’
כִּֽי־לִ֤י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ עֲבָדִ֔ים עֲבָדַ֣י הֵ֔ם
(Leviticus 25:55) and not servants of servants. Yet, this man has gone and acquired a master for himself. Let his ear be bored through!”
Rabbi Simeon Berabi explained why the doorpost is singled out from other parts of the house. Because God said, “The door and the doorpost were witnesses in Egypt when I passed over the lintel …then I brought them forth from bondage to freedom, yet this man has gone and acquired a master for himself. Let his ear be bored through in the presence of the door and doorpost!”
While one would surely expect a slave to embrace freedom, these verses of Torah and their subsequent explanation speak to a profound reality. Slavery, though oppressive, can also be a strangely comforting and a certain state of affairs. One’s needs may be tended to and the prospect of freedom may truly be overwhelming. Despite all of the uncertainty and potential pitfalls, Torah urges us all to embrace freedom. One who ignores this mitzvah also diminishes the Voice of God.
As Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai explains, the servant who remains in servitude betrays the ear that heard the call to freedom at Sinai. So not surprisingly, the ritual transpires at the doorpost; for the servant refuses to cross the threshold to freedom — to a new mode of being.
May each of us, in our own particular way, embrace the freedom in our hands and most importantly, we pray fervently that we see our hostages who are brutally held in Gaza released.
With wishes for a hopeful and hope-filled week as we journey forward toward Shabbat.
SHAVUA TOV FROM SCHECHTER
image of Liberty Bell, Philadelphia PA by William Zhang
Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, an accomplished educator and artist, brings decades of experience in development to his position. From 1999 to 2008, he served as JTS’s Senior Rabbinic Fellow based in NY and Florida, responsible for cultivating and expanding the donor base and teaching adult learning study groups throughout the United States. From 2009, he served as Director of Israel Programs for JTS working closely with rabbinical and cantorial students to significantly enrich their Israel experience.
He is a founding partner of Kol HaOt studio project in Jerusalem’s Artist Lane — which weaves the arts deeply into Jewish learning.
Rabbi Berkowitz is the author and illuminator of the widely used The Lovell Haggadah published by Schechter in 2008.
Matt is a Wexner Graduate fellow alumnus and serves on the faculty of The Wexner Heritage Program.
He is married to Nadia Levene and the proud father of three children.
