Voices of WRJ: Mishpatim

The last few parashot have had the Israelites more than frantic. They have left Egypt, crossed the Sea, begun their journey through the wilderness, and encountered crises of lacking both food and water. There has been an uprising and the beginnings of a mutiny. The Ten Commandments have been given to the people and amazingly received and accepted, "Na'aseh v'nishma, We will do and we will understand:" a concept I personally find remarkable but which I believe we still practice to this day. We now find ourselves here at Parshat Mishpatim. As I read this I had the feeling that God had had an “aha” moment! The Almighty realizes that, as awesome as the Ten Commandments were, they were not comprehensive enough to begin to deal with all of the issues that would arise in this new community. There needed to be laws that would govern the daily lives of this new society. So the laws are given, spelled out simply and in a straight forward manner. The first matters to be addressed pertain to the treatment of a households Hebrew slaves. Men, women, and children, based on their individual circumstances, often had a voice in their future as to whether they wanted to be freed or remain with their masters as slaves. The statements are very matter-of-fact, as if to say, “We were slaves, we know what that is like and we will not treat our slaves the way we were treated.” They were expressing their concern and displaying their humanity to the members of their household. The portion goes on to deal with a myriad of issues from how to deal with injuries after a brawl to how to treat their animals. These people were creating a system of governance: the beginnings of justice and even-handedness to those they came into contact with in their everyday lives. A few years ago I was walking through the Atlanta airport and was drawn to a photo exhibit. The first picture I saw was obviously from a civil rights march in the 1960s. There in the front row, walking arm in arm, were Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. We saw the same situation last month in Paris with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arm in arm with President Francois Hollande, joining together in community with others as we continue our history of being there when rights are denied. Neither of these pictures surprised me, they are but a reminder of what started thousands of years ago. We continue to do what we have always done because we are Jews. Since 1915, when NFTS created its first resolution, we have always focused on what needed to be done to recognize the dignity and enhance the humanity of all peoples. At WRJ Assembly 2011 our delegates choose the quote, “Learn to do good, seek justice; relieve the oppressed. Uphold the orphan's rights; take up the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1:17), which would be the inspiration for our Centennial Anthem. The choice was no surprise; simply a reminder of who we are. As Women of Reform Judaism we represent so much more than the 65,000 women of Reform Judaism who are our members. We represent all Reform women and we will continue to uphold the principles and advocate for the concerns that had their beginnings in Parshat Mishpatim.