A D’var Torah for Parshat Mishpatim by Allen Lipson As workers across the country lead backs-to-the-wall organizing drives in the long odds of a COVID economy, Parshat Mishpatim’s labor laws offer a timely opportunity to reclaim the legacy of Rav Avraham Bick’s Mishnas Ha’Poel (The Teaching of the Worker), an all-but-forgotten tale of Jewish class...
Jewish leaders need to be authoritative and steadfast in ensuring that September 11th and its commemorations do not provide annual pretense for rage against Muslims (and Sikhs and the countless others conflated with Muslims). Nor can we allow political opportunists to seize upon our unresolved grief and pain once again.
This drawing-near is ultimately what leads to Joseph’s emotions overwhelming him; breaking from silence into sobbing, he orders the room cleared and then reveals himself to his brothers. Our drawing-near is also what engaged our emotions and drew us from silence into speech.
Just as Ephraim and Menashe became the gold standard of siblings in the eyes of Jewish tradition, so too are we called to extend a loving hand to all the people we come across, no matter who they are, how they may differ from us, or what else may be going on in our own lives.