Parashat Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1-24:18
It is impossible to ignore the issue of the Torah’s acceptance of the institution of slavery. As we have noted in previous years (see Sparks for 2015, 2017, 2021), the juxtaposition of the Torah celebrating our liberation from Egyptian slavery with its opening of this week’s Torah portion with details of how to administer slavery within the newly liberated people is difficult to swallow. How can the Torah contradict Herself so sharply? And yet this question does not occupy the classic commentators of our text. It is only in modern times that the question becomes acutely troubling. A small comfort it is to recognize that the reading of the Torah always changes through the generations, affording us the opportunity to grapple with Her anew.
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