This week's Torah reading starts with a word "And": "And these are the rules". There are different types of rules in the Torah and "Mishpatim" represents rational rules. What is the word "And"? Based on Likutei Sichot, vol. 3, p. 899
1. Mishpatim — Rational Laws
The first category is called mishpatim. These are rational laws. They make sense. They are logical.
They are so rational that our sages say something very powerful:
If the Torah had not been given, G-d forbid, we could have learned many proper behaviors from the animals of the earth.
For example, from the ant we would learn not to steal. An ant does not take the piece of food that another ant is carrying. Certain behaviors are so deeply ingrained in nature that a human being could learn them just by observing the world.
So here is the question:
If these laws are so rational…
If we could have learned them from nature…
If human intellect understands them…
Why did the Torah need to command them?
And yet, the entire portion of Mishpatim is filled with these types of laws — civil laws, damages, responsibility, justice. Many of them are completely understandable.
So why did G-d give us rational laws?
2. Edot — Testimonies
The second category is called edot, which means “testimonies.”
These are commandments that testify to something that happened.
For example:
- Shabbat reminds us of the seventh day of Creation.
- Pesach reminds us of the Exodus from Egypt.
These are mitzvot that commemorate events.
If the Torah had not commanded us to keep Shabbat or celebrate Pesach, we would not have done so. But once the Torah commands it, it makes sense. Just like we celebrate a birthday or a national holiday, we mark specific times in the year to remember important events and relive them.
These commandments are not necessarily rational in the same way civil laws are — but once commanded, they are understandable.
3. Chukim — Beyond Understanding
The third category is chukim.
These are commandments that are completely beyond human logic. They do not make sense to us.
A classic example is the Red Heifer. Without going into the details, the point is that there are commandments that have absolutely no rational explanation.
They are not illogical — they are beyond logic.
“And These Are the Laws”
After the giving of the Torah — when G-d spoke before 600,000 men between the ages of twenty and sixty, and altogether nearly four million people — this week’s portion begins with the words:
“And these are the laws…”
Why does it say “and”?
The Torah could have said, “These are the laws.”
But it says, “And these are the laws.”
In Hebrew, just like in English, the word “and” connects what follows to what came before.
So what is it connecting?
It is teaching us that just as the Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai — beginning with “I am the Lord your G-d” and “You shall have no other G-ds before Me” — so too these laws are connected to Sinai.
Even the rational laws.
Even the laws we could have understood on our own.
Even the laws we might have learned from nature.
The Foundation
We do not keep these laws because we understand them.
We do not keep them because they make sense.
We do not keep them because human intellect agrees with them.
We keep them because G-d said so.
They are rooted in the revelation at Mount Sinai.
This is the most basic foundation of Judaism — for Jews and for non-Jews.
It is not enough that human intellect, even a healthy and normal intellect, understands that we should behave in a certain way. Because there may come a time when that same intellect decides otherwise.
If morality is based only on human reasoning, it can shift.
But when even our rational decisions are based on G-d — on divine revelation — then there is stability. There is foundation. There is clarity.
Then a person can make proper decisions in life, not based only on limited human understanding, but based on G-d’s wisdom.
And that is why this week’s portion begins:
“And these are the laws.”
Even the rational is rooted in Sinai.