page_title: Mishpatim
section_title: Exodus chapter 23
hierarchical_section_title: Mishpatim / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Exodus chapter 23
context_page_description: Mishpatim is the eighteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah sets out a series of laws, which some scholars call the Covenant Code. It reports the people's acceptance of the covenant with God. The parashah constitutes Exodus 21:1–24:18. The parashah is made up of 5,313 Hebrew letters, 1,462 Hebrew words, 118 verses, and 185 lines in a Torah scroll.
  Jews read it the eighteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in February or, rarely, in late January. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Exodus 22:24–23:19, as the initial Torah reading for the second intermediate day of Passover. Jews also read the first part of parashah Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11–16, regarding the half-shekel head tax, as the maftir Torah reading on the special Sabbath Shabbat Shekalim, which often falls on the same Sabbath as Parashat Mishpatim.
context_section_description: In the Babylonian Talmud, the Gemara read Exodus 23:2, "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil," to support the rule that when a court tried a non-capital case, the decision of the majority of the judges determined the outcome.
  A Baraita taught that one day, Rabbi Eliezer employed every imaginable argument for the proposition that a particular type of oven was not susceptible to ritual impurity, but the Sages did not accept his arguments. Then Rabbi Eliezer told the Sages, "If the halachah agrees with me, then let this carob tree prove it," and the carob tree moved 100 cubits (and others say 400 cubits) out of its place. But the Sages said that no proof can be brought from a carob tree. Then Rabbi Eliezer told the Sages, "If the halachah agrees with me, let this stream of water prove it," and the stream of water flowed backwards. But the Sages said that no proof can be brought from a stream of water. Then Rabbi Eliezer told the Sages, "If the halachah agrees with me, let the walls of this house of study prove it," and the walls leaned over as if to fall. But Rabbi Joshua rebuked the walls, telling them not to interfere with scholars engaged in a halachic dispute. In honor of Rabbi Joshua, the walls did not fall, but in honor of Rabbi Eliezer, the walls did not stand upright, either. Then Rabbi Eliezer told the Sages, "If the halachah agrees with me, let Heaven prove it," and a Heavenly Voice cried out: "Why do you dispute with Rabbi Eliezer, for in all matters the halachah agrees with him!" But Rabbi Joshua rose and exclaimed in the words of Deuteronomy 30:12: "It is not in heaven." Rabbi Jeremiah explained that God had given the Torah at Mount Sinai; Jews pay no attention to Heavenly Voices, for God wrote in Exodus 23:2: "After the majority must one incline." Later, Rabbi Nathan met Elijah and asked him what God did when Rabbi Joshua rose in opposition to the Heavenly Voice. Elijah replied that God laughed with joy, saying, "My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me!"
  Rav Aḥa bar Pappa cited Exodus 23:2, "Neither shall you answer in a cause (Hebrew: רִב‎, riv)," to support the rule of Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:2 that in capital cases, the judges began issuing their opinions from the side, where the least significant judges sat. The Sages interpreted Exodus 23:2 to read, "Neither shall you answer after the Master (Hebrew: רַב‎, rav), that is:  Do not dispute the opinion of the greatest among the judges. Were the judges to begin issuing their opinions from the greatest to the least among the judges, and the greatest would find the accused guilty, no judge would acquit the accused. Thus to encourage the lesser judges to speak freely in capital cases, the Mishnah's rule had them speak first.
  The Mishnah read the emphatic words of Exodus 23:5, "you shall surely release it," repeating the verb in the Hebrew, to teach that Exodus 23:5 required a passer-by to unload an enemy's animal to let it get up and to reload the animal. And even if the passer-by repeated the process four or five times, the passer-by was still bound to do it again, because Exodus 23:5 says, "you shall surely help." If the owner of the animal simply sat down and said to the passer-by that the obligation rested upon the passer-by to unload, then the passer-by was exempt, because Exodus 23:5 says, "with him." Yet if the animal's owner was old or infirm, the passer-by was bound to do it without the owner's help. The Mishnah taught that Exodus 23:5 required the passer-by to unload the animal, but not to reload it. But Rabbi Simeon said that Exodus 23:5 required the passer-by to load it too. Rabbi Jose the Galilean said that if the animal bore more than its proper burden, then the passer-by had no obligation towards the owner, because Exodus 23:5 says, "If you see the donkey of him who hates you lying under its burden," which means, a burden under which it can stand.
  Rav Aḥa bar Pappa read Exodus 23:6, "You shall not incline the judgment of your poor in his cause," to teach that a court could not convict one accused of a capital crime (the "poor"
caption: A carob tree
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