What does Mishpatim have to do with Bitachon?
Mishpatim talks about civil law: What to do when a person damagedsomeone else, or his cow damages someoneelse's cow, or a fire causes damages..... It deals with stealing,underpaying workers, and so on. It's the source of basic law in WesternCivilization, and it comes from our Torah. It starts with the words:
אלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם "Theseare the laws that you should put infront of them"
Rashi says "Them" refers to the Bet Din,and tells us, "Do not go to a gentile court, even though you know they mightmake the same decisions as the Bet Din. Make sure to go to a Bet Din. Why? Rashi says it's like a chillul Hashem, adesecration of G-d's name, to say we need to go to the outside world to settleour differences, and that we can't settle our differences within the Jewishsystem, which is the source of law to begin with
But there is a deeper message here.
The Zohar says, on the words,
אלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם
"These are the laws youshould put in front of them"
דא סוד הגילגול
This is the secret ofreincarnation
That's a very cryptic statement. What in the world does civil lawhave to do with reincarnation? The SeferDegel Machaneh Ephraim explains that it could happen that you could go toJewish court to plead your case, you know you're right and yet you lose. You might think, "Why'd I go?" You'dthink they messed up, or that they misunderstood, or that they were biased, andyou'd make up all kinds of excuses for why you lost. But the Zohar is saying that the answer isthe secret of the gilgul:
Very few of us are here forfirst time. People repeat themselves. Weare here to correct the wrongs that happened the last time we were here. Thisseems very hard to fathom. People ask- What's my mission? What's my Gilgul? Howdo I fix it? How do I know what I have to correct? Do I have to go to aKabalist to find out?"
The answer is, No. You don't have to do anything. Just live yourlife right and everything with work out.
If you wronged someone in your last gilgul, G-d will bring aboutthat it becomes righted.
That's why we go to a Jewish court. If you go to gentile court because you owe someone $1,000, the court says you should pay him $1,000. Butin the Jewish court, you may only owe $1,000, but they make you pay $3,000.Why? Don't they know what they're talking about? Why would they do that?Because G-d is in the Jewish court. Therefore, they make things happen that aresupposed to happen in the global picture. You may have owed hisguy $2,000 from your last gilgul!
The Zohar says there's a depth to this. Everything that happens, we have to look atwith certain glasses. Sometimes we have to use our Gilgul glasses.
Many years ago, when a great woman, Mrs. Cookie Massry a'h passed away, Rav YaakovHillel gave a class in Eddie and TunieMissry's home. The whole theme of hisclass was gilgulim. Sometimes, he said, when someone young passes away, there'sno other explanation. Sometimes it's the only way we can understand things.
One of my favorite gilgul stories, that I have told in the past,happened to a young man I know well. Over twenty years ago, when he was in his20s, as a Yeshiva boy in Lakewood, he went through the regular shidduch process.For every girl he was set up with, he'd drive to Brooklyn (where most of thegirls who wanted to marry a learning boy lived in those days), take the girlout, decide within 15 minutes that she wasn't for him, sit through the date, goback home feeling down, and call the shadchan. The shadchan always made himtake the girl out a second time, just to be nice, and he'd waste yet another day. This went on for 3-4years. About 30-40 girls later, around Purim time, he went to Rabbi Schwab from Monsey to pour his heart out. The Rabbi told him, On Purim people knockon doors wearing masks, and we don't know who they are because of the masks.But Purim is not only on Purim. It'salways like Purim. We don't really know whowe are, and we don't know what we are doing here. Maybe you were a tough bosslast time around, and you fired 40 secretaries without even saying goodbye tothem, and now you have to make it up to them. You have to fix it, even ifyou're miserable. You have to go to their homes, take them out for a drink, benice to them, and take them home.
This is an eye opener for how to look at life.
Many years ago, I was aneighth grade rebbe to a very difficult class of about 10-12 boys. I was ready to jump off the roof. After Iheard the story that Rabbi Schwab told the young man, I gave myself a littlehizuk. I decided that last Gilgul Icaused bitul Torah, with 12 of my friends, and G-d told me I have to fix it. I may have asked G-d how I would find themall, and G-d said, "Don't worry, I'll get them all together in a classroom fora year. You'll spit blood, but that way you'll fix that you wasted their time."
We don't know how to look at things. If you had a hard boss, or werewronged in business... who knows?
But if you give it that little Gilgul twist, you'll livelife right and know you're here to fix things. And that's why the words:
אלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם
"These are the laws youshould put in front of them"
refer to Gilgul.
Have a Shabbat Shalom.