Parshah Columnists - Mishpatim

The laws of milk and meat teach us how to balance kindness and discipline.

I decided to overcome my “stranger danger” to tell Christopher’s dad how much I appreciated their kindness, and I complimented him on the fine job he was doing raising his son.

When I thought about the process, and how quickly the young couple enters the real world, it struck me that this is the way it has been modeled for us by G‑d.

There’s no such thing as a Jewish event without food, right? So why should the giving of the Torah at Sinai be an exception? An analysis of the celebratory feast at Sinai.

The contraction that manifests itself in Parshat Mishpatim exists in the nature of the world as well. In our lives, the most profound and uplifting things are found precisely in the mundane details of the daily routine.

Why are such exacting measures taken regarding the mixture of meat and milk, and how does it further our mission of becoming a holy nation?

What can we learn from the law of the goring ox?

Of all the laws in the Parshah—and there are many—why begin with the “regressive” topic of slavery?

Cyberspace, outer space, inner space. Genome maps, globalization. Smart cards, smart bombs, stem cells and cell phones. . . . Should we still need to subscribe to an ancient code of laws, when we are so further advanced than our ancestors?

There are four approaches to understanding what the Torah is all about: a) it means what it says; b) it's all a metaphor; c) it should be read from the top down; or d) from the bottom up

The fatalist maintains that nothing that anyone does really makes a difference. The activist believes himself to be the master of his fate. The Jew is neither, and both.

Does G‑d care if I cheat on my taxes? Am I going to be a better husband/wife/parent if I keep kosher? Are these the same question?

Is it possible to understand Torah without a hands-on approach?

On the face of it, the connection between our festivals and the seasons they are in is tenuous. The festivals celebrate miraculous events, while the seasons during which they fall appear to be coincidental.

If you strike your slave's eye or tooth, the Torah decrees, the slave goes free. What relavence does this law have in a society that has abandoned the practice of slavery?

In case of illness should one see a doctor or a rabbi, or both?

What has struck me as I sit listening to memories and eulogies is that mourners seem to care about one thing. No matter what people did for a living or the way they passed away, all that everyone left behind wants to talk about is the way they acted toward others.

Why to do a mitzvah that makes sense

What’s so terrible, anyway? It’s not as if I was intending to harm anyone. Just a little white lie for short-term gain, with no obvious pain to come.

How do I demonstrate proper gratitude for the gifts with which I have been endowed?

Why does the Torah forbid lending money with interest? The "Culture of Dependency" created by many welfare states can provide some insight in this area...

Do you rent, borrow, or own your life? Or do you just work here?

That's the profit from the sale of a calf in the marketplace of the White Russian town of Lubavitch

We were all looking away; we had not known that he was severely afflicted with Parkinson's disease. Then we heard this big bang on the table: "Gentlemen, look at me, and look at me right now. Who can tell me what the lesson of the Holocaust is?"

I returned to my compartment in a state of confusion. The last thing I had expected from the Rebbe was a business tip

One Friday afternoon, a man knocked on the door of Rabbi Yizchak Aizik, rabbi of Vitebsk. “I have a din Torah (a matter of litigation),” he said. “I request that you hear my case . . .”

It was rumored that back in Russia, before the Revolution, the Cigarette Beggar had been a wealthy man, with textile factories in Minsk and philanthropic projects all over the world...

Rabbi Shmuel was very careful in keeping the accounts of the free-loan fund, marking every transaction carefully in his books...

If G‑d does not want slavery, if He regards it as an affront to the human condition, why did He not abolish it immediately? Why did He allow it to continue, albeit in a restricted and regulated way?

When he first admitted the truth about his Jewish ancestry, one of his friends in the Jobbik party said, “The best thing would be if we shoot you so you can be buried as a pure Hungarian.”

G-d wants us to be free to serve Him, and not to any other entity