Parshas Mishpatim: Understanding Another
By Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
Chaver Kollel
אם כסף תלווה את עמי את העני עמך (שמות כב, פסוק כד)
“When you are to lend money to [one of] my nation, the poor within you”. (Shemos 22, 24)
The Torah enumerates laws that govern the interactions between a lender and a borrower. These laws cover areas such as charging interest, proper conduct in taking collateral and collecting the debt.
Rashi (based on Medrash Tanchuma 15) alerts us to a peculiar word choice for describing the poor person who lives among you. The Torah refers to him as the poor within you. The Medrash explains: [We are to understand this as an instruction to] “look within yourself as if you are poor”.
What is the purpose of this introspection at the moment you are engaged in the Mitzva of lending? The Mitzva is at hand to perform. Carry it out, and that should suffice.
Regarding this question, Horav Yeruchem Levovitz Zt”l, the venerable Mashgiach of Yeshivas Mir, emphasized in a lecture, “I will now reveal to you a great secret, that from it emerges a novel area of practical scholarship relating to the conduct between man and his fellow. (מצוות בין אדם לחברו)“
What is this secret? He says that prior to studying the laws one must study the subject to whom these laws pertain. When it comes to interpersonal relationships and interactions, one must study their friend. What is the value of this other person? How many resources have been invested for him to become who he is? How much effort did he spend acquiring his belongings? If I have harmed his person, his possessions, his reputation or his dignity what effect did it have on him?
That works for people we know, but how can one come to understand a person who is in need with whom he is not personally acquainted? The answer, says R’ Yeruchem, is that one must explore the feelings within himself, imagining what it would be like if he were to experience what this fellow is going through. This is the context which frames the laws. In the words of R’ Yeruchem, “Before studying Bava Kama (one of the tractates devoted to monetary law) one must study his colleague.”
This principle is not merely a nice idea. It is nothing less than an absolute prerequisite to any true understanding of the law. The Mishnah in Avos says, “Im Ein Yir’ah Ein Chochma - if there is no awe, there is no Torah wisdom”. R’ Yeruchem interprets this as: If there is not a clear perception of Hashem (Yir’ah from the root to see, to perceive), there’s no Torah wisdom. We dare not attempt to grasp His will without first having a sense of who He is. Similarly, one cannot grasp laws pertaining to human interactions without truly seeing other people.
Thus, the Torah tells us how to approach the Mitzva of lending money to someone in need. “When you are to lend money to [one of] my nation, the poor within you”. Take the time and emotional energy to feel and grasp what it is to be poor. Only then can you truly understand the Mitzvah of helping someone in need.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
