Rashi: Sinai, Teaching, and Bet Din

''ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם''

These are the first five words, and first פסוק, of פרשת משפטים. From these words רש''י learns three very important details.

From the first word, or even the first letter, ''ואלה'' , רש''י learns that just as the עשרת הדיברות were taught to משה at הר סיני, so too was everything stated in this פרשה. The letter ''ו'' signifies a continuation, a connection between everything stated previously and everything that is to follow. ''ואלה המשפטים...'' , These are the עשרת הדיברות “And these are the judgments…” all given to משה at הר סיני. Some of the laws in this פרשה are moral laws such as''וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים'‘, , “You shall not abuse a גר and you shall not oppress him, for you were גרים in the land of Egypt” , ''מדבר שקר תרחק...'' , “distance yourself from lying...” and ''ושחד לא תקח...'' , “and you shall not take a bribe…” רש''י is teaching us that even these moral prohibitions along with all the other laws were give to משה at הר סיני along with the עשרת הדיברות.

From the words ''אשר תשים לפניהם'' , רש''י learns an instruction from ה' to משה, and to all of us, on how to teach the תורה. ה' was telling משה that when he teaches the תורה to בני ישראל he should teach it in it’s entirety, not just the הלכה but the meaning behind it as well. ''ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם'' “These are the judgments that you shall place before them,” - you should place these judgments before בני ישראל like a table that is set and ready to be eaten from is placed before a person. The תורה שבכתב and תורה שבעל פה should not be taught in their raw state but should be thoroughly explained to the people.

Lastly רש''י learns something which is very often applicable today. ה' chose the word ''לפניהם'' , “…that you shall place before them” as apposed to another word like ''להם'' , “…that you shall give to them.” This word teaches us that any dispute we have should always be taken to a בית דין and not to a secular court. The word ‘‘לפניהם'‘ , “before them,” is being translated as “before them, the judges of בני ישראל, but not before the גויים.” ה' selected the word ''לפניהם'' to teach us that even if we know that the secular court will judge a case using the same legal principles as the בית דין we should still go to the בית דין, in order to elevate the authority of the בית דין and so that we not elevate the secular court. Hopefully this ruling should never be applicable to any of us, but in the chance that it is we should remember to always use a בית דין.

These are three important rules that we learn from one פסוק. The תורה is so vast, containing so much information to account for an endless amount of time one can use studying it. בעזרנ השם we should be able to go through the תורה, פסוק by ,פסוק increasing our knowledge of the תורה and our connection to ה'.