Anash.org presents a weekly Dvar Torah for children by Rabbi Yekusiel Goldstein, author of the book Divrei Torah for Children.
‘לזכות הרה”ח הרה”ת ר’ עקיבא גרשון בן רחל בתי
לרפואה שלימה וקרובה
For a printable PDF of the Dvar Torah for Parshas Mishpotim, click here.
מִשְׁפָּטִים
The Torah Way
Parshas Mishpotim begins with the possuk, “And these are the laws that you shall set before them.” We learn from this possuk, that if a Yid has an argument with another Yid, he must bring the matter “before them,” before the Yiddishe beis din, and not to the non-Jewish court.
What if a Yid knows that in his particular case the non-Jewish court judges the same way as the Torah does, can he go then to the non-Jewish court? The halacha is, that even then, he may not go to the non-Jewish court.
Question – We could understand why going to the non-Jewish court is forbidden when they judge differently than the Torah way. But why is it forbidden when they judge the same way as the Torah?
Answer – Someone who follows the non-Jewish court, does the law because it makes sense and because the non-Jewish court is saying so, not because this is the Torah’s ruling. Once he starts listening to them, he will continue listening to them even when they rule against the Torah. The Torah therefore forbids us from going to their judges altogether.
Lesson – Our yetzer hara works in a similar way. The yetzer hara doesn’t come to a child and tell him straight out, “Hey, go do an aveira!” He first comes and tells him, “Hey, that’s a nice mitzva to do, you can do it.” And once he gets us listening to him, he gradually tells us to do an aviera. We must watch out for the yetzer hara’s tricks and make sure to do all Hashem’s mitzvos! And not just because they make sense, but because Hashem commanded us to do them!
(Based on Likutei Sichos vol. 3 p. 899)
Divrei Torah for ChildrenVolume 2 can be purchased online or in Crown Heights bookstores.
