This week’s parasha , Parashat Mishpatim, contains many, many mitzvot – 53, according to the count of the Sefer HaChinuch . The topics covered by these mitzvot include the proper treatment of slaves, the judicial system, the holidays and the prohibition on idolatry. One mitzvah taught in the parasha is the commandment to help unload an animal of burden. The Torah writes, “If you see the donkey of someone you hate crouching under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? – you will help repeatedly with him.” Although the message of the verse is clear – that you are obligated to help unload the burden of an animal – the Torah includes a seemingly extraneous fact — the donkey is owned by someone who you hate. Our sages discuss (Masechet Pesachim 113b) how the Torah can endorse the hatred of one Jew to another. In fact, the Torah explicitly forbids such hatred when it writes, “Do not hate your brother in your heart”. How can these two verses by reconciled? Our Sages explain that such...
Rabbi Benjy Owen, Dean, Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, Memphis, TN