Where Business Meets Sinai: Who Decides What’s Right?
The Torah contains 613 mitzvot, traditionally divided into three broad categories. There are testimonies — mitzvot like Shabbos and Pesach that testify to Jewish history and faith. There are statutes — laws whose reasons are not immediately obvious. And there are judgements — civil laws governing how we treat one another: damages, loans, responsibility, justice. This week’s Parsha doesn’t begin not with lofty theology but with these civil laws. These are the judgements which you shall place before them… (Ex. 21:1). This section follows immediately after the Ten Commandments at Sinai, and Rashi points out that one might assume that the Ten Commandments are Divine but civil laws are merely practical rules societies develop to function. But Rashi challenges that notion and says that just as the Ten Commandments were given at Sinai so too these civil laws were given at Sinai. How we handle money, property, responsibility, injury, are fairness is not the result of social policy, it’s sacred and reflects Divine will.
Question: Why do we need Divine input for basic civil law? Don’t societies naturally develop legal systems on their own? The answer is, yes, but history has demonstrated what societies consider normal or civilized can vary dramatically — and not always for the better. The Midrash describes the city of Sodom, infamous for its cruelty. Their sin was not only immorality, but it was also legalized selfishness. They passed laws forbidding hospitality; helping the poor was a crime. They prided themselves on protecting their wealth and autonomy. From their perspective, this was rational social policy but the Torah deems it cruel and immoral.
We don’t have to go back to Biblical times, let’s look at two of the greatest civilizations of the Western world. In Greece and Rome charity was not a value, it was a sign of weakness. Strength was admired; vulnerability was despised. Infants born with disabilities were commonly abandoned and public spectacles of violence in the Colosseum were considered acceptable entertainment. These were not marginal behaviors; they were widely accepted norms.
Every culture tends to believe its values are enlightened and modern. Yet time has a way of revealing blind spots. Practices once considered progressive are later viewed as cruel. What is praised in one era may be condemned in another. This leads to a fundamental question regarding morality: if morality is shaped only by public opinion, what anchors it? Who decides what is truly right?
The Torah’s answer is both radical and reassuring. Justice does not originate in the marketplace of ideas or in shifting trends, it originates in something higher than human impulse. Even civil law — how we treat workers, borrowers, neighbors, strangers — is rooted in the same Divine source as “You shall not murder” and “Remember the Sabbath day.” This doesn’t mean Torah law is indifferent to human reality. On the contrary, it espouses private ownership and capitalism AND ALSO protects the vulnerable, mandates care for the poor, commands sensitivity toward converts, and insists on fair treatment even of our enemies. because it recognizes human dignity as inherent, not granted by popularity.
One of the remarkable features of Torah law is its stability. Societies and cultures change and sometimes swing dramatically from one moral extreme to another but Torah values are anchored and have endured for thousands of years. The prohibition against humiliating another person publicly, the obligation to return lost property, the mandate to pursue justice without favoritism are principles that have never had the need to undergo revision.
And perhaps that is the deeper message of this week’s Parsha. The Torah does not separate spirituality from daily life. It doesn’t say that holiness belongs only in prayer, ritual, or meditation. It says that how you compensate an employee, how you respond when someone damages your property, how you treat a debtor — these are also spiritual moments.
Every society needs laws to survive but the Torah teaches that we need more than survival; we need moral clarity. In a world where values can feel unstable and definitions shift quickly, it is comforting to have a moral framework that does not depend on polls or trends. It invites us to step outside the noise of the moment and ask: What reflects true human dignity? What aligns with a vision of justice that is larger than ourselves?
The opening words of the Parsha give a message: These are the judgements which you shall place before them. Not behind them. Not beneath them. Before them as a guiding light. Just as they were given at Sinai, so too they remain relevant today and serve as a reminder that even the most ordinary interactions can be sacred, and that justice itself is holy ground.
Good Shabbos