Thursday, February 11, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Mishpatim

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand said a brief thought on Parshas Mishpatim and spent the remainder of the parsha timeslot on eulogizing R' Sheftel Neuberger Ztl who passed away earlier this week. I had met R' Neuberger only once in Chicago in 2019, but still remember the powerful way that he davened for the amud.

The vort that R' Frand said involved the concept of taking collateral for a loan. The Torah states in Shemos 22:25 אִם־חָבֹ֥ל תַּחְבֹּ֖ל שַׂלְמַ֣ת רֵעֶ֑ךָ עַד־בֹּ֥א הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ תְּשִׁיבֶ֥נּוּ לֽוֹ - if you take someone's garment as security, until the sun sets you shall return it to him. R' Frand quoted Rashi who states that this teaches that the lender does not take collateral at the time of the loan, he only takes the collateral when the borrower cannot pay. 

Rashi further notes that the double language אִם־חָבֹ֥ל תַּחְבֹּ֖ל - teaches that a person takes the collateral many times, as he returns it to the borrower when he needs it. Rashi then compares it to Hashem who says - how much do yo owe Me. Every night the neshama goes to Shamayim and is judged and found to be in debt to Me, yet I return it in the morning. So too you should continue to return the collateral.

R' Frand then quoted the Kitsos HaChoshen (4-1) which discusses a person who is given an item to watch and then later lends money to the same person. The question is - if the borrower defaults, may the lender keep the item? The Kitsos answers based on the Zohar (the only time that he ever quotes the Zohar) which recites the same concept as Rashi - every night Hashem takes the neshama and after judging the person, concludes that the person owes Him, yet Hashem does not keep the neshama.

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