Daily Chumash Summaries

By: Sarede Rachel Switzer
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  • Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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    Sarede Rachel Switzer
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Judaism Spirituality
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Episodes
  • Mishpatim, 3rd Aliya

    Mishpatim, 3rd Aliya
    Feb 18 2025
    Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comLaws Concerning Damages Incurred to Others' Property and PossessionsIf a person lets their cattle loose and as a result the cattle damages another's property via trampling on it or grazing from it, the owner of this cattle must pay the owner of the field for the damages. If they pay in land, the owner of the cattle must take from the best of his land.If a person starts a fire in their field but it then spreads to another person's field and burns the thorns there to cause a bigger fire, this person must pay for the damages incurred.If a person lends something to someone else and then the trustee claims that someone stole the goods from him, if the thief is caught - the thief must pay back both the owner of the goods and the trustee. If the thief is not caught, the trustee must go to court to testify that he did not steal the goods. If witnesses testify that the trustee was actually the one who stole the goods and the judges condemn him on this basis, he must pay double the value of the goods to the owner. However if these witnesses are found to be false, these witnesses must pay double the value of the goods to the trustee. The trustee is only forced to testify however if he admits to stealing part of (but not all of) the goods.When a person gives someone an animal to guard and the trustee says that the animal had died or was injured or captured and there were no witnesses to the death, the trustee must testify to this, as well as to the fact that he did not put this animal to his personal use, in which case he would have breeched the contract he had regarding the loan. Once he testifies as such, he is not responsible to pay anything to the owner and the owner must let it go. However if the animal was stolen from him, he must pay the owner for it. If this animal was torn apart by wild beasts, the trustee should bring the torn animal to court as evidence. Wild beasts include such things like a wolf, lion, bear or serpent. If however the animal was torn by a milder animal such as a cat, fox or marten, the trustee is liable and must pay, as he could have protected the animal from these but didn't.If a person borrows an animal from another and then the animal dies or is injured, the borrower must pay compensation to the owner. However if the owner of the animal had been working for the borrower at the time of this loan, even if it was a type of work that was unrelated to the work the animal was doing, and even if the owner was not present at the time of the animal's death, the borrower is exempt from paying. If the animal was hired and not borrowed, it is unclear as to whether the hirer would have to pay compensation and how much, and there are different opinions about it. Rabbi Meir says he would have to pay as if he were a Shomer Chinam, and Rabbi Yehudah says he would have to pay as a Shomer Sachar.If a man coerces a virgin girl to sleep with him, he must pay for her appropriately (i.e. write a ketuba for her) and marry her. If her father does not want this man to marry his daughter, the man must pay the father in 50 shekels of silver.A witch (male or female, though in those times it was more common for women to be witches) should be put to death by the court.Anyone who is intimate with an animal must be put to death by stoning.Anyone who performs any kind of act that could be considered a sacrifice to an idol (or is the same as the type of sacrificial acts that the Jews would perform in the Temple) shall be put to death. Acts that merely display good feelings towards an idol but aren't actually forms of worship (sweeping the floor in front of an idol, sprinkling water in front of it, or hugging or kissing it) are not liable for death.Do not heckle or steal from a convert, for you were strangers* in Egypt. And you should never rebuke someone for a fault that you have.*Side note: The word גר which translates as "convert" or "stranger" refers to anyone who was born in a different land than they live in.Do not mistreat a widow or orphan. There is a difference of opinion as to whether this law of mistreating people applies to everyone or specifically to widows and orphans. Rashi is of the opinion that it applies to everyone but that widows and orphans are particularly mentioned as it is more common to mistreat people who are weaker in power (having no one to defend them) such as these. If you do mistreat them, G-d will punish you so that you die and your own wives shall be "widows" and your children will be "orphans*".*Side ...
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    8 mins
  • Mishpatim, 2nd Aliya

    Mishpatim, 2nd Aliya
    Feb 17 2025
    Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comDamages Relating to People and AnimalsIf a person hits their Canaanite slave or maidservant with an object* (like a rod or a stone) that can cause death when striking a certain part of a person’s body, and the slave or maidservant dies as a result, the master shall be put to death.*Side note: This is the case for Hebrew slaves, that the death blow must have been with this type of object for the master to be culpable. So all the more so must this be the case with a Canaanite slave/maidservant for whom we tend to be more lenient towards the master, since the Canaanite slave is considered to be his master’s property forever, vs. the Hebrew slave must be set free after 6 years.In the case of a Canaanite slave or maidservant, if they survive the blow for 24 hours, then the master is exempt from penalty of death (this is not the case with a Hebrew slave). If someone else other than the master hit this slave however, this person shall be held culpable even if 24 hours have passed before the slave dies.If two men are fighting and one of them unintentionally hits a pregnant woman who is nearby, killing her unborn fetus, the court is to determine the value of the unborn fetus by calculating the value of the woman while she was pregnant (were she to be sold into slavery) minus what she would have been worth before she were pregnant. The man who struck her is then responsible to pay this amount in damages to the husband of the aborted woman.If in this case not only the fetus is killed but the woman herself is, the culprit must pay with his life. Some people say that this is literal, meaning he shall be put to death. Others however say that it is monetary, and that he should pay the amount that he would be worth were he to be sold into slavery.In the case of an eye, a tooth or any limb, if it is damaged, the one who did the damage is responsible to pay the victim the amount which compensates for the amount that has been lost to the person’s value (were they to be sold in the marketplace as a slave) due to their injury.If a person is injured in such a way that it does not diminish their value in the marketplace but rather causes them significant pain such as a burn a wound or a bruise, the culprit must pay the victim an amount that would appease the victim enough to forgive the culprit. For a rich person who is more spoiled, this amount will most likely be higher.In the case of a flesh wound which not only will decrease their value in the marketplace but also cause significant pain, the culprit is responsible to pay not only the amount that the person is worth, but for his medical expenses and anything to cover loss of incapacitation from work as a result of the wound.If a person hits his Canaanite slave or slave woman and their eye or tooth gets knocked out, they are to be set free. This is true not only for eyes and teeth but for the loss of any of the 24 limbs (10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 ears, the nose and the tip of the male organ). The reason why the eye and tooth are both mentioned (instead of just mentioning one of them and having the other limbs insinuated including the other one), is because if only the eye were mentioned, we might assume it only meant those limbs which were present at birth, whereas teeth were not. And if it were to only mention teeth, we might assume it could apply to baby teeth which grow back after the come out, which it does not.If a person's animal (the text says an "ox" as this was the most common animal at the time for this kind of thing to occur, however it is the same law for any animal) kills a person, that animal is to be put to death. People cannot receive any benefit from such an animal by eating it or otherwise benefitting from it before it is killed. If this animal is what is considered a tam (literally an "innocent"), meaning that it is not a wild animal and has not habitually harmed people, the owner is not liable to be put to death through stoning.If however such an animal has habitually caused bloodshed to people (habitually is defined as having been done three consecutive days prior) and the owner was warned by the court to keep their animal locked up and then this animal kills someone (in any way, not specifically through goring), the animal shall be put to death, and the owner will be killed by G-d (not by man though). As far as the court, they calculate the sum that the owner of the animal must pay to redeem himself. According to Rabbi Yishmael, this value is calculated according to ...
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    11 mins
  • Mishpatim, 1st Aliya

    Mishpatim, 1st Aliya
    Feb 16 2025
    Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comLaws Concerning Slavery, Murder, Parents, Kidnapping and Damages for InjuriesThe Chumash now outlines a series of more specific laws. This Parsha directly follows the previous Parsha to educate us that just as the Ten Commandments were given directly from G-d at Mount Sinai, so were these laws.Also, these more legalistic laws were placed adjacent to the laws concerning instructions involving the alter to teach the Israelites that the Sanhedrin should be next to the holy temple.G-d instructs Moshe to really educate the Israelites in these laws not just so they can memorize them, but so that they really understand them so they are ready to keep.G-d says that the Israelites should not bring legal matters to non jewish courts, but rather settle things in Jewish courts. Bringing legal matters to non jewish courts is a desecration of G-d's name in that it is giving higher importance to the testimony of non jewish deities.The laws:If a master buys a Hebrew slave, who has been sold into slavery by a court as a sentence for committing theft*, he shall work for the master for 6 years and on the 7th shall be set free.*Side note: A Hebrew slave who sells himself into slavery due to his severe poverty is discussed later on in Vayikra 25:39.If this Hebrew slave entered into servitude as a single man, so shall he leave; i.e. the master shall not give him a Canaanite maidservant from whom to father slaves. If he were married to a Hebrew woman upon entering servitude, his master shall be responsible to provide not only for him but for his wife and children as well up until the point that he is freed, at which time the master is no longer responsible for them anymore.If the master does give this Hebrew slave a Canaanite maidservant from which to father slaves (which is only allowed if the man already had a Hebrew wife before becoming a slave), upon being freed, the Canaanite maidservant and her children are owned by the master. An Israelite maidservant would be set free together with the slave, or even earlier were she to show signs of puberty.If the slave says that he loves his master and this Canaanite maidservant and the children that he bore from her and doesn't want to be set free, then the master shall bring the slave to court which sold him to the master to repay what he stole and they shall bring him to an upright door* and pierce his right ear to the door, and he shall be that master's slave "forever"**. The reason for this piercing of the ear is related to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. In the case of a slave who was sold into slavery by the court for not being able to repay his theft, this piercing is a sign that the same ear which heard "Thou Shalt Not Steal" from Mount Sinai went ahead and stole. And in the case of a slave who sold themselves into slavery due to being severely impoverished, this is in relation to his ear being the same one that heard on Mount Sinai about how the Israelites were only to be G-d's slaves now and no longer the Egyptians, yet he nevertheless sold himself to a human master. Rabbi Shimon says that the significance of the piercing being connected to a door and a mezuzah is in commemoration of G-d passing over the doors that had mezuzah's on them in Egypt to signify that we were slaves of G-d and not slaves of slaves (i.e of the Egyptians).*Side note: Upright like a mezuzah.**Side note: This doesn't literally mean forever, but rather just till the end of the jubilee, as 50 years is considered "forever". One does not have to serve a full 50 years however, rather even if this servitude starts in the middle or towards the end of the jubilee, it ends at the end of it.If a man sells his minor aged daughter to be a handmaiden, she shall work for either 6 years, the end of the jubilee, or until she shows sign of puberty - whichever of these three comes first. If her master caused damage to her eye or to her tooth, he is to pay appropriate compensation to her upon release.A Canaanite slave is released if the master knocks out his tooth, blinds his eye or mutilates the tips of any of his 24 limbs. Not so is a Hebrew maidservant, nor a Hebrew slave.If this maidservant which was purchased is not pleasing for the master to marry (the money he used to purchase her was meant to be his payment to marry her), he must set her free and the cost of her redemption should not be the original amount that he purchased her for but rather he should calculate as if she were a hired worker for him and deduct that from ...
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    11 mins

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