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Why does the Torah (תורה) command candle-lighting only on Shabbos (שבת) if shalom bayis applies all week? The shiur develops the concept that shalom bayis means not merely avoiding conflict but actively developing and elevating one another. Torah law is presented as a "set table" (Shulchan Aruch) — creating appetite and buy-in, not mere behavioral regulation — so that we grow from mitzvos and from each other.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a practical question: if we light Shabbos (שבת) candles for shalom bayis (to prevent darkness and friction), why don't we have a mitzvah (מצוה) to light candles every night? Why would Tuesday night Chanukah (חנוכה) candles take precedence over household lighting if shalom bayis is a constant value? The answer, he suggests, lies in understanding what shalom bayis actually means. The parsha begins with the command to place the mishpatim "before them" (lifneihem). Rashi (רש"י) reads this phrase as more than simple instruction: Moshe must set the laws before the people "like a table set and prepared to eat from." Rabbi Zweig asks why the graphic image of a set table? Rashi also states that Moshe must give not only the laws but the reasons (ta'amim) behind them. The word ta'am means both "reason" and "taste." By giving reasons, Moshe is not merely regulating behavior but developing people. A set table creates appetite; presentation creates desire. The goal is buy-in — the person wants to do the mitzvah and grows from it, rather than being externally controlled.
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Parshas Mishpatim, Shemos 21:1, 22:21-23
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