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Why does Parshas Mishpatim begin with the laws of an Eved Ivri? The shiur develops a fundamental yesod: mishpatim represent rights, and all rights derive from responsibility. Just as the right to eat requires replacing what we take (through brachos), the right to exist demands we be a positive force in creation. The eved-adon relationship becomes the prototype—mastery comes only through accepting responsibility—explaining both the opening of Mishpatim and the covenant of Yetzias Mitzrayim.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a fundamental question from the Zohar: why does Parshas Mishpatim serve as the sod (esoteric foundation) of gilgul neshamos (transmigration of souls)? Additionally, the Midrash compares the Torah (תורה) to a matronah (noblewoman) who walks with armed guards both in front and behind her, representing mishpatim that precede and follow the giving of the Torah at Sinai. What does this imagery mean? Furthermore, Rishonim struggle to explain why Eved Ivri opens Parshas Mishpatim—why does this particular law come first? The shiur builds toward its answer by first examining a Gemara (גמרא) in Brachos (mem ches, 35b) on the pasuk "V'avadtem es Hashem (ה׳) Elokeichem u'varach es lachmecha v'es meimecha" (Serve Hashem and He will bless your bread and water). Rav Nosson darshens: "Al tikra u'virech ella u'barech"—read it not as "He will bless" but "you shall bless"—establishing the obligation to make a bracha before eating. The Maharsha questions this: the plain reading says Hashem will bless the food, not that we must bless! Moreover, an earlier Gemara (lamed hei) already establishes that making a bracha is a sevara (logical necessity)—"asur la'adam she'yehane min ha'olam hazeh b'lo bracha" (forbidden to benefit from this world without a blessing). The principle of "lamah li kra, sevara hu" teaches that when logic obligates something, no pasuk is needed. Why then does Rav Nosson need a pasuk?
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Parshas Mishpatim
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