YU TORAH and NAALEH.COM Super Sensitivity Parshat Mishpatim 5774 By:Mrs. Shira Smiles

In this class (shiur) Mrs. Shira Smiles discusses Parshat Mishpatim Available online in streaming video, or for download in mp3 and mp4 (Ipod video) formats. “Sensitivity Training” did not begin in modern day corporations or schools; it began centuries ago when Bnei Yisroel were given the laws delineated in Parshat Mishpatim and related laws throughout the Torah. These laws are intended to make us super sensitive to the most vulnerable members of society and, by extension, to all mankind. Within this parsha, one group of verses stands out as particularly intense. Beginning with sensitivity to the stranger (or convert), a warning oft repeated in the Torah, the verses continue: “You shall not cause pain (afflict) to any widow or orphan, for if you afflict, afflict (surely afflict) him, if he shall cry, cry out to Me, I will hear, hear his outcry. My wrath shall blaze through My nostrils (vechoro api) and I shall kill you by the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans.” This is indeed powerful language. The only other times Hashem refers to His anger as “blazing through His nostrils” is when He admonishes us against worshipping strange gods. Rabbi Schrage Grosbard asks why do only these two sins elicit such strong condemnation. The effect is further compounded by the doubling of the major verbs, notes Rabbi Sorotskin as he cites the Seforno in Habinah Vehabracha. There must be information conveyed and lessons learned beyond the dramatic effect of saying, “If you afflict, afflict,” “If he shall cry, cry out,” and “I will hear, hear.”