This week's Torah portion opens with the famous injunction "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand... עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת שֵׁ֑ן יָ֚ד תַּ֣חַת יָ֔ד (21:24)" While the rabbis maintain that this verse was never intended literally. That said, when figuring out how to compensate for damages one must take into account the full amount of damages including the injury itself, pain, loss of income, medical expenses, and shame. If “eye for an eye” in fact means monetary compensation, why does the Torah not simply say so? Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief rabbi of pre-State Israel, once explained this lesson by way of a parable. Here is that lesson as re-told by Rabbi Chanan Morrison:
The Kabbalists, he explained, compared the Written Torah to a father and the Oral Torah to a mother. When parents discover their son has committed a grave offense, how do they react? The father immediately raises his hand to punish his son. But the mother, full of compassion, rushes to stop him. “Please, not in anger!” she pleads, and she convinces the father to mete out a lighter punishment. An onlooker might conclude that all this drama was superfluous. In the end, the boy did not receive corporal punishment. Why make a big show of it? In fact, the scene provided an important educational lesson for the errant son. Even though he was only lightly disciplined, the son was made to understand that his actions deserved a much more severe punishment.
In other words, while the offender only pays monetary restitution, he should not think that money alone repairs the damage he caused. As Maimonides taught the Torah’s intention is not that the offender should actually be injured in the same way that he injured his neighbour, rather “that it is fitting to injure him, just as he did to the injured party” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Personal Injuries 1:3).
All of that is a very long way of saying that for my challah I have an image of a hamsa-- the hand of God, in my mind, with an eye at the center. This covers an eye, a hand (both of which we find repeatedly in the parasha in connection to damages) AND as a hamsa offers a sense of security it also ties in nicely with the verse from this week's Torah portion (23:20):
הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁלֵ֤חַ מַלְאָךְ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ֖ בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְלַהֲבִ֣יאֲךָ֔ אֶל־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲכִנֹֽתִי׃
I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.
I should note, that another idea is to represent eyes with a recipe heavy on black eyed peas.
All of these judgments and consequences are spoken of in terms of shekels which well before it was the modern State of Israel's currency was a measurement of weight. Perhaps it is this very parasha-- Mishpatim meaning laws yet with a sense of jurisprudence, that gives the image of the scales of justice. As the end of the parasha brings the prohibition of not boiling a kid in its mother's milk, perhaps serving fish would suffice for both ideas-- scales and kashrut.
Three times in the Torah in fact we are told not to boil a kid in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19, & 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21). In other words God is giving the laws to Moshe and says, “You shall not boil a kid (calf or goat) in its mother’s milk.” Moshe responds, “Lord, I think I comprehend what you are saying. You are saying that we cannot eat cheeseburgers.” God replies, “No, don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Moshe responds again, “Powerful God, I am nothing, but I think I understand. You mean that we should wait at least three hours after eating meat to eat dairy products.” God testily retorts, “NO, DON’T BOIL A KID IN ITS MOTHER’S MILK!” Moshe tries again, “I am but dust and ashes but I think I get it. What you are saying is that we should have two sets of dishes. One set for meat and one for dairy. If we by accident put meat on a dairy dish we should bury that dish and not use it.” God says, “Oh, just do whatever you want.” You get the point. In our family we tend to mark moments like this by making chicky parmesan - plant based chicky patties with the works. That said, I also made vegan taco filling the other day along with vegan nacho cheese.
When a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or an ass falls into it...וְכִֽי־יִפְתַּ֨ח אִ֜ישׁ בּ֗וֹר א֠וֹ כִּֽי־יִכְרֶ֥ה אִ֛ישׁ בֹּ֖ר וְלֹ֣א יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ וְנָֽפַל־שָׁ֥מָּה שּׁ֖וֹר א֥וֹ חֲמֽוֹר׃
Within the conversation of damages, for which there is an entire section of Talmud, we arrive at pits... which really is the pits. Except when the conversation turns to turkey or chicken pot pie-- a family favourite for Shabbat OR even better deep dish apple pie. My favourite dessert always gets a second vote as the Torah continues with the obligation to come together three times a year. One of those occasions: The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God (23:19). רֵאשִׁ֗ית בִּכּוּרֵי֙ אַדְמָ֣תְךָ֔ תָּבִ֕יא בֵּ֖ית ה׳ . Apple pie must be what God had in mind because right before the parasha ends, Moshe is back up the mountain hanging out with God in the cloud. Now if that doesn't conjure up images of apple pie a la mode, what does!
B'tayavon and Shabbat shalom!
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