A Short Vort on Parshas Mishpatim
Often, when we read the pshat—the simple meaning of the Torah—something doesn’t fully settle. The words seem straightforward, yet a nuance in the text hints that there is something deeper beneath the surface. That is the beauty of Pardes: pshat, remez, drush, and sod. Sometimes the very tension in the simple reading is what opens the door to a deeper layer.
At the beginning of Parshas Mishpatim, the Torah states:
“Ve’eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem” —
These are the laws that you shall place before them.
Moshe Rabbeinu is instructed to present the laws of the Torah to the Jewish people.
Immediately afterward, the Torah begins:
“Ki tikneh eved Ivri” —
When you acquire a Hebrew slave,
“sheish shanim ya’avod, uvashvi’is yeitzei lachofshi chinam” —
Six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go free.
Something is striking here. The phrase “ki tikneh” is written in the singular. But the verse just said “asher tasim lifneihem”—before them, in the plural. If the Torah is addressing the Jewish people collectively, shouldn’t it say “ki tiknu”—when you (plural) acquire?
Chassidus, in Torah Ohr from the Alter Rebbe, explains that this shift to singular is intentional. The “you” is not referring to the people—it is referring to Moshe Rabbeinu himself.
A similar nuance appears in the second paragraph of Shema, in V’haya Im Shamoa, where we say:
“V’natati esev besadcha livhemtecha” —
I will give grass in your field for your cattle.
Although Moshe is speaking in the name of Hashem, the wording sounds as though Moshe himself is saying, “I will give.” Chassidus explains that Moshe does more than transmit Hashem’s words. He channels Divine nourishment into the people.
Moshe Rabbeinu is called the Raya Mehemna—the faithful shepherd. A shepherd does not merely instruct; he feeds and sustains his flock. Spiritually, Moshe nourishes every type of soul. The verse describes the Jewish people as “zera adam v’zera behemah”—some souls are on a lofty intellectual level, others on a simpler, more instinctive level. Each requires appropriate nourishment.
Thus, when Moshe says, “V’natati esev besadcha livhemtecha,” it hints that he provides the spiritual “grass,” the sustenance each soul needs to grow.
So too here:
“Ki tikneh eved Ivri” — You, Moshe, will acquire the Hebrew servant.
The Jewish people are servants of Hashem. During the “six years”—which Chassidus understands as corresponding to the six thousand years of the world’s existence—we engage in avodah, spiritual labor. “Sheish shanim ya’avod.”
And who empowers that avodah?
Moshe.
Not only the Moshe of history, but as the Zohar teaches:
“Itpashtusa d’Moshe bechol dor vador” —
The extension of Moshe exists in every generation.
In every generation there is a “Moshe”—a faithful shepherd—who feeds the people emunah, bitachon, Torah, and chizuk. He gives us the ability to take Hashem’s infinite wisdom—beli gevul—and internalize it within our finite minds and hearts. Not just to understand Torah, but to be transformed by it.
Especially in our generation, as we stand on the heels of Moshiach, there are distractions and challenges. Emunah is tested. Trust is tested. We do not always see Hashem’s hand openly. The world can feel confusing and chaotic.
We need nourishment. We need strength.
The message of “ki tikneh” is that we are not left alone in our service. The faithful shepherd continues to empower us, giving us the capacity to fulfill our “six years” of labor until the “seventh year”—the time of true freedom, when “yeitzei lachofshi chinam,” with the coming of Moshiach.
May we merit very soon to see the fulfillment of Hashem’s promise, with the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash and our return to Eretz Yisrael, bimhera v’yameinu, Amen.