Go ask an average miluimnik what is harder: going to miluim or returning from miluim. It’s not an easy question.
Going to war is dangerous and risky. It disrupts routine. But at the same time, it can be meaningful, powerful, a strong experience. For some, it becomes a time of clarity, a moment to confront the deepest questions of existence: Who are we? Why are we here?
And then comes the return.
Going back to day-to-day life is a completely different challenge. There is a different pace to real life: jobs, colleagues, families, parking, bureaucracy. The issues suddenly feel small, more routine. The landing is not simple.
That is the feeling I get when I read Parshat Mishpatim.
We have just experienced the greatest event of our lives: Matan Torah. Am Yisrael saw fire, lightning, and smoke. They heard the shofar blasts. They heard Hashem’s voice revealed. It was overwhelming.
And then what?
“Veele Hamishpatim…" - and these are the laws.
Back to routine. A 'shor nagach et haparah' - an ox gored a cow. Loans. Leases. Civil disputes. The details of life.
How do we make that transition? How do we make such a switch?
The answer lies in the Mizbeach.
Chazal teach that the placement of Mishpatim immediately after Matan Torah teaches that the judges must be positioned next to the Mizbeach (Rashi). The Mizbeach was mentioned at the end of Parshat Yitro. Let’s look at the psukim (Shemot 20:19):
The Lord said to Moses, “So shall you say to the children of Israel, ‘You have seen that from the heavens I have spoken with you.’
You shall not make images of anything that is with Me. Gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves."
After such a transcendent moment, there is a real concern: the people will try to contain it. To grasp it. To reduce it into something physical, something manageable. To shrink the vision - the chazon. The concern is clear; we are about to leave Har Sinai.
So what is the alternative? How do we ensure we do not lose that great uplift?
An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall slaughter beside it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. Wherever I allow My name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.
The Ibn Ezra explains that this Mizbeach mentioned here is not a side detail. It is the very same Mizbeach that Moshe will build at the end of Parshat Mishpatim. In other words, it is part of the Sinai story itself.
The Mizbeach continues the fire.
The kedusha, the revelation of the Shechina - they do not disappear. They are preserved and carried forward. Instead of taking a ‘selfie’ at Har Sinai and then returning unchanged to regular life, the Torah offers a different model. You integrate the greatness into daily reality. You bring Sinai into routine.
It is not as dramatic or overwhelming, but perhaps it is even greater.
This is where the judges enter the picture. Their role is not only technical. It is spiritual. The laws are not only a descent from Sinai - they are the continuation of Sinai. To judge truthfully is to live Har Sinai in the marketplace.
These days, as we read Parshat Mishpatim, we cannot help but think of the heroism, gevurah, of those returning from the battlefield. There is the gevurah of combat. But there is also the gevurah of routine - the quiet strength required to rebuild, to re-enter life, to translate powerful moments into steady living.
We all hope to preserve the clarity and purpose we have experienced over these past two years. The challenge is to move from Parshat Yitro to Parshat Mishpatim.