Read the fine print. Be the fine print.
Every week, I write and publish a short piece relating philanthropy, leadership and nonprofit to the Bible portion for that Sabbath. Here are my insights this week...
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-- FRIENDS, BE THE FINE PRINT! -- Nonprofit Parasha: Mishpatim
If you skip the small print your bound to end up buying in to a deal you don't understand, installing your new appliance or technology wrongly or making commitments that you'll be more than surprised to find you've obligated to much later.
Last week we read about arguably the most dramatic moments in world history – certainly in Jewish civilization – God speaking to the people, a new code for ethical living received. Our senses and imaginations came alive to the almost theatrical presentation of a Ten Statements/Commandments. As a Jewish child growing up in New Zealand I was well aware than "we" received the Ten Commandments at Mt Sinai. At some points along the way I may have actually been able to name 7 or 8 of them. Admittedly it was easier to recall a full rugby team of fifteen.
But if we thought ten was a profound number, we arrive at the very next Torah portion and are presented with fifty-three new commandments (mitzvot) – 23 positive (the "you shall") and a full 30 prohibitions (the "you shall nots")
Suddenly we jump from those famous Ten Commandments and find ourselves swimming in civil and tort law. Causing (or avoiding) damage to others, treatment of slaves, murder, manslaughter and related punishments, damage to property, seduction, self-defense, theft, loans, preservation of the judicial process – the list goes on.
Why? Why now?
The Torah is not letting the moment slip away for a second. This new life code – ???? ???? "instructions for life" is all-encompassing, covering all facets of our lives. It might start with one God, not murdering, stealing, honoring our parents and the like but there is here a life toolkit provided for every person.
This is the small or fine print. We mustn't overlook it. Mt Sinai the shining new store with a great new product. But when you buy in, we are being given the fine print to read and integrate into our lives too.
The small print here is big impact. It's the way we behave day-to-day, how we relate to our neighbors, our friends and people we do not know at all.
This week's Parasha is brimful with personal and communal best practices to ensure the development of a moral, focused, deeply special community of individuals.
This Shabbat comes to tell us, you have obligations to each other, to your community, to humanity and they are part and parcel of how you act and speak every moment of your life.
This is the Shabbat we read the widely known, widely quoted: "You shall not taunt or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. If you dare to cause him pain, if he shall cry out to Me, I shall surely hear his outcry". (Shemot 22:20-22)
The convert, the newcomer. New neighbor, new colleague. Someone we don't recognize in synagogue, at the Jewish Community Center.
Friends – each one of us make up the fine print in this eternal code, presented to a free people thousands of years ago. We needn't wait to be famous, leaders or as recognizable as those Ten Commandments. We have the deepest privilege and ultimate responsibility to ensure the values that appear in every corner of this week's parasha are preserved, enriched and taught to the next generation.
It takes a village. Every one of us, together.
Michael Lawrence
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