Dvar Torah for Parshat Mishpatim

This Shabbat is a very special Shabbat. On Shabbat morning we will have three Torah readings (from three different Torah scrolls for those congregations that have so many; the rest of us will have to 'scroll up or downî as necessary). We will read Parshat Mishpatim, Parshat Rosh Chodesh and Parshat Shekalim. The latter two are on a separate page.

The holy Zohar on Parshat Mishpatim starts out by saying that this parshah, which deals for the most part with financial and tort law, is all about gilgulim (reincarnation). Here is a conversation Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson once had about the subject. It was a summer Sunday and a funeral procession was passing by Rebbe Nachman's house. The mourners' crying was heard through the windows.

Rebbe Nachman commented that when people cry for the deceased it is if they are telling him that he would have been better off staying in this world to suffer more. Reb Noson asked, 'Someone like the deceased, who was not an exceptional tzaddik, will certainly suffer some of the tortures of Hell and the grave. So what has he gained?î

'Nonetheless, once he has borne what he needs to bear for his sins, he will enjoy Eternal Reward for all the good he did.î

'Yes,î Reb Noson replied, 'but what about gilgulim? Perhaps he will have to be reincarnated. If so, what did he gain by dying now?î

Rebbe Nachman answered, 'If one wants, he can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to return to this world, under any conditions.î

'What?! Can it help that he doesn't want to return?!î

'Definitely it can help,î said Rebbe Nachman. 'One has to be stubborn and plead: Do what you want with me here. Finish with me here, get it over,however you wish. Anything! I'm just not going back to that world!î [In Yiddish, the Rebbe said, 'Ekt mit mir duh!î]

Reb Noson asked a few more times if it really could help and Rebbe Nachman stated clearly that if the dead person persevered in pleading in getting it over with it would certainly help. Reb Noson writes that he took this to heart, just in case he would need it when his time came.

A footnote: Approximately 100 years ago, Reb Alter Tepliker wrote to a Breslover chassid in the Holy Land: Rebbe Nachman said to accept the punishments of the next world and avoid reincarnation because it is all too easy to repeat one's mistakes. However, Reb Noson commented that nonetheless, if he was guaranteed that he would pray even once at Rebbe Nachman's grave site, he would choose reincarnation.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!