Exodus · Weekly Torah portion
Parashat Mishpatimמִשְׁפָּטִים
Torah reading
Exodus 21:1-24:18
Haftarah
Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26
What happens in Mishpatim
After the thunder of Sinai comes the fine print — and it's remarkable. Dozens of laws cover servants and damages, loans and lost property, courts and honest testimony. Again and again the Torah circles back to the vulnerable: 'Do not wrong the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.' The parsha ends with the people's famous pledge — na'aseh v'nishma, 'we will do and we will listen' — and Moses ascending the mountain for forty days.
Big themes
- Everyday ethics
- Protecting the vulnerable
- Commitment before certainty
If this is your bar or bat mitzvah portion
Mishpatim says the Torah cares as much about how you treat a borrowed object or a stranger as it does about grand revelations. Holiness lives in the details — returning what's lost, telling the truth in court, remembering what it felt like to be an outsider.
Learning to chant Mishpatim?
Ready 13 builds a verse-by-verse practice plan for this exact portion — chanted reference audio, karaoke highlighting, trope games, and a countdown that keeps the big day on track.
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