Torah Portion: Exodus 22:24-23:19
My Thoughts:
We are reminded about the three major Feasts in this portion. But, we are also reminded in verse 23:7 “...and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.” If you have read my blog for a while you know I take a strong defense of the preborn. I know women get confused and in unfortunate situations, but that is not a reason to be able to take the life of an innocent yet to be born baby. We are instructed by Hashem not to do so. A baby developing in its mother’s womb should be safe and protected. Instead one out of four pregnancies ends in an abortion. This is taking an innocent life. If you have had an abortion, Hashem will forgive you. There is an excellent website you can go to: www.abortionchangesyou.com. Get some help today, it will change your life.
Exodus 22:24-23:19
Exodus 22:24 and My wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.
28 “You shall not blaspheme Elohim, nor curse a ruler of your people.
29 “You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.
“You shall give the firstborn of your sons to Me. 30 You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.
31 “You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.
23 “You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2 “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice. 3 You shall not favor a poor man in his cause.
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You shall surely help him with it.
6 “You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7 “Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.
8 “You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
9 “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
10 “For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
12 “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.
13 “Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.
14 “You shall observe a feast to Me three times a year. 15 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. 16 And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Hashem Adonai..
18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
19 You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Hashem your Elohim..
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
