Free at Last (South Africa) - This year’s shiur guides us through a machloket between Rashi and Ramban on the timing of “Na’aseh V’nishmah” – was it said before Kabbalat HaTorah, or after? Analyzing Rashi’s approach, we discover a coherent explanation for its occurrence prior to Kabbalat HaTorah in parsha Yitro, and its placement at the end of parsha Mishpatim. The key is in understanding the composition of the Sefer HaBrit. Per Rashi, the Sefer HaBrit contains not the mitzvoth outlined in parsha Mishpatim, but everything from “Bereishis bara Elokim…” until “B’chodesh hashlishi…” The implications for this on the meaning of human freedom are significant. The reading of the Sefer HaBrit – not as a postscript to Sinai – but as a preparation for it, and as the trigger for “nishmah,” is what allows B’nei Yisrael to not merely “know” they are free, but to experience themselves ontologically as free. Standing at Sinai, one sees himself as a true expression of the universe as it is. One shares not only the thoughts of God by listening to Kabbalat HaTorah, but also the space in which He creates. “Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotziticha m’eretz Mititzrayim” is not a statement that records freedom, but effectuates it – only in the experience of hearing that one has no other master than his Creator, can a man be truly free.
If, indeed, “Na’aseh V’nishma” was said prior to Kabbalat HaTorah, why, then, would it be placed at the end of Mishpatim instead of in Yitro? An answer can be found in the numerous mitzvoth of parsha Mishpatim which provide the basis for the concept of ba’alut (ownership). To truly be zoche to Eretz Yisrael, to comprehend the meaning of “Koach maasav…”, b’nei Yisrael need to know not only what it means to be free, but what it means to have something that is “yours” – something that is not merely given to you, but that exists for you.

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