Parshas Mishpatim for Kids
פרשת משפטים
After the fire and thunder come the details: how to treat a worker, a neighbour, a borrowed animal, someone who has nothing. The laws that turn a nation that heard Hashem into a nation that lives like it.
In a Torah Tale book, your own child is the hero of this story - drawn from their photo, on every page, in their own name. Written under rabbinical guidance with strict tznius, printed and shipped to your door in English, Hebrew or Yiddish.
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What happens in Parshas Mishpatim
Right after Har Sinai, the Torah teaches how to live every day: how to treat a worker fairly, how to pay for damage we cause, how to lend money kindly, and how to return a lost object to its owner. We must never cause pain to a widow or an orphan, and we must stay far away from anything false.
The Torah even says that if you see the donkey of someone you do not get along with struggling under its load, you must help unload it. The parsha also speaks about Shabbos, the three Yamim Tovim, and not mixing meat with milk. Then Bnei Yisrael say the famous words, naaseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen, and Moshe Rabbeinu goes up the mountain for forty days to receive the luchos. He stays there inside the cloud, learning Torah directly from Hashem.
Lessons and middos for children
Honesty
The Torah says to stay far away from anything false. We can tell the truth even when it is not easy.Returning what is lost
If we find something that belongs to someone else, we try to give it back. Every person's things matter to them.Helping everyone
We help even someone we do not get along with. Kindness can turn a person who is not our friend into a friend.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- What does naaseh v'nishma mean, and why is it special that Bnei Yisrael said it?
- If you found a toy at the park, what would you do?
- Why do you think the Torah tells us to help even someone we are not friends with?
- Why do you think these everyday laws come right after Har Sinai?
How your child steps into the story
Your child helps lift a heavy load off a struggling donkey and returns a lost item to its owner, learning the new laws right beside Bnei Yisrael. The story ends as Moshe Rabbeinu climbs into the cloud on the mountain, where the instructions for the Mishkan of Terumah are about to be given.