Parshat Mishpatim contains within it much of the Jewish legal code in areas of torts and damages, contract law, business law and the like.  In the ancient world, many codes of law preceded or existed concurrently with the Torah’s code. These systems provided societies with the legal framework necessary to prevent anarchy and to ensure that the life of man not be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”  In contrast ...

I was recently a passenger on a small airline flying out of Stewart Airport, I think it was called, Skybus. On Skybus you have to pay for everything; the muffins were $2 each, coffee was $1.50 etc.  After the crew had finished selling the muffins the stewardess was cleaning up somewhere in the back of the plane. I noticed a man walking toward the front of the plane to take ...