Parshas Mishpatim: We Are Not Things

On the Underlying Ideals of Jewish Law.

When the Code of Hammurabi was discovered, it disturbed believers in the divinity of Tanach. With many of its laws echoing what appears in Tanach, especially this weeks parsha, it weakened belief in what was once seen as a fully divine work, presenting an alternative of a law code merely copied from previous codes. For example, the famous formulation in…