Mishpatim

Mishpatim (מִּשְׁפָּטִים‎—Hebrew for "laws," the second word of the parashah) is the eighteenth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah sets out a series of laws, which some scholars call the Covenant Code. It reports the people's acceptance of the covenant with God. The parashah constitutes Exodus 21:1–24:18. The parashah is made up of 5,313 Hebrew letters, 1,462 Hebrew words, 118 verses, and 185 lines in a Torah scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).^[1]

Jews read it the eighteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in February or, rarely, in late January.^[2] As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Exodus 22:24–23:19, as the initial Torah reading for the second intermediate day (חוֹל הַמּוֹעֵד‎, Chol HaMoed) of Passover. Jews also read the first part of Parashat Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11–16, regarding the half-shekel head tax, as the maftir Torah reading on the special Sabbath Shabbat Shekalim, which often falls on the same Sabbath as Parashat Mishpatim (as it does in 2023, 2026, 2028, and 2029).