“One who wishes to become wise should engage in the study of dinei mamonos, monetary law” (closing Mishna of Bava Basra), What is unique about the Torah of monetary law that makes us wise?

Torah has two sides, chukim u’mishpatim. On the one hand, it is a system of truth and of justice that is admired by the world at large for its wisdom and understanding, “chochmaschem u’vinaschem l’einei ha’amim” (Devarim 4:6), while on the other, it contains puzzling rules such as shatnez and kosher laws that invite their scorn (Rashi Vayikra 18:4). This is the difference between the mishpatim, the logical rules of our parsha and Seder Nezikin that are the guidance system for the monetary laws and all our human relationships, versus the chukim, the religious rules that transcend human understanding and express our deference to Hashem and fill the other five orders of the Talmud.

It is therefore specifically the study of monetary laws, the mishpatim, that necessarily generate wisdom. While our relationship with Hashem is predicated on our faith in His greater and inscrutable wisdom, our relationships with other people are grounded in mutual understanding.

The epic tragedy of Simchas Torah-October 7 came during a period of horrible division within Klal Yisrael, a massive national failure of mutual understanding reminiscent of Yosef and his brothers. A few weeks later, in early November 2023, tens of thousands of Daf Yomi learners began to study the monetary laws of Bava Kama, as if Hashem was assigning us the curriculum we needed to make us wiser and more understanding of one another.

Today, more than a year into this war, we continue to sincerely pray to Hashem for the hostages, the soldiers, the injured, the bereaved, and the displaced, and we express our sincere gratitude to Him for the remarkable miracles we have experienced and the rays of hope that have begun to shine, koh yosif (may He add more). Let us also say that we have literally learned our lesson, that we will go forward truly wiser for the experience, and for the mishpatim — the Torah of mutual understanding — that we have learned this year.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer is executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization.