When I was a kid, my friends and I would fantasize about being grownup, when we could do anything we wanted. We thought being an adult meant the ultimate freedom.

I imagine it was similar for the Children of Israel gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai in the Torah — former slaves, they thought they were now “free.” But as my friends and I learned, being free involves following the rules of the community. We exchanged the yoke of parental rule for the yoke of communal rule.

This week’s Torah portion (called Mishpatim, which means laws) includes more commandments than nearly any other. It offers a bewildering array of rules about how to engage with each other, our neighbors, and even the animals for whom we have responsibility.

Coming right on the heels of slavery, and then receiving the Ten Commandments, you could imagine that the nascent Israelite people would be disheartened. So many rules!

Of the superabundance of laws in parasha Mishpatim, Rabbi Ben Lankton wrote:

“The abundance and variety of these mitzvot reinforce an ancient insight of Judaism: there is an innate connection between the ritual and the spiritual, between the ethical and the ethereal… “mundane” matters of diet and farming mingle with “profound” issues of personal sacrifice and capital punishment. Every moment, mundane or profound, carries the potential for holiness.”

May we be blessed to remember that all of our actions hold the possibility of holiness, even the most mundane. We can choose to use our freedom in many different ways. May we choose well.