Mishpatim

Ira Lewy, February 1st, 2003, Shevat 29, 5763

My parashah, Mishpatim, is about the many laws that the Israelites received after their Exodus from Egypt plus what those laws entail. I have chosen, for my Devar Torah, to concentrate on the series of laws concerning the issue of slavery.

One would immediately assume that the Torah, because it was written based on the words of our just and fair God, that the idea of slavery would have been abolished and further prohibited. Yet, instead of this having happened, the Torah does not eradicate slavery. In fact, the Torah sets out many rules and regulations that give strict boundaries as to how slaves can be handled and treated.

I feel that slavery in this context was appropriate in biblical times as it allowed a way for people to get out of debt, and stay off the street and it wasn't so bad because the Torah gave strict guidelines to people who owned the slaves as to how the slaves were to be treated.

Understandably, because they had been slaves themselves for so many years, after leaving Egypt the Jews could not imagine a world without slavery. Interestingly, there is no word in the Hebrew language for someone who is completely unfree, as everyone has some form of rights As a result, the Torah was more realistic by allowing slavery to exist within certain limitations. The only way to pay off a debt without money was for the indebted person to become a slave or, in some cases, for the indebted person to offer one of their children as a slave. Even then, a slave was only obligated to remain a slave for six years unless the slave chose to stay in his master's service after the initial six years. If a master hurt a slave then the slave was to be set free.

There are even restrictions of how hard a master could make a slave work. If a slave took a wife while in service, then when the slave left service he was allowed to take his wife with him. Interestingly, the Torah does not mention anything about what happened if a female slave took a husband. This is probably because the notion of egalitarianism had not been invented yet.

Slaves were still thought to have a monetary value like any other piece of property but they had many rights. In comparison with other civilizations and how they treated slaves, Hebrew slaves were at a five star resort. In Egypt the slaves could be beaten and killed at their owner's whim and in Rome slaves were sent into the arena where they would have to fight each other to the death. There is a Rabbinical saying: "Whoever acquires a slave acquires a master for himself." In other words, having a slave requires a person to follow many rules and to become a slave themselves to those responsibilities.

It is interesting to think that the Torah thinks that even a slave should have many of the same rights as a free person does. In other countries slaves were thought of as objects to be acquired and the concept of a slave being a worthwhile person was considered ludicrous.

Unfortunately, not all forms of slavery have disappeared over time. In our time there are places where children must work in factories for very little or no pay to support their families. Their workspace is usually cramped and they usually have to use dangerous equipment.

Although I am free, I am in some ways a slave. There are times that I feel like a slave to my responsibilities. I am a slave to homework and school as I have to base my time and schedule around my homework demands. Now that I am a Bar Mitzvah those responsibilities have increased greatly. There are times I feel like a slave to my parents for I must do whatever they say or, I must at least consider whatever they say. In the end, I realize that all this will benefit me greatly but at the moment, I pretend not to know that.

I am in no way actually an indentured slave, I am able to go to places I want to and no one can prevent me from doing things that are within the boundaries of the law. I don't have to do everything someone asks me to do. I don't have to work in horrible conditions and I don't have to fight people to the death. Sometimes I have to do things I don't want to but that is a responsibility not a punishment. As I reach adolescence I know that my responsibilities will increase but so will my choices and this will take me closer to personal freedom.

Shabbat Shalom !