Perashat Mishpatim 5776

Perashat Mishpatim 5776

For Americans, any conversation about slavery, recalls a time in our history going back over 150 years ago, when the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order, was issued and signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. For the rest of the Western civilization, that event took place on the heels of the French Revolution. In the world in which we live in, any conversation about slavery then, becomes a study in history with no present reality; or is it?

Perashat Mishpatim, which introduces the Civil and Tort law promulgated at Mount Sinai when the Torah was revealed, begins with the laws of ‘slavery’. We ask ourselves, what relevance do these laws have for us today? Is there slavery today that these laws should be of concern to us? Was there any Jewish slavery in the past? What is so significant about slavery that the major body of laws of the Torah begins with the laws of slavery? Our Sages have taught us an important principle that states that the Torah only relates events and laws that are relevant for all the epochs and ages. Where do we see that slavery is acceptable in today, that the Torah saw fit to write about it and explain its laws and regulations? 

In Judaism, slavery, as it is known throughout world history, never existed. What is called slavery in Perashat Mishpatim is nothing more than servitude, known today as workfare. It was entirely different from the slavery that was practiced in Egypt, or in any other empires, for that matter, in the sense that Jewish ‘slavery’ was not a life-long servitude; it was practiced for a maximum of six years, depending on the circumstances. In addition, the ‘slave’ was always treated with human dignity by his ‘master.’ There were two ways a person entered into such servitude.  The first was to employ someone in order to assure their livelihood. A poor person who had no means of sustenance, could either become a beggar, knocking on doors for food or rely on the communal charity fund for support.  However, if he had any self-respect he would sell himself into servitude, where he was given food, shelter and clothing in exchange for his work. The ‘master’ was obligated to feed the ‘slave’, clothe and shelter him in the exact same manner as the ‘master’ fed, clothed and sheltered himself. Our Sages, in their own unique way, tried to discourage this type of ‘slavery’, and proclaimed to those wishing to acquire a ‘slave’ – “He who acquires a ‘slave’ has acquired a master for himself”. [Kiddushin 20a]

The second way that a person could become a ‘slave,’ was when a person steals or causes damages and does not have the funds to repay or make restitution to the victim. He would then sell himself into servitude in order to pay back what he owes. The treatment of this ‘slave’ would be equal to the other type of  ‘slave’ who sold himself into servitude due to poverty.

In either case, human life and dignity were sacrosanct. For example, the ‘master’ was responsible to pay for medical expenses, to tend to the human needs of the ‘slave’ and not to embarrass or humiliate him. Such was ‘slavery’ in Judaism. Even as a system of ‘servitude’ or ‘workfare’, it ceased to exist now for over 2000 years. 

However, to our chagrin, real slavery has continued to be rampant in the rest of the world for the last 2000 years. Human slaves were traded, sold, abused, mutilated, and even tortured and killed by their masters and owners, with impunity and callousness. From the Egyptian Empire, to the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, the Roman, the Church, the Spanish, the Ottoman, the British and the American. All are guilty of the same offence, namely, the perpetuation of slavery and its abuses. While Judaism freed the Israelites from slavery thousands of years ago, and gave them freedom and respect to their human dignity and life, the rest of the world continued the barbaric practice of real slavery. Ironically, the Jews once again became slaves of these same Empires as hundreds of thousands of Jews were sold into harsh slavery as a result of the Babylonian and Roman Exiles.

If we think that it wasn’t until the last 200 years or so, that slavery was eradicated from the world, we ought to think again! 

Unfortunately, slavery is alive and well.   Slavery is still rampant in most of Africa, the vast area of the Arab Middle East and part of Islamic Asia. It has become the new staple and is in vogue in the rising terrorist Islamic states. Slavery is used to subjugate one’s enemy; the infidels, women and children. The slave is still used as an object; mistreated, abused emotionally, physically and sexually, mutilated, and even killed. And throughout this, the world remains silent. Inasmuch as we consider ourselves to be Western oriented, modern and enlightened people,  nothing is being done to eliminate the scourge of slavery that is robbing the freedom, liberty and life of those crushed by it. And the numbers are not in hundreds, they are in hundreds of thousands, if not millions. We ought to raise our voices, condemn such a practice and help eliminate it.  

I wake up every day and thank the A-mighty for having chosen our people, the Jewish People, to receive His Torah and its values; freedom, liberty, human dignity and sanctity of life, so we can enlighten the dark world in which we live in, still 4000 years later.