This week’s parasha, Mishpatim is a continuation of receiving laws (mishpatim) from God at Mt. Sinai (however you might understand that). Nonetheless, we encounter a notable change in style from narrative to didactic, or from story to details. This parasha addresses civil/criminal matters, humanitarian instructions and assimilation issues, but also the nature of the Sefer HaBrit, the Book of the Covenant. In the end this is just not a commentary to the previous mitzvot (Ten Commandments), but "a Law with a human face” (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks).
We see this in the laws of lending money (Ex. 22:24-27). Here if the poor person’s only cloak is taken as collateral, because the lender coveted that particular piece of property (cf. Ex. 20:14), the lender is obligated to return it when the sun goes down or how else will the borrower keep warm at night? Maimonides (Mishneh Torah) writes about this extensively saying that if a borrower gives his/her [only] pillow as a down payment but is needed for a good night sleep it must returned, in other words a lender “is not always entitled to maintain possession” (Hilchot Malveh Veloveh 3:5, also Duet. 24:3). This is also why the Shabbat laws say from master to stranger or from free to slave each must experience rest on the Shabbat to be “refreshed” in addition to honoring creation (Ex. 23:12, Ex. 20:8-11). If only the master and his family get to rest on Shabbat, but his servants and working animals cannot, where is the dignity of the mishpat (law) itself?As such, the very first mishpat of Mishpatim reads “When you acquire a Hebrew slave …” (Ex. 21:2). Consider the irony: the people receiving these instructions were newly freed slaves! What did they think about slavery given their own experiences? Keep in mind that when the Hebrew slaves were being beaten they could still respond to Moses (Ex. 2:12-13), but when they were demoralized by Pharaoh who made their labor even more burdensome, they could not even “listen” to Moses (Ex. 6:9). In Egypt the slavery experienced was cruel, oppressive with harsh labor that involved beatings as noted. Slavery disrespected the very core of their humanity, and then this new law, really? But was it the work itself, or was it about the cruelty of the Egyptians that took away their human dignity? In general masters and servants are well attested to in Torah (Abraham’s servant went to find his masters son, Isaac, a wife; Gen. 24). Likewise, a Jew was permitted to sell themselves into servitude (slavery) if the situation called for it, although they must be treated properly (Leviticus 25:39-41; also see Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, Slaves 1:1). But what about this word slavery?
The JPS translation calls those to be purchased “slaves” whereas the Art Scroll version refers to them as “servants.” The Hebrew word eved can be translated both ways, but is also interpreted based on context. So in Exodus 13:14 we read that Egypt for the Jews was called the “house of bondage” (avadim - same root as eved) as well as at Mt. Sinai (see Ex. 20:1), not to mention the Jewish view of Egypt found in the prophets, “I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage” (Micha 6:4). But the eved in Egypt is different in Mishpahtim because they would experience the opposite. In this case an eved was to be treated with dignity by their masters, given the right to leave after a set allotted time and allowed to keep what was theirs upon entering the slave contract. They were to be taken care of regarding the work environment with fair labor practices, but they could keep everything their master gave if a life-long commitment to remain the masters salve, or servant, was made. This was not the perversion of servitude, or slavery, which was perpetrated by Pharaoh that strikes deep at the human heart and repulse’s us. If anything Moses was attempting to right a wrong, just like employers cannot mistreat employees, even when the work can be back-breaking and tiring.
Moses was concerned about the rebirth of human dignity. This law simply said a healthy community surely needs workers who will work at the direction of their bosses, but if a person’s dignity is taken away in the process it’s like going back to Egypt. In the Talmud (Berachot 16b) it says that “one may not refer to slaves and maidservants as father so-and-so or mother so-and-so. But in the house of Rabban Gamliel they were worthy to have the names 'father so-and-so' and 'mother so-and-so.'” In other words it was about dignity not designation. Yes they were slaves, but they were mothers and fathers first, they came from families and families they created, they were not defined by what they did but who they were. We are not supposed to be defined but what we do, how much money we have, what type of house or car we drive, religion, sexual preference, the color of our skin and so forth. How many times have I met others who are embarrassed to reveal who they are because of the fear of being looked at poorly.
I remember a number of years ago in New York I took part in a support rally for the mistreatment of overnight office cleaners regarding fair wages and amble benefits, something that was about a better quality of life and human dignity. Maybe this is why we have such a mental health crisis today or why so many struggle with self-worth and the like? I would say that physical pain is more tolerable than emotional pain that is tied in to having your dignity ripped from before you, even if in ignorance, something that helps to drive the epidemics that we find in our society today. Next week we enter the month of Adar and will celebrate Purim, a holiday to remind us that Jewish dignity was preserved! The laws (mishpahtim) of Torah seek to do the same and just not set up a bunch of arbitrary rules.
Shabbat Shalom and upcoming Chodesh Adar Tov,
Rabbi Adam
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