A Taste of Torah in honor of Shabbat
from Rabbi Avi Weiss
Parshat Bo
8 Shevat /January 14-15, 2000
IS SLAVERY A TORAH VALUE?
As the Jews are leaving Egypt, God commands them to
sacrifice the Paschal lamb. Following that commandment, a strange rule is spelled
out. The Torah describes how a slave may partake of the offering. In the words of
the Torah, "And every man's servant that is bought for money, thou may circumcise him
and then he may eat thereof." (Exodus 12:44) After experiencing the horrors of
slavery and entering a state of freedom, it would seem most logical for the Torah to
outlaw the institution of slavery altogether.
In order to understand why the Torah permits slavery, it must be recognized that
slavery was universally accepted in Biblical times. Rather than ignore that
reality, the Torah deals with slavery in an extraordinarily ethical way.
First, as R. Samson Raphael Hirsch notes, "no Jew could make any other human being
into a slave. He could only acquire by purchase, people who, by the then universally
accepted international law, were already slaves." Hence, coming into a Jewish
household - with its greater sensitivity towards the welfare of a slave - is considered a
step up.
Secondly, a slave (eved Canaani) is mandated to keep all the commandments, except for
those affirmative commandments that are time-based, and this for obvious reasons - slaves
by definition have little control over their own time. From this perspective, it
follows that the halakhic system views an eved Canaani as closer to being Jewish than even
a ger toshav (resident alien) who is only expected to fulfill the seven laws of Noah. As
such, the eved Canaani is a respected member of our community.
Thirdly, the Torah tells us that, if the slave wishes, he may be circumcised. The Talmud
quotes the opinion that once circumcised and immersed (thereby becoming fully Jewish), the
former slave can participate in eating the Paschal sacrifice. This is precisely the point
of our aforementioned Biblical verse. (Yevamot 48b)
Fourth and most important is the alternative view found in the Talmud, which insists that
if any Jew has a slave who is not circumcised, not even the owner himself may partake of
the Paschal lamb. In other words, when the Torah states "then he may eat
thereof," the "he" refers to the owner. Indeed, this Talmudic opinion is
making the stunning statement that it is incongruous for a Jew to celebrate Passover by
eating the Paschal lamb - the symbol of freedom - while having a slave in his home. (see
the commentary of R. Samson Raphael Hirsch)
The Torah has been criticized for supporting the institution of slavery. In
point of fact, it attempts to make ethical an already well-entrenched
institution. The ethical sensitivity displayed by the Torah reveals that the
concept of "eved" has nothing to do with slavery as understood in
contemporary times.
Shabbat Shalom
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Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
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