February 17th: Mishpatim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
I had a bit of an awkward moment a few weeks ago as I was teaching the Ten Commandments in Religious School. Instead of providing my own translation of the Hebrew, I read aloud the translation in Etz Hayim, the Torah and Commentary volume we have in the sanctuary. The problem was the translation of Commandment #10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20.14) I am not complaining about the scholarship of the 1999 Jewish Publication Society translation, but rendering the Hebrew words avdo and amato as male and female slaves and not as servants presents pedagogical difficulties. The Ten Commandments is our formative ethical text, and we had slaves?!
There is sort of an explanation, but it is complicated. The Bible describes several different kinds of slavery. First is corvee labor, the slavery suffered by the Israelites in Egypt. It is a form of servitude where the government forces residents to labor on public works projects. During the annual Nile floods, the arable land was flooded, and farmers were drafted by the government to build temples, royal tombs, and “store cities” like Pithom and Rameses (mentioned in Exodus 1.11). Just as we may not care for taxes, our ancient shepherding ancestors did not cotton to forced labor, and they cried out to the Lord. By the way, King Solomon forced the same kind of corvee labor on his Israelite subjects in building the Temple in Jerusalem and his more elaborate palace. The resulting resentment is reflected in a number of anti-Solomon passages in the Bible.
A second kind of slavery, debt slavery, is discussed in this week’s Torah portion: “When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment.” When an Israelite borrowed money and could not repay the loan, the borrower could “sell himself” into debt slavery for the time necessary for repayment. In exchange for the labor during this period, the employer had responsibilities in re room, board, just treatment, etc. There was a six-year limit: no matter how much was owed, six years of labor was the maximum.
There were some complications that strike us as difficult or unjust: “If the slave came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, he wife shall leave with him. If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne children, the wife and the children shall belong to the master, and the slave shall leave alone.” (Exodus 21.3-6)
There is also the interesting possibility of the slave deciding that life in the master’s house is better than being out in the world. “If the slave declares, ‘I love my master, and my wife and children; I do not wish to go free,’ his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall remain his slave for life.” (Exodus 21.5-6)
A third kind of slavery is chattel slavery in which some humans permanently own other human beings. The Bible does not allow permanent ownership of Hebrews by Hebrews—and it makes arrangements for Hebrews to redeem enslaved Hebrews from non-Hebrews, but it does allow Hebrews to own non-Hebrews. Hmmm.
Fourth, there is the matter of young women being sold by their parents into marriage. In such situations, the Torah tries to be careful about sexual propriety and good faith. “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not be freed as male slave are. If she proves to be displeasing to her master, who designated her for himself, he must let her be redeemed; he shall not have the right to sell her to outsiders, since he broke faith with her. And, if he designated her for his son, he shall deal with her as is the practice with free maidens. If he marries another, he must not withhold from this one her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. If he fails her in these three ways, she shall go free, without payment.” (Exodus 21.7-11)
If we want to see our modern values reflected in the Bible, we are sometimes disappointed. While many of the principles of modern ethics are seeds or seedlings in the Bible, the fact is that ancient societal mores were very different. We like to think of our religion (and our God!) as progressive and just and totally respectful of all human beings, but some of the practices or attitudes of our ancient ancestors can be, frankly, embarrassing in our modern eyes. What are we to make of ancient customs and laws that are so stunningly unjust?
For one thing, we should realize and celebrate the growth and development of human thinking. The ancients had many brilliant ideas and noble aspirations, but many of our modern sensibilities have taken centuries to develop—and were hard-fought at every step of the way. Conventional thinking about who is a proper/true/full and autonomous human being and what are acceptable human activities have changed significantly, and they continue to grow in our own day. Let us not forget the real tragedies of people persecuted in previous generations because of narrow thinking—and how much better things are today.
A second consideration is the necessity of incremental progress, fairness, and respect. In a world where societal strictures are very firm, is it possible to lessen the oppression of some people, or to help them in less than complete ways? An example is in our Torah portion. In a world where women were sold into marriages, the Torah sought to give them a higher status than regular slaves who could be bought and sold at will. Prohibiting masters from trading in sexually-used slave women was better than the alternative. Establishing basic rights of food, clothing, and affection were better than the alternative. Later, in Talmudic times, the Rabbis established the Ketubah, a legal document guaranteeing rights and property for married women. Though men had the power in divorce proceedings, the Ketubah pre-nuptial agreement meant that, should a woman be divorced, she would go forth propertied and able to support herself. It is clearly not the complete equality that we demand today, but, in a world of lesser possibilities, our religion sought to work toward justice and compassion.
We can still wonder how recently released Hebrew slaves could have kept slaves of their own. We can still regret the limitations on freedom and fairness that plagued our ancient ancestors—and that limited their thinking. And, we can give thanks that things have improved. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “…the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We wish things would improve quicker, and we mourn for those who have suffered waiting for the justice and compassion they deserve, but patience is often a necessary partner of persistence. There is a better way, and we should answer the call to help find it.