Parashat Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1-24:18
It is impossible to ignore the issue of the Torah’s acceptance of the institution of slavery. As we have noted in previous years (see Sparks for 2015, 2017, 2021), the juxtaposition of the Torah celebrating our liberation from Egyptian slavery with its opening of this week’s Torah portion with details of how to administer slavery within the newly liberated people is difficult to swallow. How can the Torah contradict Herself so sharply? And yet this question does not occupy the classic commentators of our text. It is only in modern times that the question becomes acutely troubling. A small comfort it is to recognize that the reading of the Torah always changes through the generations, affording us the opportunity to grapple with Her anew.
In that spirit I wish to focus on one element of the laws of slavery put forward in our portion. This Torah portion is the first one to be composed almost exclusively of laws and not of stories. Yet, there is one story embedded in the laws of slavery and, precisely by means of the story, the Torah highlights the appalling elements of the slavery system and accentuates the contradiction for us.
The Torah sets up two classes of slaves, “Hebrew” (- Jewish) and “Canaanite” (- non- Jewish). A Jew cannot really be made into a slave. S/he may become an indentured servant, but only for a limited time – six years. (Ex. 21:2) A non-Jew may be enslaved forever. Thus, a slave owner may have two types of slaves under his mastery, both Jews and non-Jews. The Torah allows the master to “put the Jew to stud” by mating him with a non-Jewish maidservant so that any children born will continue to be the master’s property. (v. 4) This is awful.
And then, after this dry set of provisions, utterly repugnant to the modern reader, the Torah gives us a story: She imagines a scenario in which the Jewish servant has fallen in love with his non-Jewish concubine and with the children he has sired. Because of this loving connection, the Jewish servant refuses to go free at the appointed time! (v. 5) The Torah mandates that this servant by brought before judges and be branded by having his ear pierced at the public gate. Then the servant is allowed to stay with his slave family and not go free. (v. 6)
The tradition has seen that ceremony as a kind of humiliation and condemnation of the servant. His refusal to go free is appalling to the Sages and the commentators. But there seems to be no reflection given to what this man has said and what he has experienced. His feelings (and the feelings of his “wife” and children) are an embarrassment if they are heard at all. The system of slavery is seen as an obvious evil to be left behind – but only for those who really can escape it! For those who are meant to be enslaved, there is meant to be no consideration. The servant is expected to be happy to go free and to forget about a family that he may have spent years creating.
And yet, despite the record of oblivious reading of this text for centuries, the Torah’s report has not been erased. The servant’s voice has not been silenced. And we can, if we try, hear his voice. The unhappy servant speaks of love. His speech is a protest against a heartless system. And the Torah grudgingly accedes to his protest. Could we possibly read the ceremony of drilling his ear at the doorpost to be something other than a punishment? Let us recall the last words of the first paragraph of the Sh’ma, by which we are enjoined to affix the call to love God to our doorpost and gates. Could this ceremony perhaps be a hesitant recognition of this unfortunate servant’s declaration of love and commitment to setting up a home? With that love he has overruled the words of the Torah Herself. The parchment on the door is overruled by his own body – “Hear O Israel” – he speaks and we must hear him, and so we mark his own ear with this sign and restore him to those he loves.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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Photo by Photo by Ammar Sabaa on Unsplash
Thank you to John Lasiter for suggesting the title and selecting an image for this Torah Sparks – Rabbi Greenstein
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