Did You Get the Message?

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

Parshas Mishpatim follows the Revelation at Sinai. One would expect the Torah to follow the great revelation with a mitzvah that is relevant to all times and places, a mitzvah we can focus on and get “hyped” about. Instead the Torah begins the Torah Portion with a seemingly obscure mitzvah, the mitzvah of a Jewish slave.

The mitzvah of a Jewish slave is that if a person steals and has no money to pay back, the Jewish court can sell the thief into slavery to another Jew for a period of up to six years. The money generated from the sale is used to pay back the theft.

Seems like a strange place to start teaching mitzvos. But, let us take a closer look at the nature of this mitzvah.

Our sages tell us that the man who purchases a Jewish slave accepts a great responsibility upon himself. During the coming years, he will take this downtrodden Jew who has stooped to theft, a person who has no money, no livelihood, and possibly no money management skills, and he will make an upstanding Jew out of him. He will guide, teach, and sometimes force the slave to work industriously until he acquires a successful plan for life. The terms of the relationship are most interesting. The master may not make the slave do demeaning work, but he may display tough love as he forces the slave to develop an industrious work ethic.

Although the word slavery was certainly troubling to Jews who had just been redeemed from Egyptian abuse, the Torah’s concept of Jewish slavery was something quite different from what they had experienced. The experience of the Torah’s Jewish slave was a powerful rehabilitation program. The Jewish court would specifically choose to apprentice the Jew to a successful businessman or landowner so that the downtrodden Jew would eventually acquire a future for himself.

Additionally, by living in the home of a benevolent Jew, the worker would learn the ways of kindness by experiencing them firsthand. Our sages say, for example, that if there is only one pillow, the slave is to be given the pillow. The owner would immerse the slave in a balance of benevolence and tough love. The slave would sense the kindness and would become a changed person, overtaken by the nurturing nature of his new environment.

Besides the mitzvah itself, the Torah is teaching that, in life, we should be careful not to get the wrong message. After experiencing abusive slavery, a Jew might object to anyone having power or control over another human being. But, that would be the overly simplistic response of someone who tends to reach conclusions with an all or nothing attitude. There is an expression: “One who has been burned by a hot stove, will not touch a stove, period.” But, such a person might end up eating cold food for the rest of his life.

I am reminded of a community that once experienced a fraudulent charity collection. Two people had gone door to door claiming that they were poor and in desperate need of assistance. After people gave generously it was discovered that these two people were actually well off. They had tricked the community in their collection.

The townspeople called a meeting at which they proposed to legislate that from now on no charity collections would be allowed in their community. One perceptive person listened to the proposal and recognized its rashness. He realized that the pain of being tricked was causing people to get the wrong message. He stood up and issued a counter proposal. “Since it was wealthy people who tricked our community, we should legislate that wealthy people masquerading as poor people shall no longer be allowed to collect in our community.”

This is not to say that regulation and endorsements should not be in place in charity collections. They certainly should be. Nevertheless people should be careful, even if they were pained or disappointed, not to get the wrong message from a life experience.

I once suggested to someone that he attend a Torah class. He told me that, years ago, he attended a Torah class and found it boring. I told him, “I never suggested that you attend a boring class. My suggestion was that you should attend an exciting one.”

G-d’s hope for the Jewish people is that, after the Exodus and receiving the Torah, they have the good fortune of a new beginning. They should be able to overcome the baggage of the past. Even a word like slavery should not be removed from their vernacular. In the Torah system there may be a correct and benevolent application of the concept. Similarly, a bad experience with an oven, a needy person, or a class, should not stop us from living life to the fullest.

With best wishes for a wonderful Shabbos.

© 2018 by TEACH613™