Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Behar
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
The final laws of the "social section" regulate non-Jews’ ownership of Jewish slaves. A non-Jew can "own" a Jew even in the Land of Israel, even under Jewish dominion (see Rashi to Vayikra 25:48). However, the Torah mandates certain limitations. Just as a Jew must set his Jewish slave free in yovel (Vayikra 25:10), so must the non-Jewish slave-owner (ibid.:54). Just as a Jew may not abuse the slave (ibid.:42) so mustn’t a non-Jew (ibid.:53). In both cases, the slave has the right to be redeemed at a fair price (ibid.:48; Kiddushin 14b). In each case, the Torah explains the rationale behind not allowing permanent slave ownership: "For they are My slaves, whom I took out of Egypt" (ibid.: 42, 55).
After discussing the need for the Jewish slave to remain Hashem’s servant and mandating his eventual freedom, the Torah forbids idolatry and work on Shabbat. Rashi explains that the Torah reminds the slave not to copy his more socially successful master in these areas. The Seforno explains similarly that while the Jewish slave must be obedient to his non-Jewish master, he may not follow instructions that involve sinning, whether it is idolatry, Shabbat, or another sin.
Looking back at ancient and recent history, we should recall that even when formal slavery did not exist, social pressure required Jews to temper the dependence on the non-Jews around them with the mandate to remain loyal first and foremost to Hashem. So whether pogroms or Emancipation made it seem more glamorous or profitable to adopt non-Jewish practices, Parashat Behar, which extends into what gentiles call Leviticus 26, tells us that we must not give in. Non-Jewish employers (or Jews who forgot Jewish values) would say to Jewish workers (/slaves): "If you don’t come to work on Saturday, don’t come on Monday." The brave among our grandparents dared to follow the instructions of Behar’s last p’sukim, remaining loyal servants of Hashem despite temptation and pressure.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
