Hi
We did have a thread on slavery in Summer 2011 (one year ago). The following information may be useful for those who are unaware of how to use the wonderful lookjed archives:
#1) [
lookstein.org] takes you to the archive of all recent threads by date
#2) If you then click on search (upper right corner) you can place in the SEARCH MESSAGES dialog box the phrase EVED IVRI (This is not obvious
you might try to place SLAVERY) Be sure to set the time to LAST YEAR. You will then see about a dozen postings on slavery.
#3) Individual postings can be accessed by URL. For example my posting of 6/14/2011 may be found at
[
lookstein.org]
I am resubmitting that posting below. Personally the statement that slavery laws are a reaction to the time when the Torah is given strikes me as a copout in effect you are saying that if you dont understand the relevance of a law you should assume the law was a concession to the Yeser Harah (animal passions). True, the Talmud itself does classify the Yefat Toar (allowing a soldier to sleep with a female captive during wartime under certain restrictive requirements) as a concession to the Yeser Hara but that is different: In Yefat Toar the Talmud is addressing **your** Yeser Hara. The message is If you as a soldier can control yourself you would not need this law. Contrastively, when Rav Kook says that slavery laws address the Yeser Hara he is talking about a concession to **other peoples** Yeser Hara. In other words the message is not that slavery is not ideal, rather the message is, if there is a market for slaves then Jewish Torah laws can redeem this market and make it more humane. I think the Torah was encouraging us to buy slaves and treat them humanely rather than let them be abused. Here is my posting from a year ago.
I: Torah Style
(The following is from Rav Hirsch) The Decalogue has just been revealed (Ex 20) and now God is laying down the foundations of mishpat ivri, the basis of Jewish civil law. We expect some revolutionary exciting concept. How anti-climactic it must appear that the first few laws concern male slaves and female minor slaves.
But, Rav Hirsch continues, this ignores Torah style which teaches human rights by extremes and borderline cases. Nowhere in the Torah do we find a wives right (who has elected to have her husband support her and forgo her income) to food, raiment, shelter and marital visitations. Rather, when the Torah wished to present these fundamental rights it does so using a borderline case: Even a female minor who was sold has these rights; how much more so full adults. Similarly, the Torah nowhere requires the right to a speedy burial. Rather even a blasphemer who was executed by a court of law has these rights; how much more so full adults.
Since this is a Toraitic style, it behooves us to carefully study these extreme, (hopefully) rare, borderline cases so as to glean the fundamental rights of all human beings.
II: Slavery - Hot relevance for Today
I only wish that slavery was arcane and superseded by modern values. This simply is not factually true. I have friends who work for Interpol. Human trafficking is a very real crime with 5/6 digit violations (Most people are shocked at these statistics). Let us not forget that one important reason for slavery is economic a poor person might need the money. Even our modern state of Israel fell prey several decades ago when organized crime would provide for a family in exchange for the sale of one child into slavery. However tragic and shocking these cases are they do exist and we do not have the right to ignore them.
How would I show the relevance in teaching Chumash. I would first orally ask (or ask for essays) on students conception of the relevance of slavery. Most students probably think it arcane. I would then assign them term papers to research the extent of slavery and the reasons for it happening today. Finally, I would show how the Torah took a reality the sale of people for economic sustenance and redeemed it.
III: Ethical Behavior
During the discussion of slavery on Lookjed several interesting ethical points arose. For example, a master can only make a slave publicly work at a profession he is good at, not at a new one, since working at something you are not good at is humiliating. In fact, in the past 10 years recent studies have shown that depressed people go through aha experiences of contentment while doing their jobs. This in turn motivates a therapy component of depression to intensify ones efforts at ones traditional vocation. Yet this therapy approach only arose in the past ten years while the Torah has been treating it for several thousand years!
Bottom line: Her highways are pleasant roads and all her service roads are peaceful!
The Torah is a Divine book which according to our traditions, and unlike other prophetic books, is not indigenous to any particular historical period. We must always present it as fresh, dynamic, relevant and full of major and beautiful contributions.
Russell Jay Hendel; PhD ASA
[www.Rashiyomi.com]
Dept of Mathematics
Towson University
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2012 12:33AM by mlb.
