This week’s double parasha considers the Torah’s example of “tough love,” the institution of the ‘eved ‘ivri, or “Hebrew servant.”
Should it ever happen that a member of klal Yisra’él becomes so destitute that he has no idea where his next meal is coming from, or such that he is driven to steal property for which he is unable to pay restitution when he is caught, it is possible for him to be sold into ‘avduth. The laws governing such a person are such that the master who purchases him would only do so in a spirit of redemptive rehabilitation, so that the poor fellow will be accustomed to regular work habits, will acquire a skill or trade so that he is never again reduced to such and, on his release, is provided with the tools, etc., necessary to practice that trade.
The typical period for which an ‘eved ‘ivri is sold is six years; however, under extreme circumstances in which such an ‘eved refuses to accept his freedom and insists on remaining with his master, the ‘avduth can be extended to the next yovél, when, every fiftieth year, the freeholds are returned to the original families who owned them. In such a year, the ‘eved has no choice (cf. Deuteronomy XXV, 12-18, קידושין י"ב: וי"ד).
Our passage, ends with: כי לי בני ישראל עבדים עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אתם מארץ מצרים אני ד' אלקיכם (“For to Me are the bnei Yisra’él servants, My servants are they, whom I brought forth from the land of Egypt; I am Ha-Shem your G-d”; XXV, 55). This verse is immediately followed by: לא תעשו לכם אלילים ופסל ומצבה לא תקים לכם ואבן משכית לא תתנו בארצכם להשתחות עלי' כי אני ד' אלקיכם: את שבתתי תשמרו ומקדשי תיראו אני ד': (“You will not make for yourselves idols and statue[s], and a plaque shall you not erect for yourselves, nor shall you place a stone upon which to prostrate yourselves, for I am Ha-Shem your G-d. My sabbaths shall you observe and My sanctuary shall you fear; I am Ha-Shem”; XXVI, 1-2).
But of course the Torah has told us all of this before; the prohibition against idolatry and admonition to observe shabbath are part of the ‘asereth ha-Dibbroth (cf. Exodus XX, 2-5, 8-11).
Why must they be repeated here? And why the constant drumbeat of Ani Ha-Shem?
B.
It is evident from the above that Torah considers a servile relationship between one human being and another repugnant, infra dignitatem humanam. The Talmud puts it explicitly in explaining why it is that a recalcitrant ‘eved ‘ivri who refuses to be freed has a hole bored into his earlobe: מה נשתנה אוזן מכל איברים שבגוף? אמר הקב"ה אוזן ששמע בהר סיני כי לי בני ישראל עבדים ולא עבדים לעבדים והלך זה וקנה אדון לעצמו לפיכך נרצע (“How is the ear different from all [the other] limbs in the body? Said the Holy One, Blessed is He, An ear which heard on Mt. Sinai ‘For to Me are the bnei Yisra’él servants’, and not servants of servants, and [then] went and acquired a lord for himself; therefore [that ear] is bored”; קידושין כ"ב:).
The bnei Yisra’él were freed from such servitude forever at the Exodus from Egypt, as the Talmud tells us elsewhere, and as we dutifully recite at the séder every Passover: חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאלו הוא יצא ממצרים (“A person is obligated to see himself as if he [personally] has come out of Egypt’: פסחום קט"ו:).
Of course, even though there have been enough periods in our history when the average ben Yisra’él has, unfortunately, known all too well how it feels literally to be liberated from, e.g., Nazi or Communist slavery, this is not true for all generations and certainly not for most of us alive today. Chazal pointedly link liberty to Mattan Torah, the event to which Israel were heading fifty days out from the Exodus, and tell us: "חרות על הלחות", אל תקרא "חרות" אלא "חרות" שאין לך נן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה, וכל מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה הרי זה מתעלה שנאמר "וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות (“‘Engraved on the tablets’ [Exodus XXXII, 16], read not ‘engraved’ [charuth] but ‘freedom’ [chéruth, spelt identically], for no one is a free man save one who is engaged in Torah study, and anyone who is engaged in Torah study is exalted, as it is said, ‘from Mattana [‘Gift’, an allusion to the giving of the Torah] to G-d’s heritage [Nachli’el], and from Nachli’el to Bamoth [i.e., ‘High Places’; Numbers XXI, 9]”; אבות פ"ו ברייתא ב' וע"ע פי' ר' עובדי' מברטנורה ורוח חיים לר"ח מוואלאזשין שם).
Clearly whatever issues the ‘eved ‘ivri needs to resolve in his life, he will not have a problem with idolatry or Sabbath observance whilst in the service of his beneficent Jewish master. However, as has already been noted supra, there have been times when Israel have been in bondage to hostile and inimical foreigners. So, Rashi tells us, our admonitions are כנגד זה שנמכר לנכרי שלא יאמר, הואיל ורבי מגלה עריות אף אני כמותו, הואיל ורבי עובד ע"א אף אני כמותו, הואיל ורבי מחלל שבת אף אני כמותו לכך נאמרו מקראות הללו וגו' (“concerning one who has been sold to a foreigner, that he not say, Since my master performs sexual improprieties, I, too, am like him; since my master serves foreign gods, I, too, am like him; since my master desecrates the Sabbath, I, too, am like him; for this reason, these Scriptures were said”).
Hence, the repetition of Ani Ha-Shem: כל המשעבדן מלמטה כאלו משעבדן מלמעלה; one must always remember that G-d runs the world, and that slavery down below was decreed up above; therefore, the opportunity to resist degradation of these sorts will present themselves to faithful Israel.
C.
The Be’er Moshe discerns a deeper but still related meaning to our passage. He begins by quoting the séfer Sha‘arei Ora of Rabbi Y. Giktilia: דע כי כשהאדם שומר שבת כהלכתו נעשה כמו כסא ומרכבה להשי"ת לפיכך נקרא השבת מנוחה מלשון נח כי שמו ית' נח על האדם ושוכן עליו כמלך על כסאו וסימן "וינח ביום השביעי" (“Know that when a person observes the Sabbath according to halacha he is made like a throne and vehicle for Ha-Shem, may He be blessed; therefore the shabbath is called ‘rest’ [m’nucha] from the verb nach, for His blessed Name comes to rest [nach] upon the person and dwells upon him like a king sitting upon his throne, and the sign is ‘and He rested [va-yanach] on the seventh day”).
The Rebbe זצ"ל sees an allusion to this phenomenon in the Sabbath morning liturgy: לא-ל אשר שבת מכל המעשים ביום השביעי נתעלה וישב על על כסא כבודו תפארת עטה ליום המנוחה, ענג קרא ליום השבת, זה שיר שבח של יום השביעי שבו שבת א-ל מכל מלאכתו ויום השבת משבח ואומר, מזמור שיר ליום השבת טוב להודות לד' וגו' (“To G-d, Who rested from all the acts [of Creation] on the seventh day, arose and sat upon His throne of glory [kissé’ kvodo], vested the day of rest [yom ha-m’nucha] with beauty, [and] called the Sabbath day a delight. This is a song of praise of the seventh day, on which G-d rested from all His creative labor, and the Sabbath day [itself] gives praises and says, "A hymn of the Sabbath day – it is good to thank Ha-Shem....“), wherein we see that shabbath is called both a kissé’ and m’nucha.
וזה שאמר הכתוב "את שבתתי תשמרו ומקדשי תיראו" והסמיך שבת למקדשכי גם ביה"מ נקרא בשם כסא כדכתיב "כסא כבוד מרום מראשון מקום מקדשנו" והיינו שע"י השבת זוכים להיות כסא ומרכבה לשמו ית' כדוגמת ביה"מ שהשרה הקב"ה שכינתו (“And this is why the Scripture says, ‘You will keep My Sabbaths and My Sanctuary shall you fear’, and juxtaposed shabbath to the miqdash, for the Béyth ha-Miqdash, too, is called kissé’, as it is written, ‘A throne of glory [kissé’ kavod] on high from the beginning [is] the place of our Sanctuary’ [Jeremiah XVII, 12], that is, by means of the Sabbath one merits to be a throne and vehicle for His blessed Name according to the example of the Béyth ha-Miqdash which the Holy One, Blessed is He has infused with His Presence”).
Thus, even ba-zman ha-zeh, in our time, every Jewish home is potentially a Divine Sanctuary, every Sabbath or holiday table (for yom tov is also called shabbath; cf. XXIII, 11, גור ארי' שם) a sacrificial altar if we but will it, and observe the sabbath and holidays in that spirit. Though the nations enslave us down below, they can’t take that away from us. As Rashi notes, G-d has said שטרי קודם, “My deed of ownership has precedence.”
D.
A bit later on in our double parasha, we read ונתתי משכני בתוככם ולא תגעל נפשי (“And I shall place My dwelling amongst you, and My soul will not loathe you;” XXVI,11). This, too, applies to our generation, as the Ha‘améq Davar writes: אע"ג שבכל עת היותר טובה יש בקרב ישראל אנשים פרטים שמעשיהם מתועבים, מכ"מ בזכות כל ישראל השכינה בקרבם וגו' (“Even though at the best of times there are in the midst of Israel individual people whose deeds are unworthy; nonetheless, in the merit of all [the rest of] Israel, the Divine Presence is amongst them....”).
Even in our present debased state, those who study and observe the Torah (in general) and the Sabbath (in particular) serve to exalt all of Israel, and make it possible, when he is ready, even for “one whose deeds are unworthy” to aspire to become a throne and a vehicle for His blessed Name.
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