Bava Kamma 060

נושא: BK

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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The extent of double repayment is greater than the extent of four- and five-fold repayment: double repayment applies to both something that is alive and to something that is not alive, [whereas]four- and five-fold repayment applies only to an ox or a sheep. For [the Torah] says: "When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it…" Someone who steals from a thief does not make double repayment, nor does someone who slaughters or sells [an animal that someone else has stolen four- and five-fold repayment.

12:
We have established so far that theft in rabbinic jurisprudence is an offence against property and therefore the thief must repay what he has stolen with an added 'fine' of 100% usually, but 400% in the case of a sheep and 500% in the case of an ox. We have also established that the thief who is not able to make this repayment (or at least to repay the value of what was stolen without the added fine) is to be sold into servitude by the Bet Din. The terms of this servitude are detailed in Exodus 21:2-6.

13:
Perhaps we should now consider the purpose of this servitude, as seen and developed by the sages. The fact that the slave had rights and privileges should indicate to us that the term 'slave' is perhaps not appropriate to this particular discussion. I have always preferred to refer to 'an indentured bondman' – or some similar term.

14:
The most basic right of this indentured servant is that his time of servitude is circumscribed by Torah law:

He shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. [Exodus 21:2]

But the Torah also describes the terms of his servitude:

When your kinsman under you continues in straits and must give himself over to you, do not subject him to the treatment of a slave. He shall remain with you as a hired or bound labourer… For they are my slaves, whom I freed from the land of Egypt; they may not give themselves over into servitude. You shall not rule over him ruthlessly; you shall fear your God. [Leviticus 25:39-43]

So, the Torah also precludes subjecting this indentured servant to "ruthless" labour.

15:
It will perhaps be useful at this stage if we simply quote verbatim some of the rules and regulations that the sages applied in fulfillment of these requirements of the Torah:

Should he say to you, "I will not leave you", since he loves you and your household, since it was good for him being with you…: His feeling good must be equal to your feeling good. There must not be a situation in which you eat top-quality bread and he eats low-quality bread; you drink old wine and he drinks new wine; you sleep on feathers and he sleeps on straw; you live in town and he lives in the country – as it is said: when he and his children shall leave you [Leviticus 25:41] From this [the sages] said: He who acquires for himself an Eved Ivri [Jewish servant] is as one who has acquired for himself a master. [Midrash Tannaïim on Deuteronomy 15:18]

16:
And here are some of the conditions laid down by the Mekhilta concerning the Eved Ivri. (The Mekhilta is collection of some of the amplificatory comments made by the sages of the period which culminated in the editing of the Mishnah (around the end of the 2nd century CE).

He shall serve for six years [Exodus 21:2]: I might understand this to mean any kind of service, but Scripture says [Leviticus 25:39] do not work him like a slave. Hence the sages said: A Jewish manservant must not wash the feet of his master, nor put his shoes on him, nor carry his things before him when going to the bath-house … nor carry him in a litter or a chair or a sedan chair as [other] slaves do…

He shall serve for six years [Exodus 21:2]: I might understand this to mean by doing any kind of work whether it is humiliating to him or not. Therefore it says [Leviticus 25:40], He must be like a hired hand with you: just as a hired man cannot be forced to do anything other than his trade, so also the Jewish servant cannot be forced to do anything other than his trade. Hence the sages said: The master may not put him to work in a trade in which he has to tend upon the public (such as being a well-master, a bathing-master, a barber, tailor, butcher, or baker) … Just as a hired man works only during the day and does not work during the night, so the Jewish servant is to work only during the day and not during the night.

His wife must leave with him [Exodus 21:3]: … Why then does Scripture say [this]? – To tell us that the master is obliged to provide food for the wife of his servant. He must also provide food for the servant's children…

17:
It should now be apparent why the sages quipped that "he who acquires for himself an Eved Ivri is as one who has acquired for himself a master." And the duties of the master of the indentured bondman do not end with the arrival of the seventh year. Not only must the Jewish servant be released, but he must be given a parting gift to help him on his way:

If a fellow Hebrew, man or woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall set him free. When you set him free, do not let him go empty-handed: furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat, with which God has blessed you… When you do set him free, do not feel aggrieved; for in the six years he has given you double the service of a hired man. Moreover,God will bless you in all you do.[Deuteronomy 15:12-18]

18:
Given all these conditions, we must ask ourselves what could have been the purpose of selling the thief, the destitute man into servitude.

To be continued.

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