Sotah 045
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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What are the differences between a man and a woman? A man lets his hair grow and rips his garments, a woman does not do so. A man may declare his son a Nazir, a woman may not do so. A man may end his term using his father's Nazirite savings, a woman may not do so. A man may sell his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man may betroth his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man is stoned naked, this is not so with a woman. A man is hanged, a woman is not. A man is sold for theft, a woman is not.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
8:
The last item in our present mishnah is that "a man is sold for theft, a woman is not". This is another instance of the sages taking a command of the Torah which seems to be ethically problematic and so 'interpreting' it that it becomes one of the gems of rabbinic legislation. This deserves to be explained at some length. 9:
If a thief is found breaking in … he shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen property is found in his hand … he shall pay double.
Early society in Israel knew no such thing as a police force or imprisonment as a punishment for civil wrongdoing. The state, as such, was an unrecognised entity and had no standing in matters of civil wrongdoing. If my property was stolen it is up to me to apprehend the culprit and if he is caught I am to sue him in court in order to recover my property. If he is found guilty of theft he must make full restitution of the stolen property (at its present market value if it has appreciated), and his punishment is that he must also add onto that a fine which is the equivalent of 100% of the restored property. In other words, a thief who steals 1000 must make restitution of 2000, and the fine is paid directly to the person from whom the property was stolen.
10:
If you buy a Jewish servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him… But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master … I will not go out free;' then his master shall bring him to court, to the door or to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
And the Torah also legislates: If your brother, a Jew … be sold to you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
Thus the Jewish servant is not a slave but has rights as well as duties. Men would sell themselves into servitude because they were penurious – either because they had mismanaged their financial affairs or had suffered financial ruin or had been convicted of theft and been unable to make restitution. He is bonded to whoever will by his services for six years and no more. The fact that provision is made for the possibility that at the end of six years the bonded servant may not wish to regain his freedom is an indication of the liberality of the institution.
We dealt with the institution of the Jewish bonded servant when we first studied Tractate Kiddushin. Here are some of the points that I raised then.
What are the circumstances that bring about the Jewish servant? Abject poverty. The Eved Ivri has reached this status because he could not manage his own financial affairs successfully. He brought himself to penury and most often to theft. The simple solution of charity will not help: he had means and lost them; what he needs is education by example. During the time that he is "indentured" he has rights – which means that he is not a slave. But he does (or should) learn how a family should manage its affairs – in fact he becomes a member of the family. When, after
six years, his time is up he must go back into the real world and put into practice what he has learned – and he is given a substantial sum to start him off successfully! This is a far cry from the institution of "slavery" as the non-Jewish world understood it (and understands it). I think it also is a kind of blueprint for the Torah recipe for dealing with the social evil of destitution and what it brings about. Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 15:18 is so liberal that I quote it in full: '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 Manservant] is as one who has acquired for himself a master.
To be continued.
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