What are your red lines?
At what stage would you be so full of despair that you would sell yourself to someone else.
The answer should be NEVER.
May G-d protect us from ever being tested.
In this week’s Parsha of Mishpatim the opening mitzvah, is about the laws of servants.
The details of the laws of the Torah surrounding servants and slaves are not applicable currently. Ever since the post-Temple-times the Torah laws of being a servant or slave are not put into actual practice. Yet the mitzvah is eternal and the message is one that guides our lives.
If a Jewish man sells himself to another Jew, he works for a six-year maximum. At the end of the six years, the beginning of year seven the servant goes free.
For someone to sell himself as a servant the financial situation must have been excruciatingly dismal.
Yet the Torah chides this person as being insensitive to what he had heard at Sinai when G-d told our nation for now and for eternity that ‘to Me the children of Israel are slaves’.
Implicit in that commandment is that they are not to willingly become slaves to anyone else ever again (after being slaves in Egypt). The fact that this person went and sold himself is an affront to G-d in some way.
Therefore, if the servant wants to continue his term of servitude past the six years, the Torah says that it can be extended, but an awl is pierced through his ear to the door, to remind him that his ears didn’t pay close enough attention to the G-dly gift of liberation.
By willingly agreeing to have a ‘master’ other than G-d he is obviously misguided. He didn’t listen carefully enough to G-d’s words. So, while the Torahs says that the extension of the period of his slavery is possible, it is absolutely discouraged.
Isn’t that a bit harsh of a reaction to someone who only sold himself in the first place because of desperation?
It is.
But sometimes we need to take a firm stand in order to drive home a point.
Yes, the poor man faced a lot of pressure.
However, if he had remembered that G-d Almighty told him to never revert back to being a servant, he would have stayed away from it.
But how was he meant to feed his family?
When one remembers G-d, one also needs to remember that G-d is the one who provides sustenance for all flesh.
The highest form of praise to Hashem is called the ‘Hallel hagadol’
The Talmud (Pesachim 118,a) tell us why:
And why is this section calledthe great hallel? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Because this passage states that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits in the heights of the universe and dispenses food to every creature. The whole world praises God for His kindness through the great hallel, which includes the verse: “Who gives food to all flesh” (Psalms 136:25).
G-d is responsible for feeding every living creature.
The Creator of the universe provides sustenance for more than eight billion people at this current writing.
For more than 50 billion birds and other forms of life.
AI tells me that there are approximately 20 quadrillion ants on Earth. This staggering figure, which is considered a conservative estimate, equates to roughly 2.5 million ants for every single human.
All of these creatures are being sustained by G-d.
Not matter the level of desperation, a Jew believes and knows that it is Hashem that provides.
G-d said at Sinai do not become slaves again.
A Jew that was ‘listening’ properly to G-d’s words would recognize that selling himself to slavery is a red line that should not be crossed.
Doing what runs contrary to Hashem’s instructions is a move that makes no sense.
Yes, Hashem wants us all to put forth effort to earn money to pay for our food. Yet, Hashem also told us what methods are ‘kosher’ to be used for this effort.
Sensible thinking means that the closer you stay to Hashems ‘drop down menu’ of ‘suggested jobs’ to make a living, the more blessed and fruitful your efforts will be.
The Torah is not advocating that one be too picky in how they make their living. Or that one waits around snobbishly for the perfect job.
The Torah instructs us to do whatever is needed to pay our way through life and not be dependent on handouts from others if at all possible.
It may even be that really menial and degrading labor is required. The Talmud (Pesachim 113 a) says:
Rav said to Rav Kahana: Skin a carcass in the market and take payment, but do not say: I am a priest, or: I am a great man, and this matter disgusts me. It is preferable for one to work, even in menial labor, than to be dependent on others.
NOT to enter into SLAVERY though.
Hashem took us out of Egypt and gave us the gift of freedom and liberation.
We must recognize and appreciate this gift and G-d forbid never look at ourselves as enslaved.
While we don’t have slavery today there are many variations of slavery that are more prevalent now than ever before.
Allowing oneself to be bullied is a form of submitting to slavery.
Being overcome by addiction to harmful behavior is another subtle form of slavery.
Viewing yourself as a victim of ‘fate’ without the ability to make decisions to help yourself is a slavery.
If you listen carefully to the message of G-d you will hear and recognize that you are free!
Nobody can enslave you anymore.
Even when G-d forbid one doesn’t know where the next paycheck is coming from, remember, it is Hashem who is our provider. He can and will provide for our needs without us submitting to forbidden and immoral occupations. Without entering into enslavement.
May we all enjoy our liberation and truly inculcate and internalize the Torah statement that ‘there is no true freedom other than that of commitment to Hashem and His Torah’
As we edge closer to Pesach let us embrace, relish and be empowered by the great gift of liberation and freedom that is granted to us.
Every breath as a free person is heady and uplifting.
Utilize your gift of freedom to do something good. To help someone else with kindness – an interpersonal Mitzvah. To add another ritualistic Mitzvah – a Mitzvah between you and G-d.
And let us hope that this year we will all be in YERUSHALAYIM for Pesach with the coming of Mashiach.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
PS. Please save the date for the Jewish Community Passover Seder which will be held on April 1, 2026. Passover is from April 1st - April 9th this year.