Pat Myers gave this d’var Friday, May 27.
This week’s Torah portion is traditionally combined with the next one, and called Behar-Bechukotai, which is the final portion in the Book of Leviticus, Chapters 25, 26 and 27.
At this point, we’re still continuing the long section of laws for the community to live by, in the form of God telling them to Moses up on Mount Sinai; “behar” means “on the mountain.” In Chapter 25, God proclaims the policy of the Sabbatical year – that every seventh year you rest both your land and your livestock, and the produce of the land becomes free for the taking for all.
Then God demands a special 50th year – the Jubilee Year – on which work on the land ceases, and all indentured servants are set free. We may be familiar with the verse 25:10, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”: It’s inscribed on the Liberty Bell. See, as a number of us knew already, life begins at 50.
The portion then turns its attention to the case of Israelites who have sold themselves into servitude to other Israelites. In this chapter, God insists on humane treatment for these people – “a man shall not work his brother with rigor; for the children of Israel are servants to Me: they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt.” That’s nice for the Israelites, but I was alarmed to see that some rabbis have cited this portion to proclaim that the Torah renounces slavery in general. One d’var on the Chabad website says:
“The terms of the passage are clear. Slavery is wrong. It is an assault on the human condition. To be ‘in the image of God’ is to be summoned to a life of freedom. The very idea of the sovereignty of God means that He alone has claim to the service of mankind.”
Well, no, sorry, that’s not what the Torah is saying. The Torah isn’t even saying that all slaves should be humanely treated. What it’s saying that Israelite servants should be, that they shouldn’t be considered like ordinary slaves. In Exodus 21, for example, it specifies that if you beat your slave to death you’ll be punished, but if the slave manages to survive a day or two after the beating, then no punishment. Face it, it’s not what we’d call an enlightened view in our times.
Rabbi Amy Scheinerman in Columbia, Maryland, tries to reconcile the issue by saying that Jewish ethics sometimes have to look beyond even the Torah – and that ethical, courageous Jews have done this throughout history. Here are some excerpts from her d’var Torah for this parsha:
“In Parshat Behar we find laws concerning indentured servants and slaves. It’s hard to know if we should be relieved and inspired, or chagrined and embarrassed. How do we resolve the contradiction between ancient institutions (such as slavery, but also others) and the elevated ethical values that seem utterly at odds with these institutions?
“Having known the suffering of slavery, in Behar the Israelites are prohibited from enslaving one another. We would like to see this prohibition extended to non-Israelites, but the Torah does not go this far….
“How can Torah, which teaches that each and every human being is created in the divine image, countenance slavery?”
The great 11th-century sage Moses Maimonides, or the Rambam, interprets the laws concerning slavery in ethical terms that rely on us to “do the right thing.” In his Mishnei Torah, the Rambam says:
It is permissible to work a non-Jewish servant harshly. Yet, although this is the law, the way of the pious and the wise is to be compassionate and to pursue justice, not to overburden or oppress a servant, and to provide them from every dish and every drink.” Maimonides finds evidence for this duty throughout the Bible. For instance, he cites Job’s quote about his servant: Did not my Maker make him, too, in the belly; did not the same One form us both in the womb? (Job 31: 13, 15)
The Rambam adds: “For anger and cruelty are only found among other nations. … God has compassion for all God has made.”
“Rambam has faith that those who take Torah seriously, internalizing its values, will come out on the side of compassion and justice,” says Rabbi Schneierman.
The rabbi finishes her d’var by citing three examples of such Jews who exemplified the Rambam’s view in our own country’s fight against slavery in the 1800s:
“August Bondi, an immigrant to Nebraska from Austria in 1848, was active in the Free State movement, which advocated that Nebraska become an anti-slavery state. The vote was stolen by heavily armed pro-slavery factions, and Bondi joined John Brown’s raid in 1856. Bondi survived the battle and continued to champion the anti-slavery movement.
“Michael Heilprin immigrated from Europe in 1858. A biblical scholar, critic, and writer, he was appalled by the infamous pro-slavery sermon preached by Rabbi M. J. Raphall from the pulpit of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City on January 4, 1861. A week later, Heilprin published a passionate editorial in opposition (you can read it here). Heilprin rightly distinguishes what Torah permitted in the ancient world from the values it inculcated, and later traditions that teach us to create a better world.
“And Rabbi David Einhorn was among those who did just what Rambam trusted many Jews would do. He spoke vehemently and vociferously against slavery from his pulpit at Har Sinai in Baltimore. In 1861, an angry mob threatened him with violence – tarring and feathering – and he fled to Philadelphia. But he did not relent in the pursuit of Abolition. These three, and many more, fulfilled Rambam’s expectation.”
As Rabbi Schneierman makes clear, yes, you can quote chapter and verse to justify all sorts of hateful or unfair behavior in our modern age – we see it done all the time. But she makes clear that whatever one verse or another, written in a much different time and place from our own, decrees, it should never be taken to conflict with the Torah’s overriding teaching: to act with compassion, and to remember that the rest of humanity is … humanity.
Shabbat Shalom.