Avadim - Chapter One

Introduction to Hilchos Avadim

They contain 13 mitzvot: five positive mitzvot and eight negative mitzvot. They are:

1) The laws governing the acquisition of a Hebrew servant;
2) Not to sell him in the manner that servants are usually sold;
3) Not to make him perform excruciating labor;
4) Not to make him perform servile tasks;
5) Not to allow a resident alien to make him perform excruciating labor;
6) To grant a Hebrew servant a severance gift when he attains his freedom;
7) Not to let him go free empty-handed;
8) To redeem a Hebrew maid-servant;
9) To designate her as a wife;
10) Not to sell her a second time
11) To have a Canaanite servant work forever, unless his master causes one of his primary limbs to fall;
12) Not to return to his master a servant who fled from the Diaspora to Eretz Yisrael;
13) Not to oppress this servant who has fled to us.

These mitzvot are explained in the chapters that follow.

The term "Hebrew servant" used by the Torah refers to a Jew whom the court sells by compulsion, or a person who sells himself willingly.

What is implied? When a person steals and does not have the resources to repay the principal, the court sells him, as we have explained in Hilchot Geneivah.

No other Jewish person is sold by the court, except a thief. Concerning such a thief sold by the court Exodus 21:2 states: "When you acquire a Hebrew servant." And concerning this person, Deuteronomy 15:12 states: "When your Jewish brother will be sold to you."

To what does the term "a person who sells himself" refer? When a Jew becomes sorely impoverished, the Torah gives him permission to sell himself as a servant, as Leviticus 25:39 states: "When your brother will become impoverished and be sold to you."

A person is not allowed to sell himself as a servant and stash away the money, use it to buy merchandise or utensils, or give it to his creditor. He may sell himself only when he needs the money for his very livelihood. A person is not permitted to sell himself unless he has no property remaining at all - i.e., even his clothing no longer remains. Only in such a situation may he sell himself.

We have already explained that a woman is never sold because of a theft. Similarly, she may not sell herself as a servant, nor may she purchase a Hebrew servant or a Canaanite slave, because of the suspicion of immoral behavior.

A convert may not be purchased as a Hebrew servant. This is derived from Leviticus 25:41: "And he shall return to his family" - i.e., it is speaking about someone who has a family within the Jewish faith.

A Hebrew servant who is sold by the court is sold only to a native-born Israelite or to a convert to Judaism. Similarly, a person who sells himself as a servant is not permitted to sell himself to a gentile, not even to a resident alien. If he transgresses and sells himself, even to a gentile, even to the service of a false divinity itself, the sale is binding, as indicated by Leviticus 25:47, which speaks of a person's selling himself: "to what must be uprooted from a sojourner's family." "What must be uprooted" refers to a false divinity.

If a person says: "I am going to sell myself to a gentile," you are not obligated to do anything for him until he actually sells himself. Once he sells himself to a gentile, however, although he transgressed and acted improperly, it is a mitzvah to redeem him, so that he does not assimilate among them, as Leviticus 25:48 states: "After he is sold, redemption should be granted him."

Neither a person who sells himself, nor one who is sold by the court, should be sold in public on an auction block, nor in an alley, as slaves are sold, as Leviticus 25:42 states: "He shall not be sold as a slave is sold." Instead, he should be sold in a private and honorable manner.

It is forbidden to make any Hebrew servant perform excruciating labor. What is excruciating labor? Labor that has no limit, or labor that is unnecessary and is asked of the servant with the intent to give him work so that he will not remain idle.

Based on the above, our Sages said that a master should not tell a Hebrew servant: "Hoe under the vines until I come," for he has not placed a limit on the work asked of him. Instead, he should tell him: "Hoe until this and this time," or "until you reach this and this place."

Similarly, he should not tell him "Dig in this place," if he has no need for that activity. Even telling him to warm a drink for him, or to cool one off for him, if he does not need it, is forbidden, and reflects the violation of a negative commandment, as Leviticus 25:43 states: "Do not impose excruciating work on him." Thus, a Hebrew servant may be compelled to perform only a limited and necessary task.

Similarly, if a Hebrew servant is sold to a gentile, who imposes excruciating labor upon him, the Jews are commanded to prevent him from doing so. If they allow him to continue, they transgress a negative commandment, as Ibid.:53: "He should not impose excruciating work upon him before your eyes." We are not, however, required to enter the gentile's domain and check to see that he is not imposing excruciating labor upon him. This is implied by the term: "before your eyes" - i.e., when you see.

Whenever a Jew purchases a Hebrew servant, he may not make him perform debasing tasks that are relegated only for servants - e.g., to have him carry his clothes to the bathhouse or remove his shoes - as Leviticus 25:39 states: "Do not have him perform servile tasks." Instead, one should treat him as a hired laborer, as Ibid.:40 continues: "He shall be like a hired laborer or a resident among you."

It is, however, permitted to have the servant cut the master's hair, launder his clothes and bake his dough. He may not, however, make him the manager of a public bathhouse, a public barber or a public baker. If, however, this was his profession before he was sold, it is permitted. Indeed, at the outset, he should not teach him any profession at all. Instead, he should work at the profession at which he worked previously.

When does the above apply? To a Hebrew servant. For his self-image is depressed because of his being sold. When, however, a Jew has not been sold, he may be hired to perform servile tasks. For he is performing this work out of his own desire and his own consent.

When people do not conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, it is permissible to impose one's authority over them by force and subjugate them.

When a king decrees that anyone who does not pay the fixed head tax should be enslaved to the person who pays the head tax for him, a person who pays the head tax for someone may use that person for labor beyond the ordinary measure. He may not, however, use him as a Canaanite slave. If, however, that person does not conduct himself properly, he may use him as a slave.

A master is obligated to treat any Hebrew servant or maid servant as his equal with regard to food, drink, clothing and living quarters, as implied by Deuteronomy 15:16 "for it is good for him with you." The master should not eat bread made from fine flour while the servant eats bread from coarse flour. The master should not drink aged wine while the servant drinks fresh wine. The master should not sleep on cushions while the servant sleeps on straw. Nor should the master live in a walled city while the servant lives in a village, or the master live in a village while the servant lives in a walled city, as implied by Leviticus 25:41: "And he shall leave you."

On this basis, our Sages said: "Whoever purchases a Hebrew servant purchases a master for himself."

A master must treat his servant with brotherly love, as implied by Leviticus 25:46: "And with regard to your brothers, the children of Israel." Nevertheless, the servant himself must conduct himself as a servant with regard to those tasks he must perform.

The institution of a Hebrew maid-servant and that of a Hebrew servant is not practiced except in the time when the Jubilee year is observed. This applies both to a Hebrew servant who sells himself, and to one who is sold by the court. We have already explained when the observance of the Jubilee year was nullified.