Having the Why to Live
How can a divine Torah speak about slavery and not abolish it?
This question has echoed for generations. The modern reader, judging from a moral high ground shaped long after the Torah’s time, expects a clear and immediate prohibition. If this is the word of God, should it not have said so outright?
But perhaps the Torah is teaching something deeper and far more demanding. Rather than simply legislating against slavery, the Torah seeks to redefine the very meaning of human freedom. A closer reading reveals that it consistently upholds freedom as a prerequisite for genuine service of God, while at the same time placing responsibility on society to help make that freedom attainable.
This idea is made explicit in the Torah’s rationale for redeeming Israelites who have sold themselves into servitude to resident aliens:
“For it is to Me that the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 25:55)
God thus claims primary ownership, as it were, of His people, and their fate is bound up with His, as emphasized in the Midrashic interpretation of this verse from the period of the Mishnah:
“For they are My servants” — My document (deed of purchase) is of earlier date. (Sifra Behar, Parashah 6:1)
“The children of Israel are servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt” — on the condition that they will not be enslaved.
“I am the Lord your God” — whoever enslaves you on earth is considered, as it were, to enslave Him (God) in heaven. (Sifra Behar, Perek 9:4)
It is clear from these passages that both the Torah and the rabbinic tradition regard slavery as an intolerable condition; one that is unbearable not only for human beings, but, so to speak, for God as well.
The fact that slavery as an institution has largely disappeared does not mean that the human condition has been freed from oppression in other forms. Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the second Gerer Rebbe, addresses this predicament on the basis of the above verse and its interpretation in the Sifra:
Regarding the verse “the children of Israel are servants, for they are My servants,” the Mishnah may be read as teaching: “Whoever takes upon himself the yoke of Torah, from him the yoke of government (read here –“oppression”) is removed” (Avot 3:5). The term “removed” in the Mishnah can be understood even in cases where a person remains under political or social oppression. The truth is that no one is ever completely free from some form of subjugation. However, one who accepts upon themselves the yoke of Torah, and who willingly subjects themselves to God’s will, can nonetheless be freed inwardly from the burden of oppression. In this way, they are able to properly receive the Torah.
This is the meaning of the verse: “For they are My servants,” for they desire to be servants of God, and this commitment enables them to become truly free. (adapted from Sfat Emet, Behar 5644; Or Etzion ed., p. 218a)
These ideas evoke the inspiring words attributed to Hersh Goldberg-Polin hy”d, citing Viktor Frankl and Friedrich Nietzsche to his fellow hostages in Gaza: “He who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any how.” When a person is inspired with meaning, they have something to live for, giving them the ability to endure and even overcome tribulation. God and Torah provide such a source of hope and strength, an identity that has carried our people through all manner of trials and tribulations, transforming service of God ultimately into a path toward freedom.
