Mishpatim – Slavery to Service
Exodus 21:1-2: And these are the laws that you shall place before them: When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years he shall work… A man is down and low in his situation, tries to pick himself up with whatever he has, but to no avail. It seems that failure is all he has in his life and there is no thought of sunshine in his forecast. To add to his problems he is caught stealing, his luck seems to have run out now that he was found out to be a thief. “Can you pay for this theft?” If the answer is ‘no’ he is sold as a slave to repay the debt. A buyer will give the money to the victim as he walks home with a slave who will pay him back through his work.
The Gemara in Kiddushin 22a explains the verse (Deut. 15:16), ‘Ki Tov Lo Imach,’ saying that a master must provide for his Hebrew slave just as he would provide for himself. “You shouldn’t eat sifted bread while he eats unsifted, drink old wine while he drinks young, or sleep on pillows while he sleeps on hay.” It seems like from this Gemara that this down and about individual has finally found some breathing room. Life is burdenless and his work is not tiring. His wife and children are cared for and if he has no wife he is provided a maiden. The earlier situation which seemed like the end was actually the beginning of the next chapter.
Sometimes it gets hard to see where the new chapter starts, but what is certain is that without our past mistakes our future victories won’t ever be won. Without stepping into battle we may never know our strengths. But the goal isn’t to remain a slave forever, he won’t be coddled forever. As Rashi points out in Pasuk 21:6, “Ki Li Bnei Yisrael Avadim, The sons of Israel are my slaves.” We cannot remain under the wings of our caretakers forever, and we are not meant to repay this debt forever. We have a certain grace period that we are given to start our life anew, but once the time is up we have better learnt how to stand on our own feet.
This seems to be the first rehabilitation program, and to be quite frank, it almost seems worth it. But wait a second, why the stigma? We are all recovering from something. One from failure another from sadness, one’s heart is broken while others are hard as rocks. As a side note, it is preferable to consider ourselves as recovering from our problems instead of labeling ourselves with them. Just add the little title of “recovering” behind the word “addict.” Anyway. As we go through our own lives we can identify areas that we need to become better at, especially those areas that we have reached rock bottom, and that is usually when it is too big to hide.
We should look for guidance from the outside. Creating a Rav for ourselves is important, as the Mishnah states in Avot 1:6 Building a connection with teachings of those alive and those deceased. Forming a bond with a friend and sharing life’s lessons with a spouse. Learning how to be true to oneself even though it seems like this is the bottom of the line. Becoming a slave is actually the first step of healing since it is Service for which we have been created. As the Pasuk states in Bereishit 2:15, “Le’Avdah Uleshamra.”
Becoming of service is the foundation to a healthy lifestyle. Many ask what the purpose of life is and to those I would ask, “When was the last time you did something for another with a true heart?” Servicing others and being a provider for those who require assistance is the greatest gift one can give themselves. Since we can only give what we possess, and since our possession contains only the mere talents of our being, then we can serve our master only with the tools we were given from above. When one is broken down and tired and has nothing left to give, but when he sees someone in his situation and he throws him a smile or a good word, through this action he has now given himself the good word he’s been searching for the whole day.
Rule number one in being a servant is recognizing the master. Once we have a clear picture of what service looks like we must now administer those services properly and with cause.
A wealthy man once offered a beggar a job. He said to him, “You see those two buckets over here next to the lake? I will give you a Kupick a day if you fill them with water and bring them to me each morning at eight.” But he added one more condition, “This deal is for the next year, no questions and no negotiations. Not only that, please don’t disturb me either.” Within one day, the beggar realized that both his buckets had small holes in the sides, which slowly let the water out…, but there was no one to talk to, and he surely didn’t have the money to buy new ones.
The dripping of the water frustrated him very much. His pants would get wet and his hands would slip, but most of all, he wondered why he had to schlep those large pails down this path if when he showed up they were almost empty. These questions brewed within and led him to resentment and anger. Finally the year was up and he came running frantically with his burning question, “These pails have holes in them! Did you intend to make fun of me by giving me a job with no purpose?!” The rich man tapped him on the shoulder and started walking. “You see these flowers on the side of the road, I planted those seeds just over a year ago. The job I asked of you was to fill those pails and bring them down this road, it was not your job to worry about my use of them. But now that you want to know, just look at the beautiful flowers that you watered every day.
We don’t want to be slaves and be of service to someone whose values are antithetical to life. What we are searching for is that our service be for a good cause. As we start working on our personal rehabilitation from whatever we’re going through we should make sure to start caring for those that can benefit from our talents but also allow them to grow. There may be times when we question our decision to become better and raise ourselves up from the slum. We may not see the fruit of our labor and in many cases feel shut out completely without the ability to ask, but it is with discipline to the cause that we will continue being of service.
And these are the rules that you shall put before them. Take time to learn those Torah rules and allow yourself to lean on those around you to give you the help you need to remain disciplined. Keep yourself moving forward by being of service and you’ll find yourself running and taking off on your own. It is our purpose to grow here on earth, as the Pasuk states in Bereishit 2:5, “And the grass of the field was yet to sprout… since man was yet to service the earth.” Start from the bottom up and keep watching your successes become greater each day. As you descend from Sinai and are about to take this generational belief upon yourself, learn how to be of service to Hashem. Feel His love that endured for so long, and be proud to call yourself a Hebrew slave.
David Lemmer is an Orthodox Jewish Author and Hypnotherapist. He can be reached at LemmerHypno@gmail.com