Baruch
ata YHVHEloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah.)
Lev 25:39 ‘And when your
brother who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, do not make
him serve as a slave.
Why would a brother become
poor?
He needs to learn that
obedience to the covenant brings blessing – see Deut 28.
If he becomes poor through
decisions he made, he should undergo rehabilitation and come under submission
to one who by YHVH’s favour is living under the blessings of the covenant – The
Torah, until he can be prosperous and self-supporting again. There should be no
humiliation or any form of exploitation during this rehabilitation process.
Lev 25:40 ‘But as a hired
servant,(Heb – sakir – hired servant) as a settler he is with you, and serves
you until the Year of Jubilee.
Lev 25:41 ‘And then he shall
leave you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own clan, even
return to the possession of his fathers.
Lev 25:42 ‘For they are My
servants,(Heb – eved – servant or slave) whom I brought out of the land of
Mitsrayim, they are not sold as slaves. (see “eved ivri’ Hebrew slave in Shemot
22) Note importance of
the context in which the Torah was given – Parashat Yitro is followed by
Parashat Mishpatim……
Lev 25:43 ‘Do not rule over him
with harshness, but you shall fear your Elohim.
Lev 25:44 ‘And your male and female
slaves whom you have from the nations that are around you, from them you buy
male and female slaves, (eved)
Lev 25:45 and also from the
sons of the strangers sojourning among you, from them you buy, and from their
clans who are with you, which they shall bring forth in your land, and they
shall be your property.
Lev 25:46 ‘And you shall take
them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a
possession, they are your slaves for all time. But over your brothers, the
children of Yisra’ĕl, you do not rule with harshness, one over another.
Lev 25:47 ‘Now when a sojourner
or a settler with you becomes rich, and your brother with him becomes poor, and
sells himself to the settler or sojourner with you, or to a member of the
sojourner’s clan,
Lev 25:48 after he has been
sold, there is a right of redemption to him – one of his brothers does redeem
him,
Lev 25:49 or his uncle or his
uncle’s son does redeem him, or anyone who is a close relative to him in his
clan does redeem him, or if he is able, then he shall redeem himself.
Lev 25:50 ‘And he shall reckon
with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the
number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of
Jubilee; as the days of a hired servant it is with him.
Lev 25:51 ‘If there are yet
many years, according to them he repays the price of his redemption, from the
silver of his purchase.
Lev 25:52 ‘And if few years are
left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to
his years he repays him the price of his redemption.
Lev 25:53 ‘He is with him as a
yearly hired servant, and he does not rule with harshness over him before your
eyes.
Lev 25:54 ‘And if he is not
redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he
and his children with him.
Lev 25:55 ‘Because the children of Yisra’ĕl are
servants to Me, they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of
Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev 26:1 ‘Do not make idols for yourselves, and do not
set up a carved image or a pillar for yourselves, and do not place a stone
image in your land, to bow down to it. For I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev 26:2 ‘Guard My Sabbaths and reverence My set-apart
place. I am יהוה.