Caring for Fellow Jews
Don’t make him do slave work. (Vayikra 25:39)
Back when the whole Jewish people were living in their land, the laws of eved ivri applied. A Jew would sometimes sell himself as a slave.
Regarding this the Torah commands us “It shall be good for him with you” (Devarim 15:16). This teaches that the master must provide the slave with living conditions similar to his own. If the master eats fine bread and drinks aged wine and sleeps on a comfortable bed, he must provide the slave with the same. The slave eats the same cuisine, and sleeps with a bed and pillows and blankets no less comfortable that those of his master.
There are also restrictions on what type of work the master may ask his slave to do. It says, “Don’t make him do slave work,” meaning that the master may not force his Jewish slave to do things that are demeaning, such as take off the master’s shoes, or other demeaning forms of service that non-Jewish slaves would normally be asked to do.
We learn from all of this a number of important points regarding how to treat our fellow Jews.
Although these halachos are specific to the eved ivri, the Jewish slave, as they come to protect him from being overly degraded, we see from them how concerned the Torah is with a Jew’s honor, even of a Jew who fell to the ignoble state of selling himself as a slave.
This shows how careful we need to be about the honor and welfare of every Jew. Each member of our people is a son of the King and should be accorded princely honor.
When Moshe Rabbeinu said “So said Hashem: ‘My firstborn son Yisrael...’” (Shemos 22:22), this declaration was not intended for the ears of Pharaoh alone. It was so each and every one of us will know how to relate to our fellow Jew, whether or not he is among our friends and relatives, and this includes members of our immediate family, such as our spouse and children. They all deserve the greatest respect.
It says in the Torah: Regarding your brethren, the children of Yisrael, a man and his brother, you shall not rule over him harshly.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains what we learn from this pasuk:
One should not subjugate his fellow Jews. If they are in fear of him, or they are ashamed to go against his word, he should not command them to do anything, big or small, unless they agree and it is for their good, even if it is just heating up a water kettle or going out to buy a loaf of bread.
People are often not careful enough about this. Let’s say you ask a neighbor’s child to go do something for you. If he truly agrees on his own to do it, no problem. But sometimes he doesn’t really want to do it, and he is too embarrassed to refuse. If you send him out on such a mission, you are actually exploiting one of Hashem’s beloved children, and this is not right.
We also need to concern ourselves with the honor and welfare of every Jew who is experiencing troubles or who is being taken advantage of. We need to take care of him and be compassionate to him. Anyone who shows compassion will be shown compassion by Heaven, as it says, “He will show you compassion, and be kind with you and increase you.”
