Parshas Mishpatim presents the basic principles of the Torah’s civil code. After the dramatic event of Ma’amad Har Sinai, Hashem now transmitted the detailed laws that we are to observe. This series of laws begins with the halacha of the עבד עברי – the Jewish servant. Right at the opening of this parsha, the Torah commands that if a person purchases a servant, he must release him after six years of work. At first glance, this seems like a very peculiar choice of a topic with which to begin this series of laws. Bnei Yisrael were only weeks away from Yetzias Mitzrayim. For centuries, they endured the pain and degradation of slavery, and were only very recently freed from that torment. Is the requirement to free an עבד עברי the most important law that they needed to hear at this moment?
Rav Yosef Sorotzkin, in Meged Yosef, explains that to the contrary – precisely because of Bnei Yisrael’s recent experience as slaves, the mandatory release of an עבד עברי is the first law they needed to be told. Any therapist who deals with abuse victims will affirm that suffering abuse as a child drastically increases the chances of becoming an abuser himself. Children who were raised by abusive parents are more likely than others to grow to become abusive parents. Rationally, we would have assumed that those who experienced firsthand the horrors and pain of abuse would be less likely to inflict this suffering on others. But reality has taught us that this is not the case. People who suffered mistreatment feel the need to mistreat others.
Somebody told me about how he was raised in a very poor family, and then started working in a business where he was treated very insensitively. He eventually worked his way up, to the point where he bought the business. Those who had been in charge now work for him. He gleefully and proudly told me how he is now treating them the way they treated him.
But this is not how it should be. The command of עבד עברי, Rav Sorotzkin writes, teaches us that we must break the cycle of violence, abuse and mistreatment. If we were treated badly, we are still able, and expected, to break the cycle, to be better than those who were unkind to us. Bnei Yisrael’s experiences as slaves do not entitle us to enslave others. In fact, the Torah requires that if a master has only one bed or one pillow, he must give it to his servant instead of keeping it for himself. If we were treated cruelly, we should treat others kindly. We can, and must, break the cycle.
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg
