The Torah’s intent in beginning the first judgment with the matter of a Hebrew slave is because it contains a reminder of Yetziat Mitzrayim – for Bnei Yisrael were slaves – and a reminder of Creation – for just as Shabbat is a reminder that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created His world in six days and the seventh day is a day of rest, so too the seventh year is the slave’s time of rest from the master’s work (and the seventh year, Shemita, a time for the land’s rest; and the seventh cycle culminates in Yovel, another time of rest). All this, he says, stems from one principle, from one source, which is the secret of the days of the world found in וַיְכֻלוּ – and they were completed.
In my opinion, this is why it does not say כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד יִשְׂרָאֵל – which would have been appropriate, or כִּי תִקְנֶה יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעֶבֶד. Yisrael would have been appropriate as it is the honored name established for us after Matan Torah. But this idea of servitude comes in direct contrast to what we, Yisrael, heard at Matan Torah and therefore it is not fitting to call him Yisrael in the Mitzvah. Instead, עִבְרִי is used, a relational name, the name they had in Mitzrayim without the Torah, when they were called הָעִבְרִים לֹהֵי-אֱ.
Chazal address the following question, which is posed in the text of the Mitzvah: What happens if the slave says they love their master, their wife, and their children, and they do not wish to go free? What is done to them at that point? The Torah clearly says, they are brought to the judges, and their ear is pierced with an awl by the master at the door or doorpost; after which, they can remain in servitude forever. Why specifically the ear, why specifically the master, and why specifically with an awl? The Gemara (Kiddushin 22b) says, the ear is different from all other limbs because Hashem said, “The ear that heard My voice at Sinai when I said ‘כִּי לִי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים’ – servants to Me and not servants to other servants – and yet this one went and acquired a master for himself... let this ear be pierced!”
Diving into that answer, where exactly was this said at Har Sinai? The first time כִּי לִי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים appears is way later in Parshat Behar! Why is it suddenly mentioned here in the context of Har Sinai?! The Gemara continues and says: The door and doorpost are different from all other objects in the house because Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “The door and doorpost that were witnesses in Egypt when I passed over the lintel and doorposts and said ‘כִּי לִי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים’ and not servants to other servants; and yet this one went and acquired a master for himself – let him be pierced before them.”
Rabbotai, we can once again ask: When Hakadosh Baruch Hu passed over the doors of Bnei Yisrael on the night of Makat Bechorot, no voice was heard in Egypt; so what exactly is the Gemara talking about here?! Furthermore, “My servants and not servants to servants” was said later, so why do Chazal keep invoking it as being said elsewhere?
Adding to the questions, this Gemara prefaces its teachings with: רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי הָיָה דּוֹרֵשׁ אֶת הַמִּקְרָא הַזֶּה כְּמִין חוֹמֶר – Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai would expound this verse like a precious ornament. The Alter of Kelm (Ohr Rashaz 283) asks, since when do our rabbis give themselves compliments?! Besides, there is no elucidation of Chazal that is not like a precious ornament; each one is a jewel!
Furthermore, one must ask why Hakadosh Baruch Hu is angry at a person who says they love their master, wife, and children. Is a person who sells himself to be a slave forever exempt from Mitzvot?! No! He’s still obligated in all the Mitzvot! If so, why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu say, “My servants and not servants to servants”? What does it matter that he is a slave to someone while fulfilling all the Mitzvot?!
Yet another question requiring explanation comes from the Midrash at the beginning of Eichah which provides two explanations for מֵעֹנִי גָּלְתָה יְהוּדָה – Yehuda has gone into exile. The first, from affliction, because they did not eat לֶחֶם עוֹנִי but rather ate chametz on Pesach. The second, from much servitude, because they subjugated a Hebrew slave. Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded the release of slaves after six years, yet they did not release them, and as a result, exile came upon them. Evidence comes from the Haftarah of Parshat Mishpatim (Yirmiyahu 34:10), where the Navi says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu commands to free slaves, but the people freed them and then immediately took them back. Because Bnei Yisrael did not free the slaves, they went back into exile.
To understand what is being presented here, we will begin, B’ezrat Hashem, with a yesod I found in the sefer Ma'archei Lev by Rav Moshe Schwab. It opens with a saying, sourced back to the teachings of Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin:
In the Torah, every matter you wish to examine, always search for where it first appears; and wherever you find it first, that is its root and foundation.
According to this yesod, where does the word עֶבֶד (servant, slave) first appear in the Torah? Rav Schwab writes: The first instance of the existence of a servant is in Parshat Noach, where it says: אָרוּר כְּנַעַן עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים יִהְיֶה לְאֶחָיו – Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. From then on, Canaan became a servant for generations. And to find the context of this curse, we’ll cite the words of the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 36:7): Noach suffered much distress in the ark because he did not have a young son to serve him. So much so that he pledged to establish for himself a young son to serve him, after leaving the ark.
