Who Owns Me?
Mishpatim is a concise compendium of the laws that govern our relationships with the things that we and others own. It begins by defining ownership of that which is closest to us: our own bodies.
We might have assumed that of all the things in the world, the things over which we have the most unassailable rights are our own bodies. This is not so. We in fact do not own our bodies at all, and therefore neither we nor a Beit Din (a court of Law), can sell ourselves as slaves. We are owners of our labor and can trade in our own labor, but we do not own our bodies and cannot sell them into slavery. G-d owns us.
When a man sells his labor he does not become a slave. At no time can a Jew sell a Kinyan Haguf (physical ownership) in his or another Jew's body. There are three legitimate ways we can trade in our labor: We can hire ourselves out to work for others, we can sell our labor forward for a maximum of six years at its net present value (temporary sale), and we can sell it forward up to 49 years until theYoveil Year (Sachir Olam – permanent sale of labor). Selling ones labor forward beyond the six year or shemitta limit is legal but discouraged.
The Gomorra explains the Torah's discouragement of selling ones labor beyond the six year limit and in so doing it teaches us the very foundation of our relationship to our own selves and to our bodies. The servant, in deciding to extend his labor contract from its initial period to the Yoveil Year has his ear pierced against the doorpost. The reason is because the ear heard, and the doorposts bore witness, when Hashem passed over them in Egypt to save the Jewish firstborn and said: "Ki Li Benei Yisrael Avadim - for the Jewish People are My slaves" (See Rashi Shemot 21:6).
The reason we can only sell our labor on contract but never our bodies into slavery, is because we never have ownership over our bodies. We are already slaves, servants of Hashem, created by Him, owned by Him and belonging to Him entirely. The Torah disapproves of one who sells his labor beyond the Shemitta Year, because in so doing he has acquired a master even though he is not a slave in the strict sense of the word. Another human being owns his time for what could be the bulk of his working life. "Avadai heim, veloh avadim le'avadim; veHalach zeh vekanah adon le'atzmo!" (They are My slaves and not the slaves of other slaves. And this man went and acquired a master for himself!) We prize our freedom and are instructed to preserve it.
"Freedom and Slavery are States of Mind" - Ghandi
The technical laws of slavery are not relevant today, but the principles they embody are. They teach us some of the most basic tenets of freedom: its purpose, its value and its limitations. As Jews we place an extraordinarily high value on freedom, but we value our freedom not as an end in itself, rather as a means by which to serve G-d freely.
Secular liberalism and the pursuit of human rights are important but they are not the core of Jewish belief or Jewish life. G-d and sanctity are at our core. Avodat Hashem (Service of G-d), is the 24/7 purpose of Jewish life. The way we treat others is one of many manifestations of our sanctity but is not an end in itself. Jewish ethics is not a system of courtesy. Jewish ethics, Mussar, is a spiritual practice of ego diminishment. It is designed to open channels of intimacy with the Almighty by removing the blockages to that intimacy that our egos create. As we learn to put others first, honor them and care about them, as we become able to share their burdens and celebrate their joy, we open our souls to higher levels of communion with G-d. We express that communion in the Mitzvot we do and the Torah we study. This is the purpose of our lives.
Jewish abhorrence of slavery is also less about human rights, a universal concept, than it is about G-d's rights, a uniquely Jewish concept. So many of our people give so much of their energy to the rights of others; not only human rights but animal rights too. We also need to focus on G-d's rights: His rights to every molecule of our beings, every moment of our time, each thought of our minds and every bit of our lives. We need to study more of His Torah to know what it is that He expects of us and to liberate our minds from alien assumptions and the norms of other gods: "for the Benei Yisrael are not the servants of servants, we are the servants of Hashem."
