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Let us learn a posuk with Rashi
Chapter 26 verse I
"You shall not make idols for yourselves, and you shall not erect for yourselves a
statue or a pillar,…
Rashi explains (based on the Gemara in kiddushin 20a): This verse is directed to the
one who has been sold as a slave to a non-Jew. He should not say the following:
Since my master practices sexual immorality, I will do the same. Since my master
worships idols, I will do the same. Since my master desecrates the shabbos, I will do
the same. That is why these verses have been stated."
Rashi is explaining why the Torah makes this point here. After all, the prohibitions
against idolatry, and desecrating the shabbos as well as the demand to have
reverence for the sanctuary have been stated in Vayyikra 19:4-13, and there does not
seem to be any reason to repeat these warnings here. It may be that the slave is
more prone to assume the habits of his master, but no one would assume that there
is a leniency because the Jew has become a slave to the non-Jewish master. If in
fact the slave does adopt the ways of his master, what point would there be in this
further warning.
Rashi has taught us that there is an intrinsic problem with slavery. In Shmot 211 5-6
the Torah describes the situation when a Hebrew slave decides to remain a slave: "If
the servant shall say, I love my master and my children, I shall not go free. Then the
master shall bring him to the judges and to the door or to the door post, and the
master shall bore through his ear with the awl and he shall serve him forever."
Rashi deals with the question of why the ear was chosen to indicate that the slave
had done something that the Torah does not approve of. He notes several points
made by Chazal.
"What is it about the ear that it should be bored? R Yochanan said: The ear that
heard at Sinai "you shall not steal" and did so nonetheless, let it be bored."
For R Yochanan a person who extends his period of slavery is taking a further stand
against the Torah. Somehow saying that stealing and its implications are not so bad.
Rashi continues: "What of the person who sold himself into slavery because of
poverty (our verse in Behar), why is his ear bored? The ear that heard "The people of
Yisrael are My slaves, and he went and acquired a new master, let it be bored".
Though the Torah permits you to enter the state of slavery to pay off a debt, the state
itself is corrupting. A slave easily develops the mentality the he is primarily connected
to his master and that he should emulate him in every way possible. For a Jew
committed to follow the Torah this might spell catastrophe. Still if his master is a
Jew, who fears G-d and keeps the Torah the damage is largely controlled. What of
the Jew who sold himself into slavery to a non-Jew who does not respect the values
and the directives of the Torah. A slave will naturally emulate the positions of the
master, and is always in danger of deviating from the Torah commands in order to emulate
the master. It is for this reason that the Torah warns the slave who has sold himself
to the non-Jew to protect himself from this syndrome.
Needless to say, we are all prone to imitate, emulate or copy the person or people
that we see as the "masters". It is important to choose carefully, and not
compromise the values of the Torah.
Gut shabbos
Rav Chaim Brovender
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