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The Tenach teaches us that HaShem brought us (redeemed/set us free) from Egypt , out of the house of slavery. But in the Tenach (Vayikra 25:42,55 for example) it's also stated that we are still Avadim, but this time not to Pharaoh in Egypt, but to Him (HaShem).

But why are we still called Avadim? if we were released from being Avadim in Egypt?

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  • I found something interesting while studying: ' Why is it that the first of the Ten Commandments refers to HaShem as the redeemer from Egypt?' Ramban (Ex. 20:1) explains the reference to the Exodus and in my own words his opinion is that HaShem did not free us from slavery, rather, He redeemed us from Egyptian slavery so that we are now His servants.
    – Levi
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 14:20
  • But the question still remains, how can one be free and a eved at the same time?
    – Levi
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 14:49
  • @Levi Who said we are? You've asserted something without basis and asked a contradiction based on it.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 15:06
  • @ Double AA; explain yourself please, i think i don't quite understand what you mean. Isn't it so that HaShem calls us His Avadim? and Isn't it so that when the Israelites lived in Egypt they were called Avadim, the question I posted is why this is so, why does the word Avadim occurs in both occasions?
    – Levi
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 17:36
  • @Double AA: I also posted a comment on basis of certain verses that imply that HaShem bought us free: like Shemot 20:2, Devarim 7:8 and Michah 6:4 'For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage' but at the same time gave an answer to show it's possible that it isn't about freedom, but about a change of servitute.
    – Levi
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 17:42

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We are slaves to Hashem (G-d) in that we are obligated to keep His commandments, and we don't have a choice. We are not slaves to a human being, but to G-d.

'כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, עבדי הם' (ויקרא כ"ה, נה), ולא עבדים לעבדים

For the Children of Israel are slaves to Me, they are My slaves (Lev. 25:55), and not slaves to slaves (other human beings). (Kiddushin 22b).

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