Questions tagged [slave-serve-eved-avadim]
Use for questions about the practice of slavery in Judaism, including when a person is considered a slave, the obligations of slaves and slave owners, and laws regarding the practice or regulation of slavery.
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Half Jew half Gentile
I always thought it was a misconception to be "half-Jewish". Usually the speaker means one of their parents are Jewish, making them either fully Jewish or fully Gentile.
However, I saw today that the ...
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Was Herod Jewish?
Slightly related.
This topic has been on my mind lately. According to Josephus, Herod's father Antipater was the son of Antipas, one of the Edomites converted by Yochanan Hyrcanus. I asked one of the ...
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Can a Gentile be an eved Hashem?
Shalom.
Some discussion of the concept of an eved Hashem can be found here:
https://www.shortvort.com/2618/
And here:
https://www.kby.org/english/torat-yavneh/view.asp?id=3684
My question is: Can a ...
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Why does Hizkiya say that old men are a burden while old women are an asset, and would this apply today?
The Gemara in Arakhin 19a quotes Hizkiya, who explains why the value of a man decreases more with age than a woman's value decreases:
אמר חזקיה אמרי אינשי סבא בביתא פאחא בביתא סבתא בביתא סימא בביתא
...
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Freeing a slave by kinyan
Gittin 39b tells the story of a slavewoman whose master attempted to free her by giving her his hat. But this wasn’t valid because it was HIS hat. For the transfer to be valid, the object would have ...
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Why were the Levi'im not enslaved?
Rashi on Shemot 5:4 says:
GO YE UNTO YOUR BURDENS — Go to your work which you have to do at home; but it cannot signify “go to your labours as slaves”, for he was speaking to Moses and Aaron who ...
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Source on the Abarbanel's stance on Slavery?
Per this answer, the Abarbanel agreed with natural slavery as a consequence of the curse on Canaan.
Ironically, according to historian David Brion Davis, Abarbanel played a pivotal role in providing ...
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What's the difference between a שִׁפְחָ֥ה and a אָמָ֖ה?
When Hagar flees before Ishmael is born, she is referred to as a שִׁפְחָ֥ה . When she and Ishmael are expelled together, she is a אָמָ֖ה.
What is the difference between these two kinds of female ...
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Ten Martyrs - Why would Binyamin be culpable?
There's the famous incident known as the Ten Martyrs (see here), where Ten famous Rabbis were killed (not in the same period) as an atonement for the Ten children of Yaakov selling Yosef.
The ten are ...
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Are we children or servants of HaShem?
HaShem teaches us to serve Him (Shemot 23:25), because we're His servants (Vayikra 25:42, 25:55), HaShem also teaches that we're His children (Devarim 14:1).
There is a long explanation about these ...
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Yosef sold into prostitution
I remember hearing of a source that states that Yosef was sold into prostitution, or some other form of sexual slavery, by his brothers, and not just plain slavery as is commonly assumed. Does such a ...
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Slavery, an apparent contradiction?
In the Exodus, G-d hears the suffering of Israel as follows:
“The Israelites were groaning under the bonding and cried out, and their cry for help from the bondage rose to G-d” (Exod 2:23); “I will ...
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Why did Sarai & Abram have the slave Hagar?
Why did Sarai & Abram have the Egyptian slave/servant girl (שִׁפְחָ֥ה) Hagar? Was it custom for newlywed Hebrew couples like them to have servants?
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Testimonies of "Not to turn over a slave who seeks refuge"
Deuteronomy.23.16 prescribes not to turn over a slave to his master. There's some Halachic discourse and the MT is very scarce adding that it only applies from abroad to Eretz Israel.
Are there any ...
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Which mitzvot are slaves who have been immersed obliged to follow?
R Steinsaltz notes in his explanation of a passage in Yevamot 45b
that a gentile slave purchased by a Jew must be circumcised and then
immersed in a ritual bath by being immersed for the sake of ...
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Why is a slave sold for six years?
Why is a slave sold for six years? He's being sold for stealing. So he should be sold for the amount of time it takes to make enough to pay back the stolen amount.
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Who would want to buy a Hebrew slave to equal him to his master?
We all know how benevolent our position to the Jewish slavery is (Rambam Avadim 1):
"כָּל עֶבֶד עִבְרִי אוֹ אָמָה הָעִבְרִיָּה חַיָּב הָאָדוֹן לְהַשְׁווֹתָן לוֹ בְּמַאֲכָל וּבְמַשְׁקֶה בִּכְסוּת ...
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Looking for a source on the city of Gilad
Some time ago I heard a Dvar Torah (which I brought here) by someone who stated, among other things, that the city of Gilad used to be, at least from the time of the sale of Yosef until it was ...
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Why would Sarah need to convince Hagar?
Asking for someone else. Rashi on the parsha, Beresheet 16:3, brings a midrash from Beresheet Rabbah 45:3 which says:
"And Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant (...
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Why didn't the Israelites fight against being enslaved?
In Parashat Shemot, the pasuk says
וַיֹּאמֶר, אֶל-עַמּוֹ: הִנֵּה, עַם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל--רַב וְעָצוּם, מִמֶּנּוּ
Pharaoh was, for whatever reason, worried that the Israelites had become more ...
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Source that we were enslaved in Egypt to bring national unity
I heard in a Shiur that the Medresh says that the reason we were enslaved in Egypt was to bring national unity. Does anyone know where the Medresh says that? Thanks.
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Why does the Torah write Vayikra 25:51 & 25:52?
Vayikra 25:50-52:
נ וְחִשַּׁב֙ עִם־קֹנֵ֔הוּ מִשְּׁנַת֙ הִמָּ֣כְרוֹ ל֔וֹ עַ֖ד שְׁנַ֣ת
הַיֹּבֵ֑ל וְהָיָ֞ה כֶּ֤סֶף מִמְכָּרוֹ֙ בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שָׁנִ֔ים כִּימֵ֥י
שָׂכִ֖יר יִהְיֶ֥ה עִמּֽוֹ׃ נא אִם־ע֥וֹד ...
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Why didn't Jewish slaves rebel against the Egyptians?
A number of traditional sources indicate that the population of Jews in Mitzrayim was burgeoning. Pharaoh himself was concerned about it, worrying that they would take over the land. Why didn't a ...
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Would Esther really have kept silent?
In Esther 7:4 we read
וְאִלּוּ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת נִמְכַּרְנוּ, הֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי--כִּי אֵין הַצָּר שֹׁוֶה, בְּנֵזֶק הַמֶּלֶךְ ...
... But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held ...
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At the time of the giving of the parshah of Nirtza (of avadim), was the avoda done by the Bchoros?
Or was it done by the kohanim at that time?
[The din of nirtza is briefly to make a hole in the ear of a slave who wants to continue serving his master, he becomes a slave until Yovel.]
The question ...
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Why did God want the Israelites to take riches from Egypt before the Exodus?
In parshat Bo, we read:
And the Lord said to Moses... Speak, please, in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and ...
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Were the "maidens" of Rebekah "schifchot" to Isaac or "pileg'shim" to Isaac?
Were all or one of the "maidens" of Rebekah "schifchot" to Isaac or "pileg'shim" to Isaac (regardless whether he consummated with them or not)? Why or why not?
The "...
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How to become a Canaanite slave
Rambam provides the different ways how a Jew could purchase a Canaanite slave.
He may be acquired through the transfer of money, the transfer of a deed of purchase, the manifestation of one's ...
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Had an unmarried Jewish woman ever owned a male slave, whom she acquired or asked to become her husband?
Had an unmarried Jewish woman ever owned a male slave, whom she acquired or asked to become her husband?
Was there ever any occurrence in the Tanach, Gemara, Mishna, Halacha, Aggadot, Midrashim, etc. ...
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A Jewish-slaves Mitzvahs obligations
What mitzvos is a Jewish slave (a Jew owned by a Jew mentioned Shemot 21,2) obligated in?
Is a Jewish slave obligated in time bound mitzvos?
or he obligated to the same mitzvos as a woman?
Sources ...
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The Ear That Heard "Don't Steal"
Rashi to Exodus 21:6 quotes the Mechilta which connects the drilling of the ear of the slave to hearing "don't steal" at Sinai. The obvious question asked by the Moshav Z'keinim (there) is that Rashi ...
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Ear Piercing of Jewish slave that wants to stay a slave a mum?
I heard in a daf yomi shiur (on kedushin 21b) that a koen can not want to stay a slave (one opinion says it is because he the Ear Piercing will make him have a mum
What Ear Piercing makes a mum?
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Does an ex-slave need to do Tshuva?
Rashi, on Shemot 21:6 that talks about an Eved-Ivri extending his servitude, writes:
What is the reason that the ear had to be pierced rather than any other limb of the servant’s body? Rabban ...
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Is a maidservant required to be 'moseret nefesh' for her master?
In Sefer Bereshit, 30:3-13 the maidservants of both Rochel and Leah are given to Yaacov in their stead to build Yaacov's house through bearing additional children. Since the text states that any ...
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Why is the name of Eliezer often missing?
Very often in the Torah Eliezer's proper name is omitted when he is discussed. Examples include the story of finding a wife for Yitzhak where he is referred to as eved or ish, his accompanying Avraham ...
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What happened to Noah's slaves?
According to such commentators or midrashim as say that Noah had slaves that joined him on the ark[1], what happened to them? That is: We hear a lot in the immediately succeeding chapters of Genesis (...
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Can one buy a slave nowadays?
Assuming that there's no legal issues (like the slave doesn't mind, or doesn't know that he can run away), can one buy a slave nowadays in America to have the laws of an Eved Kenaani?
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Why did G-d promise the former slaves to continue cultivating slavery?
This question is a different aspect of the previous question "why-parshas-mishpatim-begin-with-laws-of-slaves".
A man that is discharged from a prison promises to never get back. A nation that was ...
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Circumventing the conversion fuss by enslaving and freeing
Can a long path of the Orthodox conversion be circumvented by the following procedure*?
Enslaving a Gentile person by buying from him/herself
Dipping him/her in a Mikve before a Beis Din for the ...
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Why does the Mishneh Torah detail how to free a slave if it is forbidden?
Mishneh Torah Hilkhot Avadim 5:1-3 details how a Canaanite slave is freed (with money or a document). However, 9:6 states that one may not free a Canaanite slave (though if one does, the slave is free)...
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Do slaves owned by jews observe shabbat (day of rest)?
To my understanding it is a commandment of God that those who live among jews observe Shabbat. Historically, slaves owned by jews must have lived among them. Does Gods commandment apply to slaves, if ...
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Slavery in halacha today
Are all/any the halachos of slavery still in effect today? For example:
If a destitute Jewish person stole and did not have the money to repay, could a modern beis did sell him/her as a slave?
If a ...
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Can a slave say the Haggadah?
Throughout the Haggadah, we make reference to the fact that originally we were slaves, but now we are freed. To quote just a couple of them:
עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים...ואלו לא הוציא הקב״ה את אבותינו ...
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Do any poskim exempt 13-20-year-olds from Mussaf?
In Artscroll’s edition of Sefer HaChinuch (vol. 2, p. 303), they quote a discussion regarding whether women are exempt from davening Mussaf:
If women are obligated as men are in all the communal ...
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What happens if Hebrew Slave goes on strike?
@Joel's answer to my previous question "whats-so-slave-ish-in-the-hebrew-slave" showed a possible difference between a slave and an employee - the later can simply walk away.
That made me think: what ...
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Why does the torah on injured slaves call out eyes and teeth but not other damages?
In Parshat Mishpatim (Sh'mot 21:24-25) the torah tells us that if a man injuries another person he owes compensation: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, and so on (listing ...
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Hebrew slaves and Yovel - how does it starts and ends?
The Gemmorah links the Hebrew slavery to the [idea of] Yovel (Gitin 65, Kidushin 69, Erchin 29, Rambam Avadim 1, 10):
"אין אמה העבריה נוהגת ולא עבד עברי נוהג אלא בזמן שהיובל נוהג.
בין עבד עברי ...
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Why does God allow slavery?
How could a kind G-D allow his people to use slavery on their weaker contemporaries and neighbors and yet be so strict with other requirements?
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Why may a master torture his non-Jewish slave?
We’re commanded to be sensitive to a convert, as we know what it’s like to be in a foreign land (Shemos 23:9):
וְגֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם ...
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Unexpected Yovel (50th year) to free slaves?
Rambam Avadim 2:
"מְכָרוּהוּ בֵּית דִּין עוֹבֵד שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים ... אֲבָל אִם פָּגְעָה בּוֹ שְׁנַת יוֹבֵל אֲפִלּוּ נִמְכַּר שָׁנָה אַחַת לִפְנֵי הַיּוֹבֵל הֲרֵי זֶה יֵצֵא לְחֵרוּת :
If the court ...
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