12
votes
Were slave-related commandments observed in America?
A friend and I were recently at the Princeton Art Museum, which contained a text from the Caribbean with a blessing on circumcising one's slaves:
- 129
11
votes
Accepted
Did the rights of a Jewish slave owner include having sex with his female slaves?
The master of a female Hebrew slave has the option to marry her either to himself or to his son (with her consent). If he (or his son) does marry her, it is not his right, but in fact his obligation ...
- 24k
10
votes
Accepted
What would a slave say in the birchot hashachar?
The Beit Yosef (OC 46) writes (quoting Sefer Abudirham):
השבוי מברך שלא עשאני עבד שלא תקנו ברכה זו מפני העבדות עצמה, אלא מפני שאין העבד חייב במצות כישראל ואינו ראוי לבא בקהל ופסול לכמה דברים.
...
- 97.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Yosef sold into prostitution
The Jewish Virtual Library on Homosexuality states that
the Talmud records that the Egyptian Potiphar purchased Joseph "for
himself " (Sotah 13b), that is, for homosexual purposes (Rashi).
...
- 42.9k
9
votes
Why does Parshas Mishpatim begin with laws of slaves?
I thought of two possible answers, and am happy to see that they are both supported by Mefarshim here:
Because we were just released from being slaves in Egypt:
התחיל המשפט הראשון בעבד עברי, מפני ...
- 20.9k
8
votes
Were slave-related commandments observed in America?
I'm going to put some more information out there in addition to @Jeffery Mensch's above. Here's the picture again:
Slaves were kept in the Caribbean by Jews and according to some estimates, Jews ...
- 211
8
votes
Accepted
Do any poskim exempt 13-20-year-olds from Mussaf?
R. Baruch HaLevi Epstein in Torah Temimah to Shemot 30 footnote 22 writes that according to the opinion which you cited that would exempt women from tefilat musaf (which he attributes to Besamim Rosh ...
- 41.8k
7
votes
Yosef sold into prostitution
Not that they sold him into the sex trade, but that they thought that is where he ended up due to his beauty. See Bereishis Rabba 91 6 here, when the brothers came to Mitzraim for food, they were also ...
- 33.4k
7
votes
Freeing Non-Jewish Slave
It is a ‘prohibition’ derived from the positive command implied by Vayikra 25:46:
לעולם בהם תעבדו
For all time shall you treat them as slaves
See Sefer HaChinuch 347 for details.
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7
votes
Accepted
Why does the Mishneh Torah detail how to free a slave if it is forbidden?
The Rambam himself, in the same law (9:6), says that it's permitted to free a slave for the purpose of fulfilling a commandment. Since there are cases that freeing a slave is permitted, the ...
- 24k
6
votes
Why were the Levi'im not enslaved?
From Tiferes Yonasan,(pg 85)
Rav Yehonasan Eibschutz writes that Pharaoh freed shevet Levi from slavery so that they would not identify with the suffering of the rest of the Jews. He saw through ...
- 583
6
votes
Which mitzvot are slaves who have been immersed obliged to follow?
The general rule is, as cited in the Gemara (Chagiga 4a) that the obligations of a slave are equivalent to those of a women.
כׇּל מִצְוָה שֶׁהָאִשָּׁה חַיֶּיבֶת בָּהּ עֶבֶד חַיָּיב בָּהּ כׇּל
מִצְוָה ...
- 7,935
5
votes
Accepted
Why does the torah on injured slaves call out eyes and teeth but not other damages?
Rambam (based on Kiddushin 25a) writes (Avadim 5:4 (English)):
כיצד בראשי אברים: המכה את עבדו בכוונה, וחיסרו אחד מעשרים וארבעה אברים שאינן חוזרין--יצא לחירות, וצריך גט שיחרור. אם כן למה לא נאמר ...
- 97.4k
5
votes
Accepted
In the story about Eliezer searching for a wife for Yitzchak, why does the Torah alternate terminology about him between "slave" and "man"?
I think that you will see that the reference to Ish occurs when he appears as the leader of a major caravan with 10 camels, showing wealth and needing to impress Rivkah's parents and brother with his ...
- 42.9k
5
votes
The suffering servant? Yeshayahu- Isaiah - Chapter 53
The nation of Israel.
http://outreachjudaism.org/gods-suffering-servant-isaiah-53/
As per that website, that has been the position of Jews for a long time
Origen, a prominent and influential ...
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5
votes
Had an unmarried Jewish woman ever owned a male slave, whom she acquired or asked to become her husband?
Example in Tanach of woman marrying a slave:[Divrei Hayomim 1, 2,35]-
וַיִּתֵּן שֵׁשָׁן אֶת-בִּתּוֹ לְיַרְחָע עַבְדּוֹ, לְאִשָּׁה; וַתֵּלֶד לוֹ, אֶת-עַתָּי - So Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Do slaves owned by jews observe shabbat (day of rest)?
A Canaanite slave (who's mother is Canaanite and father is foreign) is obligated in all negative Mitzvot which includes keeping Shabbos just like a Jewish woman (and some positive Mitzvot including ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Testimonies of "Not to turn over a slave who seeks refuge"
There's one case brought in Gittin 45a:
The Gemara relates: There was a certain slave who fled from his master from outside of Eretz Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael. His master followed him to Eretz Yisrael ...
- 24.9k
4
votes
What's the essence of the root עבד
I believe you are correct. R' SS Hirsh explain (Parshas Yisro) that the difference between "Melocha" and "Avoda" is that Melocha means intentional, purposeful, creative work and not physical toil. ...
- 947
4
votes
Accepted
Why is a slave sold for six years?
1. Why is a slave sold for six years?
Because the Torah decided so. Maybe because 6 years is a full cycle - as we see that the agricultural cycle is 6 years and in the 7th year everything stops for a ...
- 42.8k
4
votes
Are there examples of Hebrew Slaves in the Gemmorah?
No, there are not. Yovel had ceased to be operative centuries earlier and the rules of Jewish slaves became inoperative with it (Rambam, Avadim 1:10).
The institution of a Hebrew maid-servant and ...
- 97.4k
4
votes
Why were the Levi'im not enslaved?
Just as the Egyptians freed their clergy from the taxes that Yoseph set up, so to the Leviim were in effect the clergy of the Bnai Yisrael. As a result, the Egyptians treated them the same way as they ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
why is a half `Eved` not freed automatically
In the first case, the 2nd master has done nothing wrong - he owns half a slave and continues to own him.
We force him to free the slave (against an IOU for half his value) so that the half-slave can ...
- 42.8k
3
votes
Why does the torah on injured slaves call out eyes and teeth but not other damages?
The Tora is interpreted by hermeneutic rules,one of them is Ribuy Umyut.
Here, you have a typical example. See Kiddushin 24b. 13 Midot are not a technical-formal method of lecture, but a way to ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Is Esther's comment in Esther 7:4 a reference to one of the curses in Devarim 28:68?
In addition to what @Isaac Moses says above, the Midrash Esther Rabbah, Petihta Guimel also brings:
ר' יצחק אמר: לעבדים ולשפחות אי אתם נקנין, אבל אתם נקנין להשמיד להרוג
ולאבד, שכן אסתר אומרת ...
- 6,874
3
votes
Yosef sold into prostitution
Perhaps what you are referring to may emanate from Daat Zkenim on Genesis 39:19? (excerpt):
כדברים האלה וגו.
פירש"י בשעת תשמיש
אמר' לו כן. ותימה להרב משה דבמס' סוטה פריך כתיב פוטיפר וכתיב ...
- 70.1k
3
votes
When does an Eved Knani become bar mitzvah?
Yes of course. the Chiuv mitsvot (duty, legislative responsibility) follows the happening of the daat (faculty of judgment). And the daat is linked with maturity (a step in psycho-physiological ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Ear Piercing of Jewish slave that wants to stay a slave a mum?
Mishna & Gemara
Bechorot 37b.
[1] [משנה בדף ל"ז עמוד א': מתני' על אלו מומין שוחטין את הבכור נפגמה אזנו מן הסחוס אבל לא העור[2] נסדקה אעפ''י שלא חסרה ניקבה מלא כרשינה או שיבשה ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
What was the justification for selling Joseph into slavery?
Think about the past few generations in the family: Ishmael misbehaves so he gets kicked out of Judaism; Esau misbehaves so he gets kicked out; and now Joseph is telling dad all sorts of stories about ...
- 131k
3
votes
What happened to Noah's slaves?
Og was Noachs slave Pirkei derav Eliezer 23:
וישאר אך נח ואשר אתו בתבה וחוץ מעוג מלך הבשן שישב לו עץ אחד מן הסולמות של התיבה ונשבע לנח ולבניו שיהיה להם עבד עולם
The only other other survivors of ...
- 11.4k
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