"ורצע אדניו את אזנו במרצע ועבדו לעלם"
“And his master shall bore his ear with an awl, and he shall serve forever.”
Any part of the body could have been pierced, so why was the ear the chosen part? Because on Har Sinai God said, "Thou shalt not steal", yet the person stole - didn't listen to the word of God. Another answer is that on Har Sinai we were told to have HaShem as our master, yet the slave took on a different master.
With all these answers in mind, one would think that as soon as the sale doesn't follow one of the rules they should have their ear pierced. Yet, only after six years of being a slave to a particular owner, the slave is then obligated to pierce his ear.
Why do we delay piercing the slaves ear until hen decides to stay on as a slave, instead of immediately when he is sold or sells himself as a slave?
In an article on reishit.org, Rabbi Dov Lipman talks about how we are supposed to treat a slave, and why we only pierce his ear after six years of serving his master.
ReplyDeleteA Jew only becomes a slave if he has stolen something and cannot pay it back. In order to repay his debt, he has to be a slave. Rav Hirsch explains that his master is supposed to treat him well, give him shelter, food...etc. this teaches us about the value of the rights of man.
If the save wishes to stay with his master, even after he's served enough time, his ear must be pierced on the door. This goes against what we just said about treating the slave like a real person!
Rav Hirsch says that we specifically have to pierce the ear on a door, not a doorpost. The doorpost is the symbol of an independent home (that's why BY put blood on the door posts in Egypt), while the door just symbolizes the entrance and exit that belong to a home, but not the home itself. Rav Hirsch therefore explains that when a slave wants to continue serving his master because it's a stable place for him and his family, he gives up his freedom for the comfort of belonging to someone, and becomes someone who doesn't hear God when it comes to freedom and independence. His ear is therefore pierced on a door, which is in the presence of a doorpost, and that symbolizes that he belongs to someone and has no independence.
RZP, chana Kolber and I learned that the punishment is that the slave doesn't recognize his punishment as a punishment and the purpose was to rehabilitate him so he can go back into society. However, by remaining as a slave, he is saying he does not want to be rehabilited and be a productive member of society. The reason why the Torah doesn't give this punish to them originally after he steals is because this punishment is more for somebody who made a mistake and was punished, that punishment didn't have a desired impact, therefore this is the reminder of what they did was not right and that the position they put themselves in was not ideal
ReplyDeleteAccording to etzion.org.il it's because we be the slave takes it upon himself to choose the righteous path and give in to his servitude, which is when he is completely accepting the word of hashem which he had previously ignored.
ReplyDelete-Hannah