INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA

PARASHOT BEHAR - BECHUKOTAI

The Crushing Labor that the Egyptians did to us

By Rabbi Yaakov Beasley

INTRODUCTION

Our double parasha, Behar-Bechukotai, begins with the laws of the shemitta year, the commandment, “When you come into the land which I am giving you, then shall the land shall keep a shabbat unto Hashem.” After the discussion of the laws of the seventh year, the Torah continues with the laws of the yovel year. Every 50 years, the Jewish people are required to refrain from agricultural work, like the shemitta year.  In addition, any ancestral lands that were sold to strangers during the previous half-century return to their original owners. After this legislation, the Torah naturally and immediately continues with the following declaration:

And in all the land of your possession, you shall grant a redemption for the land.   If thy brother be waxen poor and sells some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold. (vv. 24-25)

When we read the text closely, we note that parallel with the laws of the shemitta year and the yovel year, the Torah tracks the course of an individual who is slowly losing control of his financial destiny and health, prescribing the modes of assistance a Jew is required to offer to him (dependent on what level of help the person requires).

When prescribing that in the each Jew must return to his ancestral lands in the fiftieth year, the Torah highlights that when selling or buying these lands, the laws include the obligation of “Do not exploit one man his brother” (Vayikra 25:14). Despite the broad potential application of this law, it is clear from the context why the Torah specifically mentions it here.  In ancient times, a person would generally not sell his ancestral land unless he had fallen into dire straits. Otherwise, the act of giving up the family holdings was considered despicable, as seen in the story of King Achav and Navot (Melakhim 1 21).  Clearly, the person contemplating such an act was in tremendous financial difficulty, and was especially vulnerable to exploitation. To demonstrate its concern, the Torah first mentions that even when the land is sold, the landowner is not really selling his land, but only the years of crops until the next yovel.  Therefore, the sale price must be for the number of “crop-years” being sold.  Continuing this emphasis on the importance of fair dealing in business,  the Torah repeats, “A man may not exploit his fellow,” and continues that instead, a person must fear God, “for I, Hashem, am your God” (v. 17).   

As a guarantee that Hashem will reward fairness, the Torah explicitly states that fulfillment of these laws will leads to blessings upon the land and the people dwelling securely upon it (vv. 18-19).  Additionally, the Torah assures the seller that at any time that he acquires the means to do so, he maintains the right to redeem the sold property for its fair value. If not, then the Torah demands that his relatives redeem the property on his behalf. If the land remains unredeemed by the yovel, then the land reverts to the seller or his heirs.

Having discussed the laws of the poor man who was forced to sell his ancestral lands, the Torah continues with the obligation incumbent upon all Jews to support one another when in economic distress: “When your kinsman sinks low and his hand stumbles beside you…”( v. 35). The comment of the midrash here is enlightening. According to the Sifra, this verse refers to one who has not yet fallen, perhaps has not yet sold his land; but immediate action is required to prevent him from falling further. The Sifra compares this to a large burden on a donkey that has become unbalanced and is crushing the animal. Before the donkey collapses, one person could rearrange the burden by himself, so that the donkey can continue to stand. Once the donkey has collapsed, however, five men may not be able to raise it.

CRUSHING LABOR

The Torah continues with the responsibility that a Jew has to ensure the financial and economic well-being of his fellow Jew – especially for a person whose situation is tenuous and is vulnerable to exploitation. From here until the end of the chapter, a significant word that we thought we had left behind in Egypt reappears. That word - perekh - appears three times in our chapter (v. 43, 46, 53):

43 You shall not rule over him with perekh; but shall fear your God.

46 And you may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession: of them may you take your bondmen for ever; but over your brethren the children of Israel you shall not rule one over another with perekh.

53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him; he shall not rule with perekh over him in your sight.

The word perekh appears other times in the Tanakh – twice in Sefer Shemot (1:13, 14), describing the cruel treatment of the Jews at the hands of the Egyptians, and once in Sefer Yechekzel, referring to the inhumane treatment that the leaders (“shepherds”) of the people meted out to their charges (34:4).  Here, the word perekh describes an aspect of a master’s treatment of an indentured Jew. The Sifra interprets the word as unnecessary work that a master gives his slave. A master gives such work solely to demonstrate his privileged position and to keep the slave occupied. However, this interpretation does not at fit the context of Sefer Shemot, nor the final attestation of the word in Yechezkel 34. (Midrashim that interpret the Egyptian slavery as consisting of building cities along seismic fault lines, where they would collapse with onslaught of an earthquake, do follow this interpretation.)

The most widely accepted translation has been in accordance with the Targumim Onqelos and Yonatan, “harshly.”  According to this translation, the citation from Sefer Shemot reads, “They embittered their lives with hard work, with mortar and bricks and with all types of labor in the field” (1:14).  On Shemot 1:13, Rashi, Rashbam, and others explain it as “work that breaks the body.”  In our parasha, the pashtanim translate the word in accordance with this meaning from Shemot (see the Targumim and Ibn Ezra). 

However, the translation as “crushing labor” or “rigor” does not fit in the second appearance of the word.  The section reads as follows:

44 And as for your bondmen and your bondmaids, whom you may have, of the nations that are round about you, of them shall you buy bondmen and bondmaids.

45 Moreover, of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them may you buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land; and they may be your possession.

46 And you may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession: of them may you take your bondmen forever; but over your brethren the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with perekh.

The first two and a half of these verses speak about the purchase of non-Jews as slaves and their being part of one’s inheritable estate. In the final half verse (46b), the subject is a Jew. If perekh means anything like “back-breaking labor,” the verse lacks coherence – why abruptly change the subject?

A NEW MEANING – AN OLD MESSAGE

Based on recent work on ancient Near Eastern languages, we can suggest another meaning for the word perekh.  Scholars suggests that the word perekh is the Hebrew equivalent of the Akkadian pirku, a legal term that has the meaning of “unjust demands” associated with “extended forced labor” as applied to non-slaves. In effect, the word referred to transforming free men into a category akin to slaves. This term was never used for actual slaves, since it had no meaning in that context. The pirku translation fits the context in Shemot, where the previously free Jewish people slowly lose their rights under the new decrees of Pharaoh.  It also fits the context in Sefer Yechezkel, where the leaders took advantage of their people to enslave them.   

In our parasha, understanding perekh as pirku helps us identify an envelope what begun in verse 39 with the discussion of a Jew forced into indentured servitude.  In verse 43, perekh continues and complements verse 42. After the statement that “a Jew cannot be sold to you as a slave,” verse 43 adds “you shall not rule him be-perekh,” which unofficially would transform him into a slave. Verse 46 concludes the envelope.  In contrast to non-Jews, just as you may not work a Jew as a slave, you may not work him as an “unofficial slave.” The juxtaposition of the two parts of verse 46 is understandable; you may have non-Jewish slaves (“them you may work in an ongoing manner”), but not such from your brethren. Consistent with the humane laws in of Parashat Mishpatim that sharply limited a master’s harsh treatment of his non-Jewish slave, our verse does not contain any implication whatsoever that the non-Jewish slave may be worked with body-breaking labor.