Torah.org Rabbi Wein - Awl in for Freedom
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Rabbi Wein
By Rabbi Berel Wein
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Parshas
Mishpatim
Awl in for
Freedom
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The Torah prescribes
that a Jewish servant who wishes to remain permanently in servitude – he
loves his master’s home and his family – is given a permanent mark, a hole
in his ear, as an everlasting reminder of his choice. Rashi explains, based
on the Talmud, that the ear that heard on Sinai that the Jewish people are
God’s servants and not to be servants to other humans is to be drilled with
an awl as a stark reminder of his poor choice in life.
The Talmud taught us
that a truly free person is someone whose guide in life is Torah. The
choice of servitude over freedom is anti-Jewish and anti-Torah in its very
makeup. In the ancient world and even in later times, slaves were branded
so that all could see that they were the chattel of their owner.
The Torah’s
instruction to bore a hole in the ear of the Jewish servant was to remind
everyone of just the opposite idea. That this slave belonged to no other
human but rather was to be a servant of God – that was the message of the
drilled ear. Freedom and independence mean that we bow to no one but to our
Creator alone.
Having other masters
in life is a rejection of the Jewish mission and Judaism’s true
understanding of life’s purpose. Jews have often in our long history been
made to serve in involuntary servitude and slavery. But voluntarily giving
up one’s freedom of action and behavior is abhorrent to Jewish ideals and
tradition.
The ancient world, as
well as much of the later worlds, was built upon the institution of
slavery, forced labor and involuntary servitude. In our time governments
that preached equality and nobility enslaved others simply because they
suspected them of having different ideas.
The mocking slogan at
the entrance to Auschwitz “Work makes one free” symbolized the ultimate
form of slavery and murder. The Gulag was the place where millions
succumbed doing useless work. The great White Sea Canal of Stalin was
literally a canal that led to nowhere while myriads of people died in the
process of building it, often only with their bare hands.
The Jewish people
were coming forth from Egypt after centuries of slavery. One would have
thought that having themselves experienced that type of servitude they
would not wish to inflict it upon others. However Midrash teaches us that
even in Egypt there were Jews who somehow owned other Jews as slaves. It
would take millennia for Jews to be completely weaned from the practice of
slavery.
Such is the dark side
of human nature and behavior. But the process of drilling the ear of one
who wishes to remain a permanent slave reminds the Jewish society of the
inherent wrong in the deprivation of people’s freedom. Only God has the
right to ask us to be His servants. And those who truly serve God have no
interest in depriving others of their freedom. The message of freedom that
was heard on Sinai should reverberate in all of our ears constantly.
Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
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Rabbi Wein © 2022 by
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