Torah Thought – Parshas Mishpatim
Freedom, Slavery, and Choosing Your Master
Parshas Mishpatim is not an easy parshah to get “inspired” from at first glance. It’s filled with legal details—damages, watchmen, liabilities, loans, injuries. Very technical. Very procedural. Some of the laws don’t even apply today in their literal form.
And yet, as the Rebbe consistently shows, beneath the legal surface lies a powerful spiritual blueprint.
The parshah opens with something especially striking:
“When you acquire a Hebrew slave…”
Slavery? That’s our opening topic?
Let’s understand what’s going on—and then see what it means for us.
The Hebrew Slave: Two Paths
There were two ways a Jew could become an Eved Ivri (Hebrew slave):
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He stole and couldn’t repay.
Beit Din (the court) would sell him so that his labor would compensate the victim. -
He was destitute.
He sold himself in order to survive.
In both cases, the Torah limits the term:
Six years he shall work, and in the seventh he goes free.
Already we see something remarkable. The Torah does not create permanent Jewish slavery. There is a built-in redemption.
The Pierced Ear – But Why Wait?
If, after six years, the slave says:
“I love my master, my wife, and my children—I do not wish to go free,”
then the Torah commands that his ear be pierced by the doorpost, and he remains until the Jubilee year.
Rashi asks:
Why the ear?
Because that ear heard at Sinai:
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“You shall not steal.”
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“For the Children of Israel are My servants.”
And yet he went and accepted another master.
But this raises several powerful questions:
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If he stole, why don’t we pierce his ear immediately?
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If he sold himself, why wait six years?
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Why not pierce the ear of anyone who violates the Torah?
The Rebbe explains something deeply compassionate.
When someone steals, we don’t automatically know why. Maybe he was desperate. Maybe he was hungry. Maybe he felt he had no choice. The verse in Mishlei says we don’t disgrace a thief who steals to satisfy his hunger.
Likewise, someone who sells himself—perhaps he was crushed by poverty. It’s not natural for a person to want to be controlled. If he did it, perhaps he felt trapped.
So the Torah does not brand him at the beginning.
But after six years, when the Torah says:
You may go free.
Now he has a choice.
If he still says, “I don’t want freedom,” now we see something deeper. Now we see that this isn’t just desperation. Now it’s preference. He has become comfortable with servitude.
That’s when the ear is pierced.
Not for the original act alone—but because he chooses continued enslavement.
The Doorpost – A Reminder of Egypt
The piercing happens at the doorpost.
That doorpost recalls the blood placed on the doors in Egypt at the time of the Exodus.
That doorpost symbolizes freedom.
You were redeemed from slavery once before.
And now you’re choosing it again?
That’s why the piercing happens there.
Slavery Today – A Different Kind
We don’t have Hebrew slaves today.
But we do have something else.
We have jobs.
Deadlines.
Financial pressure.
Phones.
News cycles.
Endless notifications.
Six days we work.
And sometimes, we don’t just work—we become owned by our work.
The Torah says:
Six years you may work.
But the seventh—go free.
Shabbat is our emancipation.
On Shabbat:
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No phone.
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No business.
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No transactions.
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No chasing.
You disconnect—and suddenly you breathe.
If someone says, “I can’t stop. I can’t shut it off. I can’t take a day,” that’s when the Torah is whispering:
Who is your master?
The Illusion of Necessity
Many immigrants to America faced this test brutally. If they didn’t work on Shabbat, they lost their jobs.
And yet there were Jews who refused. And somehow, they survived.
There’s even the well-known story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Those who didn’t come in on Shabbat were saved.
The expression became real:
“More than the Jews kept Shabbat, Shabbat kept the Jews.”
The ear that heard at Sinai must remember:
Parnassah (livelihood) comes from Hashem—not from violating His day.
Two Ways to Work
The Rebbe teaches that work itself is not the problem.
There are two ways to work:
1. Work as your master.
You live to work.
You define yourself by it.
It consumes you.
2. Work as your tool.
You work in order to:
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Support your family.
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Give tzedakah.
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Learn Torah.
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Build a Jewish home.
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Serve Hashem.
Externally, two people may earn the same living.
Internally, one is enslaved.
The other is free.
The Real Free Person
Pirkei Avot says:
“There is no free person except one who engages in Torah.”
That sounds paradoxical. Torah has commandments, obligations, discipline.
But the Mishnah is telling us:
Freedom is not doing whatever you want.
Freedom is choosing your higher purpose.
Angels serve Hashem automatically. They have no choice.
Human beings are greater—because we choose.
We can choose to serve:
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Money.
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Status.
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Pressure.
Or we can choose to serve Hashem.
That choice—that conscious alignment—is freedom.
The Message of Mishpatim
Parshas Mishpatim begins with slavery to teach us about freedom.
Six days you may work.
But don’t forget:
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You are not owned by your job.
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You are not owned by your schedule.
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You are not owned by your phone.
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You are not owned by financial anxiety.
You are Hashem’s servant.
And when you live that way—when Shabbat is sacred, when Torah defines your priorities, when work becomes a means instead of a master—then even during the six working days, you are no longer a slave.
You are free.