Behar: The Torah’s Double Standard for Slave Labor

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Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 5/7/26 titled: Behar: The Torah’s Double Standard for Slave Labor. In this article (first published in 2024), we examine three approaches to understanding why the Torah forbids us to work a Jewish slave with oppressive labor but permits it for a non-Jewish slave.

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This week’s content is sponsored by Benjy Weiss, currently a student at Yeshivat Migdal HaTorah. The vast majority of my talmidim over the past six years learned at Migdal, and the rabbeim there clearly do an excellent job fostering their development. Migdal promotes the same approach to Torah study that my own rabbeim have bequeathed to me: asking questions and pursuing answers that make sense. If you’ve gained from my shiurim these past six years, you’ve also benefited from Migdal, consider making a contribution: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/benjy-weiss

The Torah content for the month of Iyyar is sponsored by Naomi Schwartz Rothschild in memory of her mother, Breindel Bracha bas Mordechai z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on the 8th of Iyyar. She learned and lived Torah, and was a tremendous baalas chesed.

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