Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 1 (Tora) -- Part: 1 (Positive) -- Command: 232 -- Text
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The Sharia of Moses in the TORA
Part 1 - The 248 Positive Commandments of the Tora
232 - THE LAW OF A HEBREW BONDMAN
The status of a Hebrew bondman was like that of a laborer, hired for a certain period of time. The sages say: “A Hebrew bondman must not wash the feet of his master, nor put his shoes on him, nor carry his things before him when going to the bath-house, nor support him by the hips when ascending steps, nor carry him in al litter or a chair or a sedan chair as slaves do.”* It was these and other similar limitations imposed upon a master in regard to his Hebrew bondman that led the sages to observe, “Buying a Hebrew slave is like buying a master for oneself.”**
** Kid. 22a