While Avi Billet's point about the multiplicity of difficult topics is
well-taken, I'm surprised at his reduction of eved kena'ani to "no
different than a live-in butler." Mishna Bava Kama 8:5 gives owners a
blank check for everything short of amputation, and even though the Rambam
(Avadim 9:8) invokes a "midat chasidut" to be nice to an eved kena'ani,
he starts off that halakha by ruling that an eved kena'ani can be treated
as the Egyptians treated their Hebrew slaves: perekh. We do ourselves a
disservice by prettying up these topics. Trust me, a five-minute Internet
search will give students all the ammunition they need to demolish such
arguments.
What we can and must do is recognize that the Torah was given to a certain
generation, and many mitzvot relate to how rather than what. No one is
obligated to buy an eved kena'ani or to become jealous of his wife any
more than he must eat every kosher bird (Devarim 14:11); however, we do
have mitzvot that tell us how to deal with these cases. Why do we gnash
our teeth about all the sexual death penalties when it is the Torah itself
that limits capital punishment to cases with double-eyewitness testimony
(Devarim 17:6)?
Every topic must be approached from the perspective of the world in which
benei Yisra'el lived at the time of Mattan Torah as well as the rest of
the Torah itself. I think that this is the true spirit of the Rambam
quoted by Dr. Bailey, and this is how I have taught that section of Moreh
Nevukhim.
Kol tuv,
Rav Yossie Bloch
