1. Let me recommend Isaac Breuer's article in Tsiyyunei Derekh on women,
slaves and Gentiles. Breuer stresses that after all apologetics are
exhausted, the Torah allocates enormous power to the people in control and
unless they act morally, a halakhic society will not be a decent one.
2. I believe that a case can be made that slavery is not the Torah's ideal
and that it is a concession to social limitations. This is not the place
for me to make it. A really painstaking reading of R. Kook, Iggeret 89,
can supply ammunition for both sides on this.
3. On sacrifices: R. Shubert Spero's recent article on The Halakhic Mind
(in BDD) contains a long footnote defending the view that korbanot are a
concession to the contemporary culture on Biblical grounds.
