Dear Shalom,
I wanted to share my handout/notes from a talk I gave for the Women's
Institute of Torah on this topic several years ago. Here is the link for
anyone interested:
[
tinyurl.com]
While this is a Word document, it was done in Inspiration in a flowchart
style, with a true outline on the bottom. You'll probably need to zoom to
150-200% to see some of the text on the flowchart.
In a nutshell, after going through all the mekorot, it appears that Eved
K'naani is a halfway point between gentile and Jew, and one which the
Rambam calls "Nachalat Hashem" (Hilchot Rotzeach Chap 2). This is made
clear from the unique placement of Hilchot Avadim in the Shulchan Aruch
(bet. Hilchot Mila and Hilchot Geirim) When you get right down to it, a
master had to treat his Eved K'naani with the greatest of respect (see
Rambam Hil Avadim, end).
Any questions on the mekorot, etc, please email me and I'll try to help.
Kol tuv,
Shlomo
Shlomo Horwitz
Director, Jewish Crossroads
[
www.jewishcrossroads.org]