Shabbat Parashat Tetzaveh 5783

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat Mishpatim and the Basic Law of a Person’s Dignity and Freedom – part III

[We have seen in the last weeks how the Jewish judicial system is inseparable from the giving of the Torah at Sinai and that we can learn about the critical importance of freedom from the limits on slavery.]

We can learn from the laws of servants about other elements of financial halacha:

One of the undisputed rules of employer-employee relationships is that a worker is allowed to quit even in the middle of the day (Bava Kama 116b). The reason for this halacha is that a worker must remain a free man, and if he cannot quit, he is like a slave. There must be a limit to the employer’s power. (Do not be concerned, the Torah protects the rights of employers as well, although we cannot go into that now.)

When a man marries a woman, he obligates himself to take care of the needs of his wife, including, of course, the food and clothes she needs. (The fact that so many women in our days have accepted upon themselves to support their husbands while they are learning Torah proves that they are righteous and brave, and they deserve the greatest appreciation.) The Rishonim disagree about the limits of this obligation. If the husband is unable to raise the funds needed as an independent, is he required to be employed by another? The opinion that he does not have to is because his obligation, while being personal, should not force him to be subservient to someone else. Tosafot (Ketubot 63a) tries to learn from the language of the ketuba, where the chatan commits to “work,” and deflects the proof that maybe it is referring to working a field as an independent. The commentary of the authors of Tosafot (to Shemot 18:12) added that according to the opinion they need not be employed, forcing employment could be a violation of “’They are My servants’ – and not servants to servants.”

Allow us one more introduction. The Rabbis have always spoken out against physical connections with girls and young women, even around the institution of marriage. We will demonstrate it with the help of a special decision which was arrived at unanimously in 5710 (1950) by the Chief Rabbis and the members of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate and accepted by all the rabbis of Israel. It became strictly forbidden to marry girls before they are old enough. The Knesset then legislated this as law. This too is an example of preserving a person’s freedom and dignity.

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