Mishpotim and Slavery / משפּטים און שקלאַפֿערײַ

This is a weekly series of parsha dvarim written by a frum, atheist, transsexual anarchist. It's crucial in these times that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns Judaism. Our texts are rich—sometimes opaque, but absolutely teeming with wisdom and fierce debate. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance. I aim to offer comment which is true to the source material (i.e. doesn't invert or invent meaning to make us more comfortable) and uses Torah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

Content note: slavery, genocide in Palestine

Now is a time for us to practice resilience.

The fight against fascism is a war, not a single battle. Do you know what we're fighting for? Turn abstract concepts like "liberation" and "solidarity" into tangible things you can hold, and then give them away.

This week's parsha has given me more anguish than usual. It begins with mishpotim (laws) on how the Jews should treat slaves. This would be disturbing in any context, but is especially offensive because we are in the Book of Shemoys. We have just spent many hours reading so much ink spilled on the story of how the Jews escaped slavery. Is Torah a slavery-apologetic text, telling us that slavery is fine as long as it's done by us and we follow the rules?

There are several sections of the parsha that leftists usually point to. Women are specifically named as the potential victims of crime and Torah demands restitution and accountability. Furthermore, we seed the foundation of the Jewish approach to reproductive rights and is sometimes called "Repro Shabbat". Community is strengthened through the commandment to help your enemy should his ox wander loose or collapse under its burden. We are introduced to Shmita, the requirement to rest of the land and the free the it's-totally-fine-we-have-slaves slaves every seven years. There are a lot of wonderful things in this text about building a just society, but I don't believe we can simply pluck them out of their context and self-congratulate. These mishtopim sit alongside less inspiring ones like kashrus, and much darker ones like the death penalty for insulting your parents and the finer points of when you're allowed to kill your slaves.

Arguably the strongest commandment, the one that's hammered in over and over again throughout our texts and rituals and yom toyvim, is "remember". Remember when we were slaves in Mitsrayim. Remember when Hashem brought us out of bondage. Did we forget? Worse, do we imagine that slavery is only bad when it happens to us? Have we exceptionalized ourselves so much?

It's clear from the war in Palestine that the answer is yes. Slavery is bad when it happens to us—but with just a few parameters from Hashem, we can be righteous slave owners and righteous killers. "Never again" is reserved for Jews.