Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

103
Mishpatim
Are You Listening?
Rav Daniel Hartstein
I n the beginning of our parsha (21:5-6) the Torah speaks of a Jewish slave who
does not want to leave his master after six years of working for him. The Torah allows
him to stay with his master for longer than the six years as long as the Beis Din pierces
his ear. There is significant information as to who this slave was. Our Rabbis teach us
that the slave under discussion was a thief and unable to repay what he had stolen, so
the Beis Din sentenced him to become a slave in order to make restitution.
Rashi (21:6) questions the selection of the ear as the organ to be pierced in lieu of
other body parts that the Torah could have chosen. Chazal explain that since the ear
heard at Har Sinai ‘Do not steal’ and the person nevertheless stole, it is precisely the
ear that should be pieced.
Why should the ear be ‘punished‘ in this instance and not the legs which ran to commit
the crime? What is the lesson the Torah is teaching us by using the ear? Furthermore,
why is the slave pierced only after he decides he wants to stay with his master and not
when he commits his transgression six years earlier? Has he not done teshuva for his
actions year earlier?
The Talmud in Kiddushin 20-b (also quoted in Rashi, 21:6) provides another
explanation of why we pierce the slave’s ear. The Talmud elaborates that the slave who
heard at Har Sinai that we are only servants to Hashem and not to anyone else should
not want to stay a slave when he is given the choice to leave his physical master. Again
we must ask why this act of defiance warrants such a harsh reminder whereas we do