Torah Talk From Converts: Mishpatim (Exodus 2:11–24:18) 2-19-17

Feb 19, 2017 http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=112841 Luke Ford talks to Leanne in the UK.
God is still talking to Moses as the portion begins, “And if you buy a Hebrew slave.”
When the Torah says, “If…”, it is usually not happy with your choice. As in, “If you lust for meat.”
The Torah is not outraged by slavery. It is outraged by Jews being slaves to goyim.
A Jew can become a slave if he is a pauper, a debtor or a criminal. This strikes me as a more moral system than allowing people to take welfare or declare bankruptcy or commit crimes without repayment.
A slave can always run away and he can’t be forcefully returned to his master, so you better treat your slaves well.
“Slave” is a problematic translation because the Hebrew word “eved” also means “servant” or “bondsman.” Moshe is described as an “eved” of God. Was Moshe God’s slave?
A lot of Jews are shocked when I point out that Judaism is a system of dual morality — there’s one morality for how you treat your fellow Jew and another morality for how you treat everyone else. WASPs, on the other hand, have a universal morality. There’s one moral standard for how you treat everyone. The first verse of this week’s Torah portion outlines the differences in how you treat a Hebrew slave vs a gentile slave.