A few good points, but some very disturbing ones as well.
First off, can we please find a different translation for eved than "slave?" "Slave," particularly in American culture, has a connotation completely different than the eved concept.
The mini-drasha on the word "ivri" falls apart far too quickly. Avraham avinu was called ivri, as are all b'nei yisrael. Is there any source for the idea that forcing an eved ivri to marry a shifcha c'na'anit is to cause the household to look down on him? This seems to completely counteract the previous concept, that we're trying to teach him dignity.
Finally, the closing paragraph is completely disingenuous. If "the appearance of new fraud cases every day is the clearest proof of the failure of the secular penal system," then what does our current rash of scandals say about the effectiveness of the Torah system?
There definitely is food for thought, however, in considering what kind of penal system the Torah prescribes. IIRC, R' Hirsch has an entire writeup on how depriving an individual of his liberty through incarceration is completely anathema to the Torah worldview.
A few good points, but some very disturbing ones as well.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, can we please find a different translation for eved than "slave?" "Slave," particularly in American culture, has a connotation completely different than the eved concept.
The mini-drasha on the word "ivri" falls apart far too quickly. Avraham avinu was called ivri, as are all b'nei yisrael. Is there any source for the idea that forcing an eved ivri to marry a shifcha c'na'anit is to cause the household to look down on him? This seems to completely counteract the previous concept, that we're trying to teach him dignity.
Finally, the closing paragraph is completely disingenuous. If "the appearance of new fraud cases every day is the clearest proof of the failure of the secular penal system," then what does our current rash of scandals say about the effectiveness of the Torah system?
There definitely is food for thought, however, in considering what kind of penal system the Torah prescribes. IIRC, R' Hirsch has an entire writeup on how depriving an individual of his liberty through incarceration is completely anathema to the Torah worldview.