Judaism's religious texts contain numerous laws governing the ownership and treatment of slaves. Texts that contain such regulations include the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), the Talmud, the 12th century Mishneh Torah by noted rabbi Maimonides, and the 16th century Shulchan Aruch by rabbi Yosef Karo. The original Judaic slavery laws found in the Jewish Bible bear some resemblance to the 18th century BCE slavery laws of Hammurabi.^[1] The regulations changed over time, and in some cases the regulations contradict each other.^[2] Scholars are not certain to what extent the laws were generally followed, and some scholars suggest that some of the laws were aspirational guidelines.^[2] The Jewish Bible contained two sets of laws, one for Canaanite slaves, and a more lenient set of laws for Jewish slaves. In later eras, the laws designated for Canaanites were applied to all non-Jewish slaves. The Talmud's slavery laws, which were established following the biblical era, contain single set of rules for all slaves, although there are a few exceptions where Jewish slaves are treated differently from non-Jewish slaves. The laws include punishment for slave owners that mistreat their slaves. In the modern era, when the abolitionist movement sought to outlaw slavery, supporters of slavery used the laws to provide religious justification for the practice of slavery.

[edit] Biblical era

In antiquity, Jewish society - like all ancient societies - condoned slavery.^[3] Slaves were seen as an essential part of a Jewish household.^[4] It is impossible for scholars to quantify the number of slaves that were owned by Jews in ancient Jewish society, or what percentage of households owned slaves, but it is possible to analyze social, legal, and economic impacts of slavery.^[5]

The Jewish Bible contains two sets of rules governing slaves: one set for Jewish slaves (Lev 25:39-43) and a second set for Canaanite slaves (Lev 25:45-46).^[1][6] The main source of non-Jewish slaves were prisoners of war.^[4] Jewish slaves, in contrast to non-Jewish slaves, became slaves either because of extreme poverty (in which case they could sell themselves to a Jewish owner) or because of inability to pay a debt.^[3]

In biblical times, non-Jewish slaves were drawn primarily from the neighboring Canaanite nations,^[7] and the Jewish Bible provided religious justification for the enslavement of these neighbors: the rules governing Canaanites was based on a curse aimed at Canaan, a son of Ham,^[8] but in later eras the Canaanite slavery laws were stretched to apply to all non-Jewish slaves.^[9]

The laws governing non-Jewish slaves were more harsh than those governing Jewish slaves: non-Jewish slaves could be owned permanently, and bequeathed to the owner's children,^[10] whereas Jewish slaves were treated as servants, and were released after 7 years of service.^[11] One scholar suggests that the distinction was due to the fact that non-Jewish slaves were subject to the curse of Canaan, whereas God did not want Jews to be slaves because he freed them from Egyptian enslavement.^[12]

The laws governing Jewish slaves were more lenient than laws governing non-Jewish slaves, but a single Hebrew word, ebed (meaning slave or servant) is used for both situations. In English translations of the bible, the distinction is sometimes emphasized by translating the word as "slave" in the context of non-Jewish slaves, and "servant" or "bondman" for Jewish slaves.^[13]

Most slaves owned by Jews were non-Jewish, and scholars are not certain what percentage of slaves were Jewish: one scholar says that Jews rarely owned Jewish slaves after the Maccabean era, although it is certain that Jews owned Jewish slaves during the time of the Babylonian exile.^[3] Another scholar suggests that Jews continued to own Jewish slaves through the Middle Ages, but that the Biblical rules were ignored, and Jewish slaves were treated the same as non-Jews.^[14]

An example of conflicting laws is the law governing the release of Jewish slaves: Leviticus 25:40 describes release in the Jubilee year (every 50th year), whereas Exodus 21:2-3 prescribes release after seven years of service (see also Jeremiah 34:14).^[6]

Scholars are not certain how faithfully Jews obeyed the slavery laws. Jeremiah 34:8-22 describes, in very forceful terms, how God punished the Israelites for not properly following the laws on slavery, and that suggests that the laws were not followed very strictly.^[1]

[edit] Essenes

Slave ownership was widely accepted by the majority of early Jewish societies, but the Essenes were a small, ascetic sect that reportedly renounced slavery,^[15] although some scholars question whether the Essenes actually renounced slavery.^[16][17]

[edit] Talmudic Era

In the early Christian era, the regulations concerning slave-ownership by Jews apparently became the subject of some confusion, and efforts were undertaken to revise the slavery laws.^[17] The precise issues that necessitated a revision to the laws is not certain, but it could include factors such as ownership of non-Canaanite slaves, the continuing practice of owning Jewish slaves, or conflicts with Roman slave-ownership laws.^[17] Thus, the Talmud (circa 200-500 CE) contains an extensive set of laws governing slavery, which is more detailed, and different than the original laws found in the Jewish Bible.

The major change found in the Talmud's slavery laws is that a single set of rules - with a few exceptions - governs both Jewish slaves and non-Jewish slaves.^[7][18] Another change was that the automatic release of Jewish slaves after 7 years is replaced by indefinite slavery, in conjunction with a process whereby the owner could - under certain situations - release the slave by a written document (a manumission).^{[7][18][19][20]} However, historian Josephus wrote that the seven year automatic release was still in effect if the slavery was a punishment for a crime the slave committed (as opposed to voluntary slavery due to poverty).^[21] In addition, the notion of Canaanite slaves from the Jewish Bible is expanded to all non-Jews.^[22]

One of the few rules that distinguished between Jewish and non-Jewish slaves regarded found property: items found by Jewish slaves were owned by the slave, but items found by a non-Jewish slave belonged to the slave owner.^[23] Another change was that the Talmud explicitly prohibits the freeing of a non-Jewish slave, which was stricter that the biblical law^[24] which was silent on the issue, and simply permitted slaves to be owned indefinitely.^[25] However, non-Jewish slaves could be converted to Judaism and then freed, in some circumstances.

It is apparent that Jews still owned Jewish slaves in the Talmudic era, because Talmudic authorities tried to denounce the biblical permission^[26] that Jews could sell themselves into slavery if they were poverty-stricken. In particular, the Talmud said that Jews should not sell themselves to non-Jews, and if they did, the Jewish community was urged to ransom or redeem the slave.^[19]

[edit] Curse of Ham as a justification for slavery

Some scholars have asserted that the Curse of Ham described in Judaism's religious texts was a justification for slavery^[27] - citing the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) verses Genesis 9:20-27 and the Talmud.^[28] Scholars such as David M. Goldenberg have analyzed the religious texts, and concluded that those conclusions on faulty interpretations of Rabbinical sources: Goldenberg concludes that the Judaic texts do not explicitly contain anti-black precepts, but instead later race-based interpretations were applied to the texts by later, non-Jewish analysts.^[29]

[edit] Female slaves

The biblical ability for fathers to sell their daughters into slavery^[30] was restricted by the classical sources, to extend only to pre-pubescent daughters, and only then as a last resort before the father had to sell himself^[31][32]

The classical rabbis instructed that masters could never marry female slaves - they would have to be manumitted first;^[33] similarly, they ruled that male slaves could not be allowed to marry Jewish women.^[34] By contrast, masters were given the right to the services of the wives of any of their slaves, if the enslaved husband had been sold into slavery by a court of law.^[35] Unlike the biblical instruction to sell thieves into slavery (if they were caught during daylight, and couldn't repay the theft), the rabbis ordered that female Israelites could never be sold into slavery for this reason.^[31]

[edit] Sexual relations with female slaves

Sexual relations between a slave owner and female slaves were apparently acceptable in the time of the patriarchs, and children resulting from such liaisons were integrated into the patriarch's Israelite family.^[36] Sexual relations with slaves became prohibited in later eras (Lev 19:20-22), but violations were reported even after prohibitions were instituted.^[37][38] The punishment specified in the Jewish Bible for sexually violating a female was the sacrifice of a Ram, but the punishment in Talmudic era was flogging and temporary excommunication.^[39][40]

[edit] Freeing a slave

The Jewish bible contained the rule that Jewish slaves would be released following seven years of service, but that was replaced in the Talmud with potentially indefinite slavery, accompanied by a process whereby slaves could be freed - this process is called manumission. The Talmud specifies the regulations governing manumission in great detail.^[41] Freeing a non-Jewish slave was seen as a religious conversion, and involved a second immersion in a ritual bath (mikveh). Jewish authorities of the Middle Ages argued against the Biblical rule that provided freedom for severely injured slaves.^[42]

[edit] Treatment of slaves

The Jewish bible and the Talmud contain various rules about how to treat slaves. Biblical rules for treatment of Jewish slaves were more lenient than for non-Jewish slaves^[43][44][45] and the Talmud insisted that Jewish slaves should be granted similar food, drink, lodging, and bedding, to that which their master would grant to himself.^[46] Laws existed which specified punishment of owners that killed slaves.^[47][48] Jewish slaves were often treated as property; for example, they were not allowed to be counted towards the quorum, equal to 10 men, needed for publish worship.^[49] Maimonides and other halachic authorities forbade of strongly discouraged any unethical treatment of slaves.^[50][51] Some accounts indicate that Jewish slave-owners were affectionate, and would not sell slaves to a harsh master^[52] and that Jewish slaves were treated as members of the slave-owner's family.^[53]

Scholars are unsure to what extent the laws encouraging humane treatment were followed. In the 19th century, Jewish scholars such as Moses Mielziner and Samuel Krauss studied slave-ownership by ancient Jews, and generally concluded that Jewish slaves were treated as merely temporary bondsman, and that Jewish owners treated slaves with special compassion.^[54] However, 20th century scholars such as Solomon Zeitlin and Ephraim Urbach, examined Jewish slave-ownership practices more critically, and their historical accounts generally conclude that Jews did permanently own Jewish slaves, and that Jewish slave-owners were no more compassionate than other slave owners of antiquity.^[55] Historian Catherine Hezser explains the differing conclusions by suggesting that the 19th century scholars exaggerated the humaneness of Judaism in order to facilitate the assimilation of Judaism into Christian society.^[54]

[edit] Converting or circumcising non-Jewish slaves

The Talmudic laws required Jewish slave owners to try to convert non-Jewish slaves to Judaism.^[19][56] Other laws required slaves - if not converted - to be circumcised and undergo ritual immersion in a bath (mikveh).^[57][58] This form of semi-conversion whereby the slave was circumcised and required to adhere to the negative Mosaic commandments (but not the full rigor of the Jewish law) was widely practiced.^[19][57] A 4th century Roman law prevented the circumcision of non-Jewish slaves, so the practice may have declined at that time,^[59] but increased again after the 10th century.^[60] Jewish slave owners were not permitted to drink wine that had been touched by an uncircumcised person, so there was always a practical need - in addition to the legal requirement - to circumcise slaves.^[61]

Although conversion to Judaism was a possibility for slaves, rabbinic authorities Maimonides and Karo discouraged it, on the basis that Jews were not permitted (in their time) to proselytise;^[31] slave owners could enter into special contracts, by which they agree not to convert their slaves.^[31] Furthermore, to convert a slave into Judaism without the owner's permission was seen as causing harm to the owner, on the basis that it would rob the owner of the slave's ability to work during the Sabbath, and would prevent them from selling the slave to a non-Jews.^[31]

[edit] Post-Talmud to 1800s

Jewish laws governing treatment of slaves were restated in the 12th century by noted rabbi Maimonides in his book Mishneh Torah, and again in the 16th century by rabbi Yosef Karo in his book Shulchan Aruch.^[62]

The legal prohibition against Jews owning Jewish slaves was emphasized in the Middle Ages^[63] yet Jews continued to own Jewish slaves, and owners were able to bequeath Jewish slaves to the owner's children, but Jewish slaves were treated in many ways like members of the owner's family.^[64]

Jews continued to own slaves during the 16th through 18th centuries, and ownership practices were still governed by Biblical and Talmudic laws.^[7]

[edit] Redeeming Jewish slaves

The Hebrew bible contains instructions to redeem (purchase the freedom of) Jewish slaves owned by non-Jews (Lev. 25:47-51). However, these instructions only began to be followed in the Greek and Roman periods.^[20] The Talmud contained similar guidance to emancipate Jewish slaves, but cautioned the redemeer against paying excessive prices since that may encourage "the Romans" to enslave more Jews.^[65]

Many Jews were taken to Rome as prisoners of war, but Julius Caesar, who was fairly friendly towards Judaism, appears to have freed most of them.^[31][66][67] Josephus, himself a former 1st century slave, remarks that the faithfulness of Jewish slaves, and former slaves, was appreciated by their owners;^[68] this may have been one of the main reasons for freeing them.^[31] Also, Jewish slaves held in Rome were sometimes freed by their owners because of "their unwillingness to break the laws of their fathers, they were unserviceable".^[13]

In the Middle Ages, redeeming Jewish slaves gained importance and - up until the 19th century - Jewish congregations around the Mediterranean Sea formed societies dedicated to that purpose.^[69] Jewish communities customarily ransomed Jewish captives according to a Judaic mitzvah regarding the redemption of captives (Pidyon Shvuyim).^[70] In his A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson writes:

Jews were particularly valued as captives since it was believed, usually correctly, that even if they themselves poor, a Jewish community somewhere could be persuaded to ransom them. If a Jew was taken by Turks from a Christian ship, his release was usually negotiated from Constantinople. In Venice, the Jewish Levantine and Portuguese congregations set up a special organization for redeeming Jewish captives taken by Christians from Turkish ships, Jewish merchants paid a special tax on all goods to support it, which acted as a form of insurance since they were likely victims.^[71]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Abrahams, Israel: Jewish life in the Middle Ages, The Macmillan Co., 1919
• Benjamin, Judah P. "Slavery and the Civil War: Part II" in United States Jewry, 1776-1985: The Germanic Period, Jacob Rader Marcus (Ed.), Wayne State University Press, 1993.
• Blackburn, Robin (1998). The making of New World slavery: from the Baroque to the modern, 1492-1800. Verso. ISBN 1859841953. 
• Davis, David Brion (2006). Inhuman bondage: the rise and fall of slavery in the New World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195140737. 
• Faber, Eli: Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight. New York: New York University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8147-2638-0
• Friedman, Saul S.: Jews and the American Slave Trade. (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1998. ISBN 1-56000-337-5)
• Friedman, Murray (2007). What went wrong?: the creation and collapse of the Black-Jewish Alliance. Simon and Schuster. 
• Goldenberg, David M. (2003). The curse of Ham: race and slavery in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton University Press. 
• Goldenberg, David. "The curse of Ham: a case of Rabbinic racism?", in Struggles in the promised land: toward a history of Black-Jewish relations in the United States, (Jack Salzman, Ed), Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 21-52.
• Greenberg, Mark, and Ferris, Marcie. Jewish roots in southern soil: a new history UPNE, 2006
• Haynes, Stephen R. (2002). Noah's curse: the biblical justification of American slavery. Oxford University Press. 
• Hastings, James, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Scribners, 1910.
• Hezser, Catherine, Jewish slavery in antiquity, Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Korn, Bertram Wallace "Jews and Negro Salvery in the Old South", in Strangers and Neighbors, Adams (Ed.), Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1999 (pp 147'182).
• Lewis, Bernard. Race and slavery in the Middle East: an historical enquiry, Oxford University Press US, 1992.
• Rodriguez, Junius. The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 1997
• Roth, Norman: Medieval Jewish Civilzation: an encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 2003.
• Schorsch, Jonathan (2004). Jews and blacks in the early modern world. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521820219. 
• Tertullianus, Qunitus Codex Agobardinus
• Whitford, David M. (2009). The Curse of Ham in the Early Modern Era: The Bible and the Justifications for Slavery. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 

[edit] External links

• Excerpts from Slavery and the Jews. A Historical Inquiry By Eli Faber
• Jewish occupations Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 ed.
• Slave markets in East Europe

This article incorporates text from the 1901'1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.