Parashat Mishpatim- How to Treat Employees
The Mishna toward the beginning of Pirkeh Abot admonishes, "Heveh Metunim Ba’din" – "Be deliberate in judgment." Rabbenu Yona (Spain, 1180-1263) explains this comment as urging us to carefully study and analyze the Torah’s laws so that we can receive guidance concerning the proper way to live our lives as Torah Jews. By probing the laws presented in the Torah, we learn the values and principles upon which proper Torah life must be based.
Parashat Mishpatim presents a wide array of Misvot, and a careful study of each Misva provides us with invaluable lessons for how to lead a Torah life. The very first Misva discussed in the Parasha, the laws of the Ebed Ibri (indentured servant), is a classic example of the practical lessons that can be extracted from every Misva.
The Sages explain that the Ebed Ibri is somebody who committed an act of theft, was convicted, and did not have the means to repay what he stole. In order to pay the victim, the thief would sell himself as a servant, and work for six years in his master’s home. Interestingly enough, as the Gemara discusses in Masechet Kiddushin, Halacha imposes very strict restrictions on the master’s treatment of his servant. In fact, the Gemara goes so far as to say that "one who purchases an Ebed Ibri for himself purchases a master for himself." For one thing, Halacha forbids the master from forcing his servant to perform menial tasks; a master would even be unable to have his servant take out the garbage! Furthermore, the master is required to treat the servant even better than he treats himself. If there is only one comfortable bed available, the bed must be given to the servant, and the master must sleep on the floor. If there is only one steak in the house, it goes to the servant – not to the master. Even though the master paid good money for the servant, and provides him with food and shelter, and even though the servant is a convicted criminal, he is not entitled to mistreat him. To the contrary, he must treat him with dignity and respect. This experience is intended to bolster the servant’s self-esteem and to show him how people should be treated. He thus leaves the master’s home after six years with an entirely new perspective toward people, and will conduct himself as a proper, productive, law-abiding member of society.
There is much we can learn from the institution of Ebed Ibri, including the way we must treat our employees. All too often, employers feel entitled to abuse their workers, overburdening them and speaking down to them. They feel that since they are paying their employees respectable salaries, it is their right to treat them as they see fit. The institution of Ebed Ibri teaches us that this is not the case at all. People deserve respect and appreciation even by those who support them. If the Ebed Ibri, a convicted criminal who had to sell himself to repay the money he stole, must be given respect and consideration, then certainly we must treat workers with dignity.
I was once studying with a boy from the community in his home, and I heard him boss around the housekeeper, issuing orders in a very disrespectful and inconsiderate manner. I commented to the young man that perhaps he should speak more courteously and respectfully to the housekeeper.
"You don’t understand, Rabbi," the boy explained. "We pay her!"
"You’re scaring me," I replied.
"Why am I scaring you?" the boy questioned.
"Because your family pays me, too."
As we mentioned, by studying and probing the Torah’s laws we learn what Torah life entails. If a person prays with a Minyan three times a day and meticulously observes Shabbat, but mistreats his employees at the office, then he cannot be said to live in full accordance with the Torah. He might excel in the area of rituals, but he has failed with regard to the values and ethics that the Torah teaches us.
The more we delve into the wellsprings of the Torah laws, the more we learn about how to live as Torah Jews in every area of our lives.
