In this week’s Parashat Mishpatim, we read of the eved ivri (Jewish servant), whom we are commanded to treat with such compassion that the Talmud declares, “One who acquires an eved ivri acquires a master for himself” on account of the obligations placed upon the master (Kiddushin 20a). Maimonides, in his concluding law on slaves, extends this obligation of compassion even toward an eved kena’ani. Yet, as Mois Navon reveals in his recent TRADITION essay, the significance of this law goes far beyond slavery. According to Navon, Maimonides frames this law as a mandate for compassion toward every person we encounter.  More profoundly, Navon argues that in this single law, Maimonides encapsulates his entire program for not only moral development but human perfection itself.

Read “Finding Virtue in Maimonides’ Laws of Slaves” (TRADITION, Fall 2024).

Rabbi Dr. Mois Navon teaches moral philosophy at Ben Gurion University.