It is said that our ancestors were slaves for 400 years. Others say the 400 years started when we arrived in Egypt with flocks of sheep, and multiplied, frightening the Egyptians who then took us into slavery building storage cities and such until Moses returned and finally got the Pharaoh to free us. Jacob and his family of 70 had gone to Egypt during a drought, a time of famine. What they went through is not known, except for periods of slaying all baby boys the age of 2 and under several times in fear of a rising enemy. We know they had to work without any day of rest. Since Moses saw an Egyptian beat an Israelite slave, that happened. It was of a beating so bad to cause Moses to slay the Egyptian, causing him to flee from Egypt himself. Even a prince like himself couldn't do that. They were fed well because we know they yearned for that same food during the Exodus being without it.
Though Mosaic or Jewish law recognized the institution of slavery which existed in parts of the world until the 19th century, it had made detailed provision for its humane regulation. Scriptural law allowed an Israelite to become another Israelite's slave only for a limited period, with manumission (release from slavery) at the 7th year of service or at the jubilee year; which explains Jacob having to work for his own uncle Laban for 7 years to gain a wife, which turned out to be Leah instead of Rachel, his love. In this sense, being a slave was work including room and board.
Yesterday's Black slavery in America and England added cruelty in the bargain of the Mosaic law concerning slavery. Sadly, the world as it was still revolved around slavery. Blacks brought to America and England had no rights, were separated from family members, sold for money just like animals. Slavers went far beyond the laws of Moses.
Found in Lamentations: "Futility of futilities....All is futile! What profit does man have for all his labor which he toils beneath the sun?" by King Solomon
In Jewish law, the slave at the end of service was also to receive a parting gift. Even this limited sort of slavery became impossible after the Babylonian forced Exile in 597 and then in 586 BCE when Judeans were captured and taken there as slaves. (4)"All the able men, to the number of seven thousand—all of them warriors, trained for battle—and a thousand craftsmen and smiths were brought to Babylon as exiles by the king of Babylon. And the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar), appointed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, changing his name to Zedekiah. (II Kings 24:14–17; cf. Jer. 52:28–30)"
Official Babylonian court records confirm the biblical account stating that Nebuchadnezzar ". . . captured the city [Jerusalem and] seized [its] king. A king of his own choice he appointed in the city [and] taking the vast tribute he brought it into Babylon." (Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, 102)"Among those who accept a tradition (Jeremiah 29:10) that the exile lasted 70 years, some choose the dates 608 to 538, others 586 to about 516 (the year when the rebuilt Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem)." We know little about their treatment other than about 70 years later, there were those who preferred to remain when they were all freed and told to return to Jerusalem. Although the Jews suffered greatly and faced powerful cultural pressures in a foreign land, they maintained their national spirit and religious identity. Those free and returning home may never had been there, too young to remember while those who could were now much much older who needed transportation. It was in 538 BCE that the RETURN was made.
(1) "Tablets recently found and reported in February 2015 in Iraq tell us that one exile in 587 BC saw around 1,500 people make the perilous journey via modern-day Lebanon and Syria to the fertile crescent of southern Iraq, where the Judeans traded, ran businesses and helped the administration of the kingdom (of Babylon). “They were free to go about their lives, they weren’t slaves,” Vukosavovic said. “Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a brutal ruler in that respect. He knew he needed the Judeans to help revive the struggling Babylonian economy.” The tablets, each inscribed in minute Akkadian script, detail trade in fruits and other commodities, taxes paid, debts owed and credits accumulated".
(1) "“The descendants of those Jews only returned to Israel in the 1950s,” he said, a time when many in the diaspora moved from Iraq, Persia, Yemen and North Africa to the newly created state." They had developed Jewish communities while in exile.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, only deported the most prominent citizens of Judah: professionals, priests, craftsmen, and the wealthy. The "people of the land" (am-hares ) were allowed to stay. So Jewish history, then, has two poles during the exile: the Jew in Babylon and the Jews who remain in Judah. We know almost nothing of the Jews in Judah after 586. Judah seems to have been wracked by famine, according the biblical book, Lamentations, which was written in Jerusalem during the exile. The entire situation seemed to be one of infinite despair. Some people were better off; when Nebuchadnezzar deported the wealthy citizens, he redistributed the land among the poor. So some people were better off. In addition, there were rivalries between the two groups of Jews. It is clear that the wealthy and professional Jews in Babylon regarded themselves as the true Jewish people.
Canaanite slaves for Israelites after the Exodus were normally acquired by purchase from neighboring peoples. These slaves were proselytes of a kind, (The biblical term "proselyte" is an anglicization of the Koine Greek term προσήλυτος, as used in the Septuagint for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel"; a "sojourner in the land", and in the Greek New Testament for a first-century convert to Judaism, generally from Ancient Greek religion) the males having to undergo circumcision. The women were subjected to the laws binding Jewish women. The slave's marriage was arranged by the master and the offspring were the property of the owner. Although a master could beat a slave, to kill him was considered murder. If a master destroyed a slave's eye or any part of his body, he had to be freed. A slave who managed to escape was not to be handed back to his master. If they were outside of Judah and got back there, they were given their freedom. Freed slaves, no matter what color or race they were, were considered to be proselytes in every respect. They were now accepted as Jews.
During the Middle Ages, there were a few Jewish merchants, living by the sea with ships, who engaged to some extent in the slave trade, but because of the danger entailed, especially in Christian lands, the slaves generally remained non- Jewish. Nevertheless, the benediction to be recited on the occasion of the circumcision of a slave continued to figure to some Sephardi prayer books down to the 17th or in India to the 19th century. These Jewish slave owners were found in the West Indies and in the southern states of the US.
Many more Jews were prominent in the struggle which finally led to the abolition of slavery. Individual Jews in the US, such as Judah Touro, (1775-1854) b: Newport, Rhode Island, philanthropist, were among the first to free their slaves. American Jews as a whole took no stand in the slavery debates which preceded and continued through the American Civil War. Many Jews were active in the abolitionist cause such as Michael Heilerin, August Bondi (1833-1907), born in Austria, and
US Abolitionist, and Rabbis David Einhorn-Reform (1809-1879) in anti-Slavery movement,
Perhaps the best name to mention is Rabbi David Einhorn who was a great advocate against the slavery and his community the Sinai have been working on the abolishment of slavery already prior to the civil war. Einhorn’s passion came from his belief that Judaism is strongly opposing the slavery. As below we can find some of his personal letters that were unveiled thanks to the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. From these archives we learn how Einhorn was enthusiastic making the black people free and that many of the Jews followed Einhorn’s ideology, but of course as always and everywhere there were opponents too. Also, Bernard Felsenthal-Reform ,(1822-1908), Adler (so many I don't know which one was involved in ending slavery other than Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, chief rabbi of England, and Benjamin S. Szold (1829-1902) of Baltimore, Maryland..
On the other hand, Rabbi Morris J. Raphali of New York City declared publicly in 1861 that the Bible sanctioned slavery. A number of Jews assisted in the "Underground Railway" that smuggled slaves to free states and Canada. Jews who fought for abolition on the political front included Sigismund Kaufman, Philip J. Joachimsen, and Abraham Kohn
How quickly we all forget important issues. The days of Moses when the laws were handed down occurred around 1300 BCE which was 3,172 years before the start of the Civil War, a very different time when slavery occurred all over the world without any compunction of human value or rights. You could say that this was the best that G-d could do for slaves, give rules of treatment of them. They worked for a limited time and then were citizens among those same people following all their rules. Jacob gladly "slaved" for his Uncle Laban to earn his wife as he had no money to buy her.
from Ecclesiastes: "The sum of the matter when all has been considered: Fear G-d and keep His commandments, for that is man's whole duty." (12:13). King Solomon
When Moses at age 80 in about 1311 BCE) freed the Israelites, they took what they could with them. The time to prepare was so small that they could only mix flour and water and lay it on the hot stones to cook for something to carry with them for food. We remember this with matzos we eat every year at Passover to commemorate this event.
The short trip back to Canaan that Jacob and his family of 70 took turned out to last 40 years for Moses. This time, instead of 70 people to care for, he had 600,000. All the slaves held by the Egyptians, not only his family members, but all the others, followed him to freedom. The 1st census taken was 603,550 people. They were broken down by the 12 tribes as follows: The 2nd was 601,730 people.
1st census 2nd census 1st census 2nd census
1. Reuben 46,500- 43,730 7. Naphtali 53,400- 45,400
2. Simeon 59,300- 22,200 8. Gad 45,650--40,500
3. Judah 74,600- 76,500 9. Asher 41,500--53,400
4. Issachar 54,400- 64,300 10, Ephraim 40,500--32,500
5. Zebulun 57,400- 60,500 11. Manasseh 32,200--52,700
6. Dan 62,700- 64,400 12. Benjamin 35,400--45,600
The Israelites had lectures periodically, teaching them the Law as Moses had received them from HaShem (G-d). They had challenges and often had to fight the people they met along the way who were not friendly. The Egyptian army had chased them. They had the challenge of crossing a sea unharmed. As they drew near, they had to use scouts to report on the land they were about to enter, and they gave differing reports. The 40 years caused the older ones to die and the tiny children to grow into free men. Moses himself died on the outskirts of Canaan in 1271 BCE, leaving Joshua to lead the group in. He died at age 120. He entered with educated, strong young people with a new view of the life they and their children would have. They were not of a slave mentality, except the very old. The 2nd census taken showed that they suffered a loss over the 40 years of 1,820.
Considering births and deaths, this was as loss through fighting. The Amaleks were the worst of all the people. They preyed on the oldest of the people and the cripples, killing them and others that they could as the Israelites went through without a kind hand being offered to anyone.
Now they had to live according to rules they had learned.
2)"Slavery operated in the first civilizations (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BC). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1860 BCE), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world found in almost every other ancient civilization such as the Roman Empire. It became less common throughout Europe during the Early Middle Ages, although it continued to be practiced in some areas. Both Christians and Muslims captured each other as slaves during centuries of warfare in the Mediterranean. Islamic slavery encompassed mainly Western and Central Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa, India, and Europe from the 7th to the 20th century. The Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, British and a number of West African kingdoms played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600."
Resource:
Tanakh, Stone Edition
The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia=Slavery
https://www.britannica.com/event/Babylonian-Captivity
(1) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon/ancient-tablets-reveal-life-of-jews-in-nebuchadnezzars-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery
(3) https://www.cato.org/commentary/slavery
(4)https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/cyrus-and-the-judean-diaspora, Update 7/7/2021
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