During the biblical period, it was a crime in most countries to assist a runaway slave. Acording to the accepted code of that period, a runaway slave was to be returned to his owner. The Torah teaches, however, that a runaway slave who escapes to Eretz Yisrael - the Land of Israel - is not to be returned to his owner, as it is written:

"You shall not turn over to his master a slave who has taken refuge with you from his master. He shall dwell with you in your midst, in whatever place he will choose in one of your cities, which is beneficial to him; you must not taunt him." (Deuteronomy 23:16,17)

Ramban (Nachmanides), one of the classical biblical commentators, writes: "And since it states, 'He shall dwell with you in your midst, in whatever place he will choose,' it appears that it is a commandment that he become a free person and that we should not enslave him."

The Sifri, an ancient midrashic commentary, teaches that the "slave who has taken refuge with you" includes a Gentile slave whose owner is a Gentile. This slave has escaped to Eretz Yisrael and is willing to fulfill the precepts of the Torah's universal code. The Malbim, a noted 19th century biblical commentator, elaborates on this teaching of the Sifri, and he explains that the runaway slave does not have to become an Israelite through conversion in order to dwell in Eretz Yisrael. As long as he is willing to live according to the universal moral code of the Torah, he can dwell in our midst.

This universal code is known as "The Seven Mitzvos of the Children of Noah," and it includes a mitzva to establish courts of justice, as well as the prohibition against idolatry - the worship of any power or force other than the Compassionate One. It also includes prohibitions against murder, theft, incest and other forms of sexual immorality, cursing the Creator, and the eating of flesh taken from a living animal - a common practice in the ancient world which is still practiced in certain areas of Asia. In the classical work on the Torah's mitzvos, Sefer Ha-Chinuch, the author writes that these seven precepts are actually seven "categories' of mitzvos which include a number of other mitzvos from the Torah (Mitzva 416).

The runaway slave who escapes to Eretz Yisrael is now free to serve Hashem - the Compassionate One - through following the universal moral code of the Torah. In this spirit, "Targum Yonason" - a midrashic commentary - interprets the above Divine proclamation regarding the runaway slave in the following manner:

"Do not hand over the Gentile to the worshipers of idols, for he has taken refuge with you in order to come under the shadow of My Shechinah - Divine Presence."

What if the owner of the runaway slave is an Israelite living in another land? Sefer Ha-Chinuch states: "Even if his master is an Israelite, we are not to return him" (Mitzva 568). And it adds: "We are not to return him to servitude under any circumstances, because he has entered the pure, choice glen to serve there, Hashem, the Blessed One." Sefer Ha-Chinuch also states: "God desired, for the honor of the land, that someone fleeing there should be rescued from servitude, so that we will realize in our hearts the glory of the region." According to Sefer Ha-Chinuch, the freedom of the runaway slave is connected in some mysterious way to his entering Eretz Yisrael - "the pure, choice glen." How are we to understand this connection? The beginning of an answer can be found in the following midrashic commentary: "With an abounding love did the Holy One, blessed be He, love the first human being, as He created him in a pure locality, at the site of the (future) Temple." (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 12)

This interpretation is found in other midrashic works, and it indicates that the journey to Eretz Yisrael is a journey to the place where "Adam" - the first human being - was created. We began to discuss this idea in Letter 32 of this series, and we also cited Midrashim which indicate that Adam was originally an androgynous creature that was later divided into two separate beings - one male and one female. This androgynous being - the ancestor of all men and women - was created at the site of the Holy Temple in Eretz Yisrael; thus, whenever men and women journey to Eretz Yisrael, they are journeying to the land of their roots.

Eretz Yisrael is the place of our physical and spiritual roots, for it was here that the soul and the body - the physical and the spiritual - became one, as it is written:

"And God formed the human of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and the human became a living being." (Genesis 2:7)

The journey to Eretz Yisrael - "the pure, choice glen" - can therefore be understood as a journey of return to humanity's original state of purity and wholeness. In this spirit, a runaway slave who arrives in Eretz Yisrael is given both physical and spiritual freedom. He no longer has to serve human masters; moreover, he is now free to serve the Compassionate One with all his being - body and soul. It is therefore forbidden to return him to a state of physical and spiritual slavery.

Targum Yonason explains that we also have to provide for his educational and spiritual needs, especially since he will have to study Torah in order to understand and fulfill the mitzvos of the universal code. The Targum Yonason states: "Teach him Torah and establish for him a house of study in the place where he desires" (Commentary to Deut. 23:17).

This explanation of Targum Yonason is in the spirit of the following prophecy of Isaiah regarding the Torah study of the peoples of the earth in the messianic age:

"It will happen in the end of days: The mountain of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly established as the head of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will go and say, 'Come, let us go up to the Mountain of Hashem, to the Temple of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion will come forth Torah, and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:2,3)

Have a Shabbat Shalom, Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen