EXOD1978 In the passages below, the Torah speaks of someone who has to sell himself into slavery to pay off debts. The verses from Exodus [21:2-6] make it clear that normally there is a six-year limit on such slavery, however large the debt is. Furthermore, if the slave voluntarily chooses to remain a slave after that time to stay with his wife and children, he undergoes what must have been a demeaning ritual of having his ear bored with an awl, indicating that one is not really supposed to choose to enslave oneself to other human beings, even for that understandable reason. In the verses from Leviticus [25:39-42], the Torah makes clear that the creditor may not treat the debtor as a slave but rather as an indentured servant. Furthermore, although Exodus imagines slavery for life, however unsavory that maybe, Leviticus puts a definite limit on it--namely, the Jubilee year--and demands that in the Jubilee year he is not only to be freed but also to regain the ancestral land he had to sell to pay off some of his debts. We no longer permit people to sell themselves into slavery. Nevertheless, these verses should ring true to us, especially if we have gained and lost property over time, for they assert that we should understand that everything we possess is ours only temporarily. Furthermore, because ultimately G-d owns everything, G-d morally can and does demand that we reapportion some of our own property to others in need.