EXOD602 Why does the Bible condone archaic practices such as slavery? The Jewish people, and indeed mankind as a whole, view the Bible as a vibrant source of ethical inspiration. At the same time, some of the institutions described and even condoned in the pages of Scripture do not harmonize with our modern ethical sensibilities. The Torah seems to condone economic institutions that are archaic, to say least. We need to carefully examine the nature of the ethical insights provided by the prophetic writings. Q: Some of the institutions described in Scripture do not seem very ethical. For instance, we find that slavery is condoned. How then can view the laws of the Torah as the formal source of ethical guidance? A: There is unquestionably a certain tension between the ethical values emphasized in Scripture and some of the practices and institutions regulated and accepted by biblical law. In order to understand this paradox, we have to deepen our understanding of how the Torah is meant to lead mankind to an ideal human society. The central insight in this understanding is that Torah does not dictate exactly how our society should function. The object of the law is not that human beings should be robots and all of their actions inflexibly established by divine degree. The Torah gives specific laws that legislate a basic level of ethical behavior together with exalted values that guide us in using our own conscience and ethical judgment to build on these values and move mankind forward to the divine ideal. One source of these ideals is the stories and exhortations in the Torah. For example, the idea of human brotherhood equality is learned from the creation story. The Talmud states that even though God wanted the world to be filled with many people, He began the human race with a single individual to teach us that all humans are brothers, and no one can boast a lineage more elevated than anyone else's. We all have the same father, Adam, and afterwards Noah. Sanhedrin 37a. Another way we can discern the divine ideals is from the laws themselves. Beyond their specific content, each law has a profound inner message. The great medieval rabbi, Nachmanides, writes in his commentary on the Torah: [Deuteronomy 6:18] "It is impossible to mention in the Torah every detail of a person's conduct with his neighbors and friends, all of his business dealings and the policies of towns and countries, but after it [the Torah] mentioned many [individual laws]... It went back to state generally that we should do the right in the good in everything." In other words, the Torah gives us specific practices to create a foundation and lofty ideals to aspire to. The next thing we need to understand is how the human race is meant to move forward toward these ideals. The answer is that the process is evolutionary, not a revolutionary one in which our conceptions and institutions are systematically discarded. The Torah does not give us a roadmap with specific instructions for getting from here to there in a particular place and time. Its main importance is as a compass that provides us with the orientation in a specific locale while also pointing us in the proper direction of travel beyond. In other words, the educational vision of the Torah teaches us how to behave properly within current institutions and directs us toward the high road to universal human flourishing. Let us apply these concepts to the example you mention: slavery. At the time the Torah was given, slavery was a universal economic institution, perhaps a vital one. Since the educational vision of the Torah is not revolutionary, the first step in creating an ethical society is to establish fundamental ethical standards appropriate for the economic institutions that exist at the given time. This is done through the many commandments to ameliorate the status of the slave. Here are some examples: the commandment to give the slave Shabbat rest, through a sense of identification with his plight [Deuteronomy 5:13-14], the requirement to free slaves if they are subject to physical abuse, [this and following verse], the requirement to take care of their basic needs [Leviticus 25:37]. At the same time, the Torah contains passages that highlight the human cost of the institution of slavery. For example, the curses the Torah describes as a consequence of sin depicts slavery as the ultimate curse; it is mentioned last, after sickness and exile, as the lowest possible rung of human existence. [Deuteronomy chapter 28] This provides the impetus to create a more humane society in the future, a society in which this outdated institution will no longer have a place. So we see that the Torah begins by acknowledging the practical state of the human race, including the state that applied in the time when the Torah was given, even as it guides and inspires us to progress beyond our current state. The laws of the Torah contain an outer expression that enables us to maintain an ethical lifestyle according to the material circumstances that exist any given time, as well as an inner message of human brotherhood that enables the human race to transcend those social institutions, such as slavery, which are ultimately an obstacle to ethical perfection. ... The Torah gives us the means to maintain basic standards of decency and ethical behavior according to our imperfect surroundings. But it also provides an inspirational vision of a perfect future world, so that we may simultaneously strive to move beyond the surroundings and continuously work toward human perfection.