War and Peace VII ~ Captives at any cost?

(4) A [non-Jewish] slave [of a Jew] was taken captive and then ransomed [by a third party]: If [he is ransomed] to be a slave he goes back to slavery, If [he is ransomed] as a free man he does not go back to slavery. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: in either case he goes back to slavery. If a man makes his slave a pledge [for a debt] to another man and then he emancipates him, according to the “letter of the law” the slave is not liable to do anything. But because of tikkun olam we force his [second] master to emancipate him and he [the slave] writes a document for his purchase price. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says that the slave does not write the document but rather the one who emancipates him.

(5) One who is half a slave and half free works for his master one day and for himself one day, the words of Beth Hillel. Beth Shammai said to them: you have set things right for the master but you have not set things right for the slave. He cannot marry a female slave because he is already half free, and he cannot marry a free woman because he is half a slave. Shall he then decease [from having children]? But wasn’t the world only made to be populated, as it says, “He did not create it as a waste, he formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18)? Rather because of tikkun olam we compel his master to emancipate him and he writes a document for half his purchase price. Beth Hillel retracted [their opinion and] ruled like Beth Shammai.

(6) If a man sells his slave to a Gentile or [to someone living] outside the land [of Israel] the slave goes free. Captives should not be redeemed for more than their value, because of tikkun olam. Captives should not be helped to escape, because of tikkun olam. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says [that the reason is] to prevent the ill-treatment of fellow captives. Torah scrolls of the law, tefillin and mezuzoth are not bought from Gentiles at more than their value, because of tikkun olam.

(10) The redemption of captives held for ransom takes precedence over sustaining the poor and clothing them. You do not find a mitzvah greater than the redemption of captives, for captivity is in the same category as famine, drought, or exposure, and one stands in danger to one's life. One who averts his eyes from redeeming [the captive] transgresses [the commandment], (Deut. 15:7) Do not harden your heart and shut your hand, and (Lev. 19:16) Do not stand upon the blood of your neighbor, and (Lev. 25:53) He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight, and nullifies the commandment (Deut. 15:8) You must open your hand, and the commandment, (Lev. 25:36) Let him live by your side as your kinsman, and (Lev. 19:18) Love your fellow as yourself, and (Proverbs 24:11) If you refrained from rescuing those taken off to death, [those condemned to slaughter--if you say, "We knew nothing of it," surely He who fathoms hearts will discern], and many such sayings. You cannot find a greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives.¹⁵³See Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 8a-b on the importance of redeeming captives and Chullin 7a where Rabbi Phineas ben Yair travels to redeem captives and, on the way, a river parts for him, enabling him to pass through on dry land to fulfill his duty.

(11) If people of a city have collected money for the building of a synagogue, and a matter of a mitzvah comes before them, they should use the money [for the mitzvah]. But if they already purchased stones and beams, they should only sell them in the case of redeeming captives. Even if they have brought the stones and made walls of them, beams and laid them out, they sell it all for the sake of redeeming captives and that alone, but if they have built and completed [the synagogue], they do not sell the synagogue. Rather, they collect for their [the captives'] redemption from the public.¹⁵⁴On the public collection of charity, see Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 8b.

(12) They may not redeem the captives for more than their worth for the sake of civilization, so that the enemies will not pursue after them to enslave them [once they find out they are will to pay anything]. And they do not try to make the captives escape for the sake of civilization, so that the enemies will not increase the weight of their yoke and add more guards.¹⁵⁵See Mishnah Gittin 4:6. The translation "for the sake of civilization" is used to try to capture the nuance that there is a duty to make the world a less chaotic and dangerous place.

(13) He who sells himself and his children to Gentiles or who takes a loan from them and becomes enslaved to them or is imprisoned because of the loan, the first and second time it is a mitzvah to redeem them. The third time they do not redeem him, but they redeem the children after the death of their father. But if they want to kill him, then they redeem him from their power, even if this is several times [that this has happened].¹⁵⁶See Babylonian Talmud Gittin 46b-47a.

(14) In the case of a slave who was taken captive, if he immersed himself for the sake of servitude and he accepted upon himself the duty of the mitzvot, they redeem him as if he were a Jew who had been taken captive. But if the prisoner rebels and joins the idolaters, even if it is by [transgressing] one mitzvah, such as the prohibition against eating carrion, in order to infuriate [the Jewish community], etc., it is forbidden to redeem him.¹⁵⁷See Babylonian Talmud Gittin 37b and 47a.

(15) A woman takes precedence over a man for feeding, clothing, and bringing out of prison, because it is more usual for men to go door to door [to beg] and not for a woman who feels great shame in this. But if both of them [a man and a woman] were in captivity and were in danger of being violated sexually, the man takes precedence for redemption, because this is not the way of things.¹⁵⁸See Mishnah Horayot 3:7, Babylonian Talmud Ketubot 67a.

(16) In the case of a male orphan and a female orphan who come [to the authorities of the community] to get married [but not to each other], the female [orphan] takes precedence over the man, because she feels great shame in this.¹⁵⁹See Babylonian Talmud Ketubot 67a-b. And they may not give her less than the worth of six and a quarter dinar of pure silver, and if they have more in the bank of tzedakah, they give to her according to her honor.¹⁶⁰See Mishnah Ketubot 6:5.

(17) If we have before us many poor people or many captives, and there is not enough in the fund to sustain them, or to clothe them, or to redeem them all, a priest takes precedence over a Levite, a Levite over a [regular] Jew, a Jew over a chalel [an illegitimate child of a priest], a chalel over a shetuki [an illegitimate child with an unknown father], a shetuki over a asufi [a foundling], an asufi over a mamzer [a child who was conceived in a union forbidden by the Torah], a mamzer over a natin [a descendent of the Gibeonites], and a natin over a stranger, so long as the natin was praised with us in holiness, and a convert takes precedence over a freed slave, for he [the slave] was once one of the cursed.¹⁶¹See Mishnah Horayot 3:8.

(18) To what does this refer? When both who are imprisoned are equal in wisdom. But if there was a High Priest who was an ignoramus and a mamzer who was a wise disciple, the wise disciple takes precedence. Anyone who is great in wisdom takes precedence over another. But if one of them [the captives] was one's rabbi or father, even if there is someone who is greater in wisdom, one's rabbi or father [takes precedence]. Even if there is someone there [among the captives] who is greater in wisdom than his rabbi or his father, so long as he [his father or rabbi] is a wise disciple, he [the father or the rabbi] takes precedence over the one who is greater than them in wisdom.¹⁶²See Mishnah Horayot 3:8 and Babylonian Talmud Horayot 13a.

(1) Ransoming captives comes before feeding or clothing the poor. There is no act of charity more meritorious than ransoming captives; therefore, money collected for any worthy purpose whatsoever may be used as ransom, even if originally collected for the erection of a Synagogue. And further: even if the building materials have already been bought and the beams squared (which makes it a grave offense to sell them for any other purpose) nevertheless, it is permitted to sell them to raise a ransom. However, if the structure is already erected it should not be sold. (Still, if one donates a Sela to Charity without specification, ransoming is not to be understood in the general term of charity, and the Sela should not be used for this purpose without the knowledge of the members of the community.)

(2) He who shuts his eyes against the ransoming of captives transgresses the negative precepts, "Thou shalt not harden thy heart",²Deut. 15:7. and, "[Thou shalt not] shut thy hand";²Deut. 15:7. also this, "Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor",³Lev. 19:16. and this, "He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight";¹Lev. 25:53. and he neglects the positive precepts, "Thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him",²Dent. 15:8. and, "that thy brother may live with thee,"³Lev. 25:36. The Hebrew text permits the rendition “Let thy brother live,” etc. and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"⁴Lev. 19:18. and, "Deliver them that are carried away unto death."⁵Prov. 24:11.

(3) Every moment that one delays unnecessarily the ransoming of a captive, it is as if he were to shed blood.

(4) Captives are not to be ransomed at an unreasonable cost, for the safety of society; otherwise, the enemies would exert every effort to capture victims. But a man may ransom himself at any price. So also, a scholar should be ransomed at a greater price, or even a student who gives promise of becoming a great scholar. (As to whether one's wife is considered "another" or "one's self," see Eben Ha-Ezer,⁶Eben Ha-Ezer is the fourth part of this code of Shulhan Arukh, and deals with laws pertaining to woman. 78.)

(5) Captives should not be aided to escape, for the sake of public safety; lest the enemies treat the captives with greater severity and confine them under closer custody.

(6) He who sells himself to heathens, or who borrowed from them and is held by them for non-payment, should be ransomed the first time and the second time, but not if it happens a third time. But his children should be ransomed after the father's death. However, if his life is in danger, he must be ransomed immediately, no matter how many times it has happened before. (But one who is an apostate with regard to even one precept, as, for instance, if he eats meat not slaughtered according to ritual in a spirit of defiance, it is forbidden to ransom him.) (See Art. 251.)

(7) A slave who is made captive, is ransomed like a captive Israelite, since he is regarded as a free-man after he takes the required ritual bath and assumes the obligations of certain Jewish laws.

(8) A woman is redeemed before a man; but where pederasty is common, the man is given precedence. (If both are willing to drown, the man is rescued first.)

(9) If he and his father and his teacher are captives, he himself comes before his teacher; and his teacher before his father; but his mother comes before all.

(10) If a man and his wife are captured, the wife is ransomed first, and Court may seize his property to ransom her; and even if he protests, "Do not ransom her with my property," no attention is paid to him.

(11) If a captive has property but does not wish to ransom himself, his ransom is paid against his will.

(12) A father is obliged to ransom his son, if the father has the means and the son has not.