(ב) כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃ (ג) אִם־בְּגַפּ֥וֹ יָבֹ֖א בְּגַפּ֣וֹ יֵצֵ֑א אִם־בַּ֤עַל אִשָּׁה֙ ה֔וּא וְיָצְאָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃ (ד) אִם־אֲדֹנָיו֙ יִתֶּן־ל֣וֹ אִשָּׁ֔ה וְיָלְדָה־ל֥וֹ בָנִ֖ים א֣וֹ בָנ֑וֹת הָאִשָּׁ֣ה וִילָדֶ֗יהָ תִּהְיֶה֙ לַֽאדֹנֶ֔יהָ וְה֖וּא יֵצֵ֥א בְגַפּֽוֹ׃ (ה) וְאִם־אָמֹ֤ר יֹאמַר֙ הָעֶ֔בֶד אָהַ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־א ד נ י אֶת־אִשְׁתִּ֖י וְאֶת־בָּנָ֑י לֹ֥א אֵצֵ֖א חָפְשִֽׁי׃ (ו) וְהִגִּישׁ֤וֹ אֲדֹנָיו֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלֹקִ֔ים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ֙ אֶל־הַדֶּ֔לֶת א֖וֹ אֶל־הַמְּזוּזָ֑ה וְרָצַ֨ע אֲדֹנָ֤יו אֶת־אָזְנוֹ֙ בַּמַּרְצֵ֔עַ וַעֲבָד֖וֹ לְעֹלָֽם׃ (ס)
(2) When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. (3) If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. (4) If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne him children, the wife and her children shall belong to the master, and he shall leave alone. (5) But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” (6) his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life.
(יד) רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר... וְדַע מַה שֶּׁתָּשִׁיב לְאֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס...
(14) Rabbi Elazar says: ... and know what to respond to one who denigrates the Torah...
ואימא כופרא אמר אביי (משלי ג, יז) דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום כתיב
The Gemara asks: And say the verse is referring to the branch of the date palm [kufra] that has not yet hardened completely and could still be bound, albeit with difficulty. Abaye said that it is written in praise of the Torah: “Its way are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:17). At that stage of development, some of the leaves are thorns that potentially wound. The Torah would not command to use that type of branch in fulfilling the mitzva.
The Torah improves the lot of the slaves
Shardal
The Torah, who’s ways are pleasant and merciful opened its judgements with the law of a man-slave and maidservant who in ancient times were thought of and treated as animals. No judge would hear their case in court or take up their grievance against their master
(10) If he marries another, he must not withhold from this one her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.
(20) When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod, and he dies there and then, he must be avenged.
(כ) וכי יכה איש את עבדו או את אמתו. בְּעֶבֶד כְּנַעֲנִי הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר...
(20) וכי יכה איש את עבדו או את אמתו AND IF A MAN SMITE HIS SERVANT OR HIS MAIDSERVANT — Scripture speaks of a Canaanitish servant...
לא סלקא דעתך מדאקיל רחמנא לגביה דתניא (דברים טו, טז) כי טוב לו עמך עמך במאכל ועמך במשתה שלא תהא אתה אוכל פת נקיה והוא אוכל פת קיבר אתה שותה יין ישן והוא שותה יין חדש אתה ישן על גבי מוכים והוא ישן על גבי התבן.
מכאן אמרו כל הקונה עבד עברי כקונה אדון לעצמו
Abaye answered: It cannot enter your mind to expound the verses stringently, as indicated from the fact that the Merciful One is lenient with regard to a slave and is concerned about his well-being. As it is taught in a baraita: The verse states concerning a Hebrew slave: “Because he fares well with you” (Deuteronomy 15:16), which teaches that the slave should be with you, i.e., treated as your equal, in food, meaning that his food must be of the same quality as yours, and with you in drink. The baraita continues: This means that there shall not be a situation in which you eat fine bread and he eats inferior bread [kibbar], bread from coarse flour mixed with bran, which is low quality. There shall not be a situation in which you drink aged wine and he drinks inferior new wine. There shall not be a situation in which you sleep comfortably on bedding made from soft sheets and he sleeps on straw.
From here the Sages stated: Anyone who acquires a Hebrew slave is considered like one who acquires a master for himself, because he must be careful that the slave’s living conditions are equal to his own.
Rabbi Sacks
"Freedom is more than an abstract idea. It means (in an age in which slavery was taken for granted - it was not abolished in Britain or the United States until the nineteenth century) letting a slave go free after seven years, or immediately if his master has injured him. It means granting slaves complete rest and freedom one day in seven. These laws …they turn slavery from an existential fate to a temporary condition. Slavery is not what you are or how you were born, but some thing that has happened to you for a while and from which you will one day be liberated.
(2) When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment.
(ב) כי תקנה. מִיַּד בֵּית דִּין שֶׁמְּכָרוּהוּ בִגְנֵבָתוֹ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר אִם אֵין לוֹ וְנִמְכַּר בִּגְנֵבָתוֹ, אוֹ אֵינוֹ, אֶלָּא בְּמוֹכֵר עַצְמוֹ מִפְּנֵי דָּחְקוֹ, אֲבָל מְכָרוּהוּ בֵית דִּין לֹא יֵצֵא בְשֵׁשׁ? כְּשֶׁהוּא אוֹמֵר וְכִי יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ עִמָּךְ וְנִמְכַּר לָךְ (ויקרא כ"ה), הֲרֵי מוֹכֵר עַצְמוֹ מִפְּנֵי דָּחְקוֹ אָמוּר, וּמָה אֲנִי מְקַיֵּם כִּי תִקְנֶה? בְּנִמְכַּר בְּבֵית דִּין:
(2) כי תקנה IF THOU BUYEST [AN HEBREW SERVANT] — This means an Hebrew servant whom thou hast bought from the hand of the court which sold him for a theft which he had committed, as it is said, (Exodus 22:2) “if he (the thief) have nothing, then shall he be sold for his theft”. Or perhaps this is not so, but Scripture is referring to the case of one who sells himself as a servant on account of his destitution, whilst he who has been sold by the court for his theft shall not go free at the end of six years! This assumption it erroneous, for when Scripture states, (Leviticus 25:39, 40) “and if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and he sells himself unto thee … [he shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee]”, it is plain that in this passage there is mentioned the case of one who sells himself on account of his destitution. How then must I explain כי תקנה in this verse? Obviously as referring to him who was sold by the court (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:2:1).
Is restorative justice effective at preventing crime?
A recent Australian study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research effectively addressed many of these problems and was able to demonstrate that a large scale youth justice conferencing initiative can produce reductions of 15-20% in re-offending across different offence types and regardless of the gender, criminal history, age and Aboriginality of the offenders.
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/crm/1-20/crm020.html
Rabbi Hirsch 21:6
This is the one and only case in which the Torah orders deprivation of freedom as a punishment; and how does it order it? It orders the criminal to be brought into the life of a family as we might expect a refractory child to be brought under the influence of Jewish family life... How careful is it that the self-confidence of the criminal should not be broken... it insists that he may not be separated from his wife and family... In depriving him of his liberty, and thereby the means to provide for his dependents, the Torah puts the responsibility of caring for them, on those who ... have the benefit of his labours. ...
demands complete equality of the slave with his master and the rest of the household, in food, clothing and bedding, so much so that it became a popular saying “Who buys a Jewish slave for himself has acquired for himself a master.” The moral responsibility is great on both sides, ‘The master must treat the slave as a brother and the slave must treat himself and behave as a slave Kiddushin 22a
וְאוֹמֵר (שמות לב) וְהַלֻּחֹת מַעֲשֵׂה אֱלֹקִים הֵמָּה וְהַמִּכְתָּב מִכְתַּב אֱלֹקִים הוּא חָרוּת עַל הַלֻּחֹת, אַל תִּקְרָא חָרוּת אֶלָּא חֵרוּת, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ בֶן חוֹרִין אֶלָּא מִי שֶׁעוֹסֵק בְּתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה.
And it says (Exodus 32:16): "And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets," do not read "graven" (harut) but rather "freedom" (herut), for there is no free man except one that involves himself in Torah learning;
Slavery as a natural phenomenon of life
Rav Kook. Letters -
Igrot HaRaaya - vol.1 no.89
...that slavery, as with all the moral, upstanding ways of God “in which the righteous walk and the evil stumble,” never in itself caused any fault or error. Slavery is a natural law amongst the human race. Indeed there is no difference between legal slavery and “natural” slavery... Let me explain. The reality of life is that there is rich and poor, weak and strong. A person who has great wealth hires poor people - legally - in order to do his work. These employees are in fact “natural” slaves, due to their socio-economic standing... If these people were owned by the master by legal slavery, he would have a financial interest to look after their lives and well-being, because they are his own assets...
(ה) וכשתסתכל בדבר תראה כי השלמות האמיתי הוא רק הדביקות בו יתברך, והוא מה שהיה דוד המלך אומר (תהלים עג): ואני קרבת אלקים לי טוב. ואומר (שם כז): אחת שאלתי מאת ה' אותה אבקש שבתי בבית ה' כל ימי חיי וגו', כי רק זה הוא הטוב. וכל זולת זה שיחשבוהו בני האדם לטוב, אינו אלא הבל ושוא נתעה. אמנם לכשיזכה האדם לטובה הזאת, ראוי שיעמול ראשונה וישתדל ביגיעו לקנותה, והיינו שישתדל לידבק בו יתברך בכח מעשים שתולדתם זה הענין והם הם המצות.
(5) When you look further into the matter, you will see that true perfection lies only in clinging to G-d. This is what King David said "But as for me, closeness to G-d is my good" (Ps.73:28) and, "one thing I asked from G-d; that I seek, that I may dwell in G-d's house all the days of my life, to gaze on the pleasantness of G-d..." (Ps. 27:4). For only this is the good, while anything besides this that people consider good is really emptiness and mistaken worthlessness. For a person to attain this good, it is proper that he first exert himself strenuously to acquire it, namely, to exert himself to cling to the blessed G-d through the power of deeds whose consequence is this end. These deeds are the commandments.