348. No Blind Eye: The prohibition against allowing an eved Ivri to be worked oppressively

He shall not oppress him with hard labor in your sight. (Leviticus 25:53)

Not only are we not permitted to work an eved Ivri oppressively, we should not permit it to be done by others if we have the ability to prevent it. Therefore, if an eved Ivri is sold to a non-Jew who works him harshly, we should try to stop it. We are not allowed to justify the situation by thinking that the eved Ivri brought it on himself.

The reason, as we said earlier regarding the eved Ivri, is that his life is tough enough. We should try to help it be no worse than necessary.

This mitzvah applies to both men and women at a time when we have the authority to enforce it. In the Talmud, it is discussed in tractate Arachin (30a) and, passingly, on Baba Metzia 65a. It is codified in the Mishneh Torah in the first chapter of Hilchos Avadim and is #260 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.