345. No Sale: The prohibition against selling an eved Ivri on the block

While the phrase “eved Ivri” literally translates as “Hebrew slave,” the eved Ivri was really more of an indentured servant than an actual slave. This is reflected in the previous mitzvah, which prohibits giving the eved Ivri degrading work and it is reflected in this mitzvah, which prohibits selling him on the auction block.

The reason for this is similar to that for the previous mitzvah: it’s degrading enough that circumstances have forced the eved Ivri to sell himself into labor. There’s no justification for us to degrade him any further.

This mitzvah applied to both men and women in Israel at a time when the Jubilee year was observed. It is discussed in the Talmud in the first chapter of tractate Kiddushin (23a) and is codified in the Mishneh Torah in the first chapter of Hilchos Avadim. This mitzvah is #258 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.