Jewish views on slavery: Difference between revisions

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	] was customary during the ] and the ], and legislations commonly permitted ]. According to the ], ]ish slaves had the right of emancipation on the ], and all slaves had to be freed after seven Sabbatical cycles on a ].<ref> By Rabbi Jeffrey Schein, citing Parashat Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1 - 24:18</ref><ref> by Harry Gersh. Behrman House, Inc. 1984. ISBN 0874413907</ref> A slave who was taken to the ] became free as soon as he touched the soil.<ref>"Responsa of Geonim," section 12, cited in , ], 1906 ed.</ref>		] was customary during the ] and the ], and legislations commonly permitted ]. According to the ], ]ish slaves had the right of emancipation on the ], and all slaves had to be freed after seven Sabbatical cycles on a ].<ref> By Rabbi Jeffrey Schein, citing Parashat Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1 - 24:18</ref><ref> by Harry Gersh. Behrman House, Inc. 1984. ISBN 0874413907</ref> A slave who was taken to the ] became free as soon as he touched the soil.<ref>"Responsa of Geonim," section 12, cited in , ], 1906 ed.</ref>

	==History==		==History==

	In ] ] permitted Jews to introduce slaves from ] into ], on the condition that they were non-Christian.<ref name=JE_STO>. ]</ref>		In ] ] permitted Jews to introduce slaves from ] into ], on the condition that they were non-Christian.<ref name=JE_STO>. ]</ref>

	With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Jews often served as interlocutors between the Muslim and the Christian worlds. ] in the 9th century describes two routes by which Jewish slave-dealers carried such slaves from West to East and from East to West.<ref name=JE_STO/>		With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Jews often served as interlocutors between the Muslim and the Christian worlds. ] in the 9th century describes two routes by which Jewish slave-dealers carried such slaves from West to East and from East to West.<ref name=JE_STO/>
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	==External links==		==External links==
	* , ], 1906 ed.		* , ], 1906 ed.
	* ], 1906 ed.		* ], 1906 ed.
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Revision as of 10:03, 15 August 2007

Slavery was customary during the antiquity and the Middle Ages, and legislations commonly permitted slave trade. According to the Jewish Law, Jewish slaves had the right of emancipation on the seventh (Sabbatical) year, and all slaves had to be freed after seven Sabbatical cycles on a Jubilee year. A slave who was taken to the Holy Land became free as soon as he touched the soil.

History

In 492 Pope Gelasius permitted Jews to introduce slaves from Gaul into Italy, on the condition that they were non-Christian.

With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Jews often served as interlocutors between the Muslim and the Christian worlds. Ibn Khordadhbeh in the 9th century describes two routes by which Jewish slave-dealers carried such slaves from West to East and from East to West.

According to Abraham ibn Yakub, Byzantine Jewish merchants bought Slavs from Prague to be sold as slaves. Louis the Fair granted charters to Jews visiting his kingdom, permitting them to trade with slaves, provided the latter had not been baptized. Agobard claimed that the Jews did not abide to the agreement and kept Christians as slaves, citing the instance of a Christian refugee from Cordova who declared that his coreligionists were frequently sold, as he had been, to the Moors. Many, indeed, of the Spanish Jews owed their fortune to the trade in Slavonian slaves brought from Andalusia. Similarly, the Jews of Verdun, about the year 949, purchased slaves in their neighborhood and sold them in Spain.

The means by which Jews earned their livelihoods were largely determined by the restrictions placed on them by the authorities. The Christian Church repeatedly protested against the sale of Christians to Jews, the first protest occurring as early as 538. At the third council of Orleans a decree was passed that Jews must not possess Christian servants or slaves, a prohibition which was repeated over and over again at different councils—as at Orleans (541), Paris (633), Toledo (fourth council, 633), Szabolcs (1092), Ghent (1112), Narbonne (1227), Béziers (1246). After this time the need of such a prohibition seems to have disappeared. Thus, at Marseilles, in the 13th century, there were only two cases of Jewish, as against seven of Christian, slave-traders It was part of St. Benedict's rule that Christian slaves were not to serve Jews.

Despite the rule, many Christians trafficked with the Jews in slaves, and the Church dignitaries of Bavaria even recognized this traffic by insisting on Jews and other merchants paying toll for slaves.

References

Mishpatim: Jewish Tradition and Slavery By Rabbi Jeffrey Schein, citing Parashat Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1 - 24:18
Mishnah: The Oral Law by Harry Gersh. Behrman House, Inc. 1984. ISBN 0874413907
"Responsa of Geonim," section 12, cited in Slave Trade, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 ed.
^ Slave Trade. Jewish Encyclopedia
Grätz, "Gesch." vii.
Aronius, "Regesten," No. 127
"R. E. J." xvi.
Aronius, "Regesten," No. 114
ib. No. 122

External links

Slave Trade, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 ed.
Jewish occupations Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 ed.
Slave markests in East Europe

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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