Sifra Behar Chapter 8

¹1) (Vayikra 25:47) ("And if the hand of a stranger and sojourner attain with you, and your brother grow poor with him, and he be sold to the stranger sojourning with you or to the uprooted of the family of a stranger,") "And if the hand of a stranger and sojourner attain with you": What caused him to grow rich? His attachment to you. "and your brother grow poor with him." What caused him to grow poor? His attachment to him. "and he be sold to the stranger": This is a righteous convert. "sojourner": This is a convert who eats carcass. "the family of a stranger": This is a gentile. "or to the uprooted": To include one who is sold to idolatry itself. (Vayikra 25:48) ("After he is sold, redemption shall there be for him; one of his brothers shall redeem him.") If one came and said to him (his kin): "I will sell myself" (if you do not help me), I might think that he must help him; it is, therefore, written "After he is sold" — he is to be helped only after he is sold. "redemption shall there be for him": immediately — do not allow him to become assimilated. Whence is it derived that his paternal brother takes precedence to his maternal brother (vis-à-vis redemption)? From "one of his brothers shall redeem him." ²2) (Vayikra 25:49) ("Or his uncle, or his uncle's son shall redeem him; or those of his near of kin of his family shall redeem him; or if his hand attain, he shall be redeemed.") "his uncle": This is his father's brother; "his uncle's son": This is the son of his father's brother. "or those of his near of kin of his family": This teaches that the nearest of kin takes precedence. ³3) "or if his hand attain": his own hand. "and he shall be redeemed": by all men. Why is "shall redeem him" mentioned three times? To include all redemptions (in addition to his own, i.e., those of houses in open cities and of fields of holding) in this order (of precedence). ⁴4) (Vayikra 25:50) ("And he shall reckon with his buyer from the year that he was sold to him until the Yovel year. And the money of his selling shall be according to the number of years. According to the days of a hired man shall he be with him.") "And he shall reckon with his buyer": and not with the heirs (of his buyer). "from the year that he was sold until the Yovel year": He does not go out in the sixth year. "And the money of his selling shall be according to the number of years. According to the days of a hired man shall he be with him.": He is acquired with money, and not with grain or vessels. ⁵5) (Vayikra 25:51) ("If there are yet many in the years, according to them shall he return his redemption from the money of his acquisition.") And whence is it derived that he goes out by deduction of money (i.e., by deducting the value of the years that he worked from that of the years until Yovel and giving that as redemption)? From "If there are yet many in the years, according to them shall he return his redemption from the money of his acquisition." Whence is it derived that if he were sold to him for one hundred a year and he increased in value and is now worth two hundred a year — whence is it derived that (for purposes of redemption) he is reckoned at one hundred a year? From "he shall return his redemption from the money of his acquisition." (Vayikra 25:52) ("And if few are left in the years until the Yovel year, then he shall reckon with him. According to his years shall he return his redemption.") If he were sold to him for two hundred a year and he is now worth only one hundred a year, whence is it derived that he is reckoned at one hundred a year? From "According to his years shall he return his redemption." ⁶6) — whence we derive that one who was sold to a gentile has the upper hand (in the reckoning). Whence is it derived that when he is sold to a Jew, when he is redeemed he has the upper hand? From "hired man" (here) - "hired man" (Devarim 15:18, with respect to one who is sold by beth-din) — a gezeirah shavah (identity) — Just as with "hired man" mentioned in respect to (his being sold to) a gentile, he (the servant) has the upper hand (in his redemption), so, with "hired man" mentioned in respect to (his being sold to) a Jew, he (the servant) has the upper hand in his redemption. ⁷7) (Vayikra 25:53) ("As a hired man, year by year, shall he be with him; he shall not rule over him oppressively before your eyes.") — What he (the master) eats, he (the servant) eats; what he drinks, he drinks. ⁸8) "He shall not rule over him oppressively": I might think that one should enter his (the gentile's) house to discover what is being done to him (the servant); it is, therefore, written "before your eyes" — You are commanded only in respect to what you see before your eyes.