Reply To: Halacha and Mishna and Gemara questions

G_A_W I think the question is if one is obligated to support his family.

It should seem that he would be obligated, better to balance the scales with a mitzvah (supporting the eved) countering the aveirah (lo sechaneim)

But the eved isn’t his! It isn’t a mitzvah!

The answer is that he’d still be doing the mitzvah of chesed, and true, it isn’t as much of a reward as doing chesed to a Jew, but still, as R’ Chanina says in 3 places in the Gemara (Bava Kama 38a, 87a, Avodah Zarah 3a) ‘Greater is the one who is commanded and does than the one who is not commanded and does.’This seems like a good answer nu?

A refutation of this answer comes in the other interpretations of lo sechaneim, for remember there are three. Let me list them:

1) Don’t give them a foothold in Eretz Yisroel (Already discussed)

2) Don’t give them a free gift (Applies somewhat in that it gives the goy a monetary gift, letting him have an eved while you support him, saving the goy the extra expenses)

3) Don’t favor them Is this not favoring him, supporting his slave’s family for him?!)

So my last asnwer was also a case of mitzvah sheba’ah beaveirah.

BTW: I seemed to be under the misapprehension that the slave was taken as collateral for the debt. not as an actual fine, because since where do we actually see that a Jew, in these kind of cases, would get fined by Beis Din a knas that is to be paid over to a goy?