Halakhah zu Wajikra 25:53

He who shuts his eyes against the ransoming of captives transgresses the negative precepts, "Thou shalt not harden thy heart",²Deut. 15:7. and, "[Thou shalt not] shut thy hand";²Deut. 15:7. also this, "Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor",³Lev. 19:16. and this, "He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight";¹Lev. 25:53. and he neglects the positive precepts, "Thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him",²Dent. 15:8. and, "that thy brother may live with thee,"³Lev. 25:36. The Hebrew text permits the rendition “Let thy brother live,” etc. and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"⁴Lev. 19:18. and, "Deliver them that are carried away unto death."⁵Prov. 24:11.

To not allow a gentile to work a Hebrew slave sold to him: That we not allow a gentile that dwells in our lands work a Hebrew slave, who sold himself to him, with oppressive work - as it is stated (Leviticus 25:53), "he shall not subjugate him oppressively in your eyes." And we should not say, "Since this Hebrew sinned against himself and sold himself to the gentile, let us leave him to suffer all the work. And they said in Sifra, Behar, Chapter 8:8), "'He shall not subjugate him oppressively in your eyes' - you are only commanded 'in your eyes.'" [This is] meaning to say that we are not obligated to look for it and to enter the house of the gentile to see if he has him work oppressively or not; but rather any time we see the thing, we have to prevent it from him.