Midrasch zu Schemot 21:27
וְאִם־שֵׁ֥ן עַבְדּ֛וֹ אֽוֹ־שֵׁ֥ן אֲמָת֖וֹ יַפִּ֑יל לַֽחָפְשִׁ֥י יְשַׁלְּחֶ֖נּוּ תַּ֥חַת שִׁנּֽוֹ׃ (פ)
Auch wenn er den Zahn seines Knechtes oder den Zahn seiner Magd ausschlägt, soll er ihn frei lassen um seinen Zahn.
Midrash Tanchuma
Thereupon Noah cursed his seed, saying: Cursed be Canaan (Gen. 9:25). Because Ham had glanced at his naked father, his eyes became red. Because he related (what he had seen) to others with his mouth, his lips became twisted. Because he turned his face away (ignored his father’s condition), the hair of his head and beard was singed. And because he neglected to cover his naked father, he went about naked, with his prepuce extended. This happened to him because the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution measure for measure. Nevertheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, relented and had mercy upon him, for His tender mercies are over all His works (Ps. 145:9). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Inasmuch as he caused himself to be sold into slavery,20His penalty for his actions: A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers (Gen. 9:25). let him go free because of the eye that sees and the mouth that speaks. Hence, the law states: A slave must be freed because of the loss of a tooth or an eye, as it is written: And if a man smite the eye of his bondman, or the eye of his bondwoman, and destroy it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. And if he smite out his bondman’s tooth, or his bondwoman’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake (Exod. 21:26–27). May we not logically conclude a fortiori:21That is, kal va-homer (a conclusion drawn from a minor to a major), one of the hermeneutical rules for expounding the Written Law. If a servant, purchased with money, must be released from bondage if his master blinds him or knocks out his tooth, should not the seed blessed of the Lord (Isa. 65:23), the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified (Ps. 61:3), be freed after their deaths from their sins? Hence, free among the dead (Ps. 88:6), indicating that they should go free (from sin) with all their two hundred and forty-eight limbs.
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