Comentario sobre Levítico 25:40

כשכיר כתושב BUT AS A HIRED SERVANT AND AS A SOJOURNER HE SHALL BE UNTO THEE] —Employ him on field-labour or on a handicraft; Treat him as you do any hired servant.

AS A HIRED SERVANT, AND AS A SETTLER, HE SHALL BE WITH THEE. The meaning of this is that he [your brother who sold himself to you] shall not be with you in your house as a bondservant, but as a laborer hired year by year²¹³Further, Verse 53. who hires himself out to do work as a freeman, and who is not subjected to heavy work; or [he is to be in your house] as a settler, for it is customary that settlers who come to sojourn in [another] land work for the head of the household with whom they reside to their satisfaction, similar to the case of Jacob with Laban, where [Laban] said [to Jacob], Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?²¹⁴Genesis 29:15. And in the Torath Kohanim it is written:²¹⁵Torath Kohanim, Behar 7:3. “As a hired servant — just as [in the case of] a hired servant in the same day thou shalt give him his hire,²¹⁶Deuteronomy 24:15. so too, this one must be given his hire in the same day.²¹⁷If he did some extra work outside his strict duty, his master must pay him on the day he completes it (Malbim in his commentary to the Torath Kohanim ibid.). As a settler — just as [in the case of] a settler he shall dwell with thee … where it liketh him best; thou shalt not wrong him,²¹⁸Ibid., 23:17. this one also where it liketh him best; thou shalt not wrong him. — He shall be with thee, with thee concerning [the same kind of] food, with thee concerning [the same kind of] drink, with thee concerning [the same kind of] clean garment, etc.”²¹⁹“So that you [the master] should not eat bread of refined flour, and he eat black bread; you drink old wine, and he drink new wine; you sleep on pillows, and he sleep on straw” (Torath Kohanim ibid.).

כשכיר כתושב יהיה עמך. A Jewish servant whose labour has been acquired and paid for 6 years in advance by the person hiring him shall be treated as if he had been hired by the year. If someone’s labour has been contracted for by you until the advent of the next Jubilee year he is to be treated as if he had been hired with a long-term contract.

If the jubileeJubilee [year] met him. Explanation: There are four verses. One, “He shall serve you until the jubileeJubilee year,” which is speaking of someone who sold himself [into servitude] and whom the jubileeJubilee year met [and set free] before six years [of slavery had passed]. “Return to his own family” refers to someone sold by beis din whom the jubileeJubilee year met before six years. “Each man shall return to his family” (verse 10) refers to someone whose ear was pierced whom the jubileeJubilee year met before six years passed since his piercing, and “He then serves his master forever” (Shemos 21:6) [refers to someone] whom the jubileeJubilee year met after six years since his piercing. Beraisa first chapter of Kiddushin 15a.

כשכיר כתושב יהיה עמך, “as a hired servant and as a settler he shall be amongst you.” Both of these categories of people are hired hands; the difference between the first and the second category is that the first category consists of people hired on a day to day basis, while “settlers” have been hired for a year at a time. You are clearly not able to demand overly taxing work from a worker hired only for a day, as he would simply not come back on the next day if he felt taken advantage of; the Torah warns you not to take advantage of the fact that the “settler” does not have that legal option. (B’chor shor)

עד שנת היבל [HE SHALL SERVE THEE] UNTIL THE YEAR OF THE JUBILEE — This implies that if the Jubilee happens to come (lit., happens to meet him) before the six years of his servitude are at an end, it frees him.

עד שנת היובל יעבוד עמך, “he must serve you until the Jubilee year.” When the Torah had written earlier that you must proclaim liberty for all slaves in the Jubilee year, (verse 10), that had referred to a slave sold into slavery by the court. Here the Torah speaks of people who had sold themselves into slavery because of financial stress not because they had stolen and could not repay their victim.