Commento su Levitico 25:48

גאלה תהיה לו means HE SHALL BE REDEEMED at once — do not allow him totally to sink his identity among the heathens (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 8 1; Kiddushin 20b).

אחרי נמכר גאולה תהיה לו; our sages (Kidushin 20) have already explained that you are not to say that seeing that this Jew has sold himself and has even become a priest to a pagan cult “I will kick away this stone which has already fallen,“ i.e. not make an effort to buy his freedom. This is why the Torah had to write: “even after he has sold himself in a most undignified manner, he is entitled to be redeemed.”

Do not leave him to sink (שיטמע). I found in the name of the Aruch, that the Aramaic translation of מטמון (a hidden treasure) is טמוע. And in the Aruch I found, ויחפרוהו ממטמונים, (“They dig for it more than buried treasures)”) (Iyov 2:21), the Aramaic translation [of this] is מן טומעיא. כי בא השמש לּ, “Because the stun had set” (Bereishis 28:11), Targum Yerushalmi [translates this as] טמעת שמשא. Thus here Rashi means,means do not leave him until he is sunk among idolaters.

After he is sold. This teaches that at first he should try not to be sold, but if he is sold, then nonetheless, “redemption shall be his.” In Toras Kohanim the Baraita taught the opposite: “If he came and said: ‘I am about to be sold,’ we might have thought we have to help him, therefore the Torah says, ‘after he is sold.’” That is, if he comes to his relatives and says, “If you do not help me I will sell myself to a foreigner,” and he will be a disgrace to the family … Nevertheless, what I wrote is true, and it is implied by the verse’s plain meaning that if they know he is poor and is prepared to sell himself, in truth they should make an effort that he will not come to this.

אחד מאחיו יגאלנו, “one of his brethren is to redeem him.” Our author assumes that the “brother” referred to is Hashem. He is both “one,” i.e. “unique,” and a brother to the Jews in exile. We know this from Psalms 122,8: למען אחי רעי, “for the sake of My brethren and friends.”