Musar su Levitico 25:55

When G–d eventually chose us, the Jewish people, from among all the other nations, Israel is described as חלק ה' עמו יעקב חבל נחלתו, "G–d's portion is His people, Jacob is His own allotment" (Deut. 32,9). Only the Jewish people have qualified for the title תורה תמימה. G–d gave us the תורה תמימה, the perfect Torah, containing the 613 commandments which are performed in practice in this imperfect world we live in. By dint of observing these commandments to the best of our ability, we are pleading to attain in this life a degree of sanctity of the body and a sanctification of the way we relate to matters which determine our financial well-being. If and when we achieve this we will become pure once more and attain Adam's spiritual-physical level before his expulsion from גן עדן. At such a time performance of the commandments may assume a totally different form, similar to the form it took when Adam was still in Paradise. G–d took us out of bondage in Egypt to enable us to become His servants as He said in Leviticus 25,55: "for the children of Israel are My servants." Thus by having become His servants we add more power to the spiritual essence of our souls. In the eventual future we will recapture the spiritual niveau possessed by Adam when he still wore the garments woven of light. When that point in our history will be reached, our life will become eternal, and both body and soul will have an enduring existence on earth. Our nourishment will then be provided directly by the שכינה as is the unanimous view of the Kabbalists and recorded by Nachmanides – in complete contrast to Maimonides who does not envision the period in question as pertaining to physical life on earth. The refinement we have discussed can only be achieved through the performance of the commandments involving one's body and one's money. Considering the fact that almost all the seventy odd commandments listed in this portion pertain either to our body or involve our financial resources, we may view the entire פרשה as primarily devoted to teach us how to achieve the sanctity of our body and our relationship to matters economic.

The first of the משפטים deals with the Jewish servant, both male and female, and is hinted at already in the first of the Ten Commandments. G–d had liberated Israel from bondage to become exclusively His servants. We know from Leviticus 25,55, that כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, that "the children of Israel are My slaves." Rashi refers to this when explaining why the servant who chooses to remain in service has his ear pierced with an awl (Exodus 21,6).

But even if one’s garments are free of all filth and of sha’atnez, his prayers will not be accepted if any theft is involved.. Suppose, for example, that he makes his livelihood through fraud and deceit and then arrays himself with an elegant garment of which he is very proud. This is what the prophets refer to as a “swindler’s garment” — beged bogdim; (Yeshayahu 24:16). Every time he dons this garment in order to pray, he reawakens the memory of his sins and iniquities, causing his prayers to be cast to the demons. Woe to him and woe to his soul! This is the case even if his only sin was the failure to pay the tailor his due, if the latter did not press the issue but allowed him special terms against his will, or if he withheld his employee’s wages. For in all these cases he is guilty of theft. Moreover, the employee looks to him for survival. Heaven forbid that a person should withhold a worker’s wages or even pay him less than his due! For it is written, “Because the children of Israel are servants to Me, they are My servants!” (Vayikra 25:55). Therefore his punishment is very severe [as I have already explained at length in Chapter 14]. Just as the employer is commanded to pay his worker on time and in full, so is the worker commanded not to ruin the garment and not to take any of the materials for himself, even the leftovers. Rather he must return to the customer even the smallest quantities.