Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 5:14

He added here [in the commandment on the Sabbath] stating nor thine ox, nor thine ass¹⁵³Verse 14. to explain that He prohibits working the earth [on the Sabbath] even though it involves the livelihood of man, similar to what He said, in plowing time and in harvest shalt thou rest.¹⁵⁴Exodus 34:21. He stated here that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou; and thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt etc.,¹⁵⁵Verses 14-15. in order to explain that He commanded concerning the resting of the servant as well as yourself, because, since you were a servant and G-d gave you rest, so you too are to give rest to your servant.¹⁵⁶The primary concern of this law is thus not that the servant should have rest, but that we are to remember that we were servants and G-d made it possible for us to rest, and therefore we should give rest to our servants (Bachya). Thus we are prevented from becoming self-righteous as a result of “magnanimously” granting a day of rest to our servants. On the contrary, kindness to servants should be utilized as a reminder to us of our former humble position and of G-d’s kindness to us which we are to emulate to others. Thus the sense of the verses is as follows: “When your manservant and your maidservant will rest as well as you then you will remember that you were a servant etc.”

למעו ינוח עבדך ואמתך כמוך, from the positioning of the commandment that your beasts of burden have to refrain from performing work for you on the Sabbath, before mentioning your children and servants observing such Sabbath rest, it is clear that the reasons animals owned by you must rest o the Sabbath is for the sake of the men working them, not because animals per se are subject to the spiritual concepts governing the Sabbath and its laws. The need for one’s slaves to observe the Sabbath rest is, of course, part of the reminder that when you were slaves you did not enjoy such a day of rest. Hence, do not treat your slave in the hateful you were treated when you were in his shoes.

ושורך וחמורך, “as well as your oxen and your donkeys;” Moses explained that not only the immediate working of the soil that produces our livelihood is forbidden on the Sabbath, but that those who work the soil, the farmer’s agents, -if you will,- who help him produce a crop, must also rest on the Sabbath. In this context he added further

למען ינוח עבדך ואמתך כמוך, “so that your male servant as well as our female servant may enjoy rest just like you.” The Torah here gave a reason for the work-prohibition on the Sabbath by your servants, i.e. that the Sabbath was not legislated to give the slaves a rest, but the rest enjoyed by the slaves is merely a by-product of their owners’ rest. In other words, seeing that G’d has had pity on you and instead of your having to serve Him for 7 days a week (the curse of earning one’s livelihood in the sweat of our brow) we in turn should display the same kind of consideration for our own servants and not assign them tasks on the days when we rest.

In order that your male slave will rest. The resting on Shabbos is secondary. The primary focus is refraining from melacho, and the rest follows automatically. However for a male or female slave, the rest is of primary importance, for they are not commanded to refrain from melacho. Refraining allows one to study and investigate the nature of Hashem, and this is why Shabbos is referred to as, “Shabbos for Hashem, your God”.

למען ינוח עבדך ואמתך כמוך, “in order that your servant, and your servant-maid rest just like you.” A reason for all this is: