"And these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew servant..." (Shmot 21:1-2)

The commentaries ponder the special significance of the laws concerning the Hebrew servant that merit their being presented first in this week's portion of Mishpatim (ordinances). Why does the Torah see fit to open with this set of laws?

The Rambam explains: "the first verse opens with the laws of the Hebrew servant because by freeing the servant in the seventh year we commemorate the exodus from Egupt, as referred to in the first commandment, as it says (Devarim 15.15), "And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and God, your Lord, redeemed you."

The Torah's intentions is that we understand that the observance of all of the Torah's laws and ordinances is ultimately contingent on the consciousness of our history - our enslavement and our redemption. For man cannot be a servant to God if he remains a servant to flesh and blood, as the Sages put it: "For to Me the Children of Israel are servants, they are My servants, and not servants to servants."

If we accept this premise, we can also understand the intent of the Sages in their words: "Everyone who lives in the Land of Israel it is as if he has a God, and anyone who lives outside the Land it is as if he has no God."

The Diaspora Jew, even one who fulfills Torah observance, is as one who has no God because he remains a slave - enslaved to the attitudes, feeling, and policies of the nations among whom he resides. The Diaspora Jew, consciously or unconsciously, must always "look over his shoulder" to what his gentile neighbors and rulers thing. This is true even for Jews living in progressive, democratic societies. Outside the Land of Israel, the Jew is, at best, a guest, or, at worst, a slave who must quietly hide his true self from his gentile host or master.

The Jew who lives in the Land of Israel, even one who seems overtly distanced from Torah observance, has a God. He is free from human masters, and this freedom enables him to be a full servant to God. Shedding the shackles of slavery and the burden of the nations allows him to fulfill the first of the ten commandments, "I am the Lord your God."
For this reason it is especially painful to see any Jew leave the Land of Israel, even though we must be cautious in passing judgment. Life in the Land of Israel is fraught with challenge and, at times, great hardship.

Often the motives for leaving the Land of Israel lie in the quest for the material well-being, the "good life." Yet with the so-called "good life" comes enslavement, if not physical then psychological.

May we come to appreciate the true significance of our settling the land of Israel and the freedom it grants us. In this way we become free to serve only God, paving the road to our redemption.