Gifts on the Road to Mental Freedom

"But when you send him [the Hebrew slave] away from you free , you shall not send him away empty handed. Adorn him generously..."(Deut. 15:13-14)

The Torah commands us to give a gift upon sending away the person who has worked for us. What is the nature of this gift? Is it part of the payments and benefits that a master owes to his worker or is it a form of tzedaka (donation) unrelated to wages. It seems clear that the latter is a more accurate description from the next verse in the same passage. "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Hashem, your G-d, redeemed you; therefore I command you regarding this matter today."(Deut. 15:16)'

The release from Egypt of the Jewish people was the ultimate show of free kindness and generosity on G-d's behalf. The miracles that G-d wrought and the riches that the Jews left with cannot be considered as a wage or reward for their work in Egypt. Rather, they are an example of a free gift. So also the commandment of "adorning" a released Hebrew slave involves giving a free gift beyond any legal financial obligations. We have to reenact the "coming out of Egypt" for our workers through fulfilling the "adorning" commandment.

In spiritual terms, a servant and master represent two opposite states of consciousness - restricted consciousness and expanded consciousness. Restricted consciousness comprising very basic mental functions while expanded consciousness describes the ability to delve deeply and meditate on a certain idea at length, until it becomes internalized completely in all its aspects. Usually, a student's mental state compared to his teacher is like the relationship between restricted and expanded consciousness, or the relationship between a slave and a master. While a teacher is obligated to teach the student so that they will eventually be able to reach parity with their teacher's normal restricted mentality, the free gift from the teacher involves giving the student the tools to even reach the level of the teacher in his expanded mental state.

When I am teaching someone a certain concept, I need to teach them the basic principles and definitions. But I must also reveal to them the added levels of complexity that make up a mature understanding of the idea. The student must be given a glimpse of the challenges as well as benefits involved in studying and living with the idea for many years. The expanded consciousness of the teacher is a vision of the ultimate freedom that can be achieved with the proper toil and self-application.