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The Mishna (22b) discusses how non-Jewish slaves can be purchased or be freed. Such slaves can be bought with money, a document of purchase (shetar) or an act that symbolizes ownership (hazakah). There is a difference of opinion regarding methods that can be used allowing them to take possession of themselves (i.e., be freed from slavery). According to Rabbi Meir, someone else can purchase them, although they cannot purchase themselves; the Hakhamim allow a slave to purchase his own freedom, as long as the money that he uses belongs to someone else.
Can a slave use his own money to emancipate himself? What if a master dies without heirs - who is permitted to take on his adult slaves? His minor slaves? Where can the money paid for emancipation come from? Should slaves be freed early in any case? Does a slave have the ability to acquire for himself while in servitude? What if the master has no means with which to acquire? When a slave receives his bill of manumission, is he simultaneously permitted to acquire? Should these halachot align with the halachot regarding divorce, where movement from one location to another defines some of the changes in rights and responsibilities?
WE compare and contrast 2 great thinkers of the 20th century: Rav Kook and Erich Fromm’s view of slavery.