Parshas Mishpatim is named so rightfully, for most of the judicial laws that govern strife are written in it. The beauty of the holy Torah, is that the source of all strife is also written as a preface to these laws.
"Ki Sikne Eved Ivri", can alternately be read, "When you do a Tikkun for a Jewish soul that fell into subjugation". Often a Jew goes through trying times, when darkness seems to lurk in every corner, and the happiness of being holy seems to allude him completely. The Torah teaches us how to withstand this trial and to get back to our original state of wholeness. Someone who never acquired the sweet taste of spirituality previously, will obviously not acquire it in such difficult times. But if he was previously married to his spiritual side, he can come out of this period as he was before, provided he does not succumb to the vain pursuits of the temporal world, the 'gentile maidservant', as the Torah calls it. If, Heaven forbid, he succumbs, and if he actually prefers hes new existence over his eternal one, all the four hundred forces of Esav's army, the numerical equivalent of the word 'Martzea", hold sway over him.
There are also special Jewish souls, royal souls that are called 'daughters of Hashem'. When such a soul sins, it needs to go back down into the murky swamps of mundaneness and bring back the Holy Sparks it dropped there. If during its sojourn in foreign territory it is treated cruelly and is subjugated to pettiness beyond its needs, Hashem Himself redeems it along with the Holy Sparks it lost.
Sometimes Hashem sends such a precious soul to dwell within the body of a Tzaddik, a 'son of Hashem', along with the Tzaddik's own spirit. When this happens, the Tzaddik must be very careful to care for this additional spirit in three areas in particular, Torah study, caution in Mitzvah performance, and devout prayer, 'She'era, Kesusa Veonasa'. If, Heaven forbid, he does not, the soul will be redeemed but the Tzaddik will not be spared. The kindness that Hashem showed the world till then, the Kessef, will be taken away and strife will raise its ugly head, with all the sorrow that accompanies it.
Adapted from Rabbi Vali's book on Shemos. Questions and subscriptions can be mailed to: the Yeshiva