Torah Gems - September 12th
This week's Torah Gems were prepared by
Danny Margolis
Parashat Ki Tetzey
From the front pages of the New York Times, the Forward, and other papers, we are learning about Jewish companies, doing business in and for the Jewish community, that treat employees poorly. Rabbi Hamilton has raised questions about the general trustworthiness of companies, owners, and supervisors who behave this way to guarantee that they are operating according to the principles and values of Jewish law. This is a particularly poignant issue because of what we learn in this week's parashah.
The following comment by Rabbi Laurie Coskey, comes from Mekor Chaim, a series of messages on the parashah by members of the United Jewish Communities' Rabbinic Cabinet, in 2004, with slight emendations and additions by Danny Margolis.
Parashat Ki Tetzey demands that we examine all aspects of our lives and the governance of our personal, social and business ethics. In America today, there is no more important ethical concern than how we treat our low wage workers, "the laborers" as they are referred to in our Torah text.
These men and women - and, unfortunately, children-- are often invisible to us. They work as home health care workers caring for our infirmed. They work as maids and janitors in our hotels and offices, they work in the fields, in the cities, and in food processing plants, earning minimum wages or just above. They are reported to be mistreated, and frequently penalized for accidents and absences; and they may not have vacation or sick days, health or dental insurance benefits.
It is here in our parashah that we find the basis for much of the halakhah and Jewish perspective on the rights of the laborer. We are instructed in Deuteronomy 24:14-15: "You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it; else he will cry to the Lord against you and you shall incur guilt." This law was created by our ancestors thousands of years ago to protect a worker's dignity and physical needs. The Talmud in Bava Metzia takes it a step further, "He who withholds an employee's wages is as though he deprived him of his life."
Throughout our Torah are many very specific instructions on the proper and just treatment of workers. They are often framed by a reminder that because we were workers/slaves in the land of Egypt, we must therefore show both justice and compassion for those who labor on our behalf. We must remember that though we began as 'avadim -workers - in Egypt, how easy it was for the "boss", who didn't remember Joseph, nor the
values of Tzedek- fairness and equity- that Joseph promulgated for everyone in Egypt , to subvert those basic principles and transform us into slaves. When Jews forget or ignore our basic mitzvot and values, we suffer, and the world is diminished as well.
We have a contribution to make to America as Jews: to share the wisdom of our system of values, including the protections afforded by our Torah and our Rabbinic tradition to those who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brows.
The prophetic mandates of all religions demand that we concern ourselves with the poor, particularly the working poor. It is within our reach to help these food processors, janitors, housekeepers, dishwashers, nursing home attendants, security guards, child care workers, landscapers and many other laborers, take a step out of poverty simply by giving them their due -- just wages and benefits for the efforts of their own hands. This begins with our own employees at KI (who, so far as I know, are treated well, including our subcontractors), and extends to our influence in the larger community.
Rabbi Laurie Coskey is the spiritual leader of Chavurah Kol Haneshama in San Diego, CA
The following comment by Rabbi Laurie Coskey, comes from Mekor Chaim, a series of messages on the parashah by members of the United Jewish Communities' Rabbinic Cabinet, in 2004, with slight emendations and additions by Danny Margolis.
Parashat Ki Tetzey demands that we examine all aspects of our lives and the governance of our personal, social and business ethics. In America today, there is no more important ethical concern than how we treat our low wage workers, "the laborers" as they are referred to in our Torah text.
These men and women - and, unfortunately, children-- are often invisible to us. They work as home health care workers caring for our infirmed. They work as maids and janitors in our hotels and offices, they work in the fields, in the cities, and in food processing plants, earning minimum wages or just above. They are reported to be mistreated, and frequently penalized for accidents and absences; and they may not have vacation or sick days, health or dental insurance benefits.
It is here in our parashah that we find the basis for much of the halakhah and Jewish perspective on the rights of the laborer. We are instructed in Deuteronomy 24:14-15: "You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it; else he will cry to the Lord against you and you shall incur guilt." This law was created by our ancestors thousands of years ago to protect a worker's dignity and physical needs. The Talmud in Bava Metzia takes it a step further, "He who withholds an employee's wages is as though he deprived him of his life."
Throughout our Torah are many very specific instructions on the proper and just treatment of workers. They are often framed by a reminder that because we were workers/slaves in the land of Egypt, we must therefore show both justice and compassion for those who labor on our behalf. We must remember that though we began as 'avadim -workers - in Egypt, how easy it was for the "boss", who didn't remember Joseph, nor the
values of Tzedek- fairness and equity- that Joseph promulgated for everyone in Egypt , to subvert those basic principles and transform us into slaves. When Jews forget or ignore our basic mitzvot and values, we suffer, and the world is diminished as well.
We have a contribution to make to America as Jews: to share the wisdom of our system of values, including the protections afforded by our Torah and our Rabbinic tradition to those who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brows.
The prophetic mandates of all religions demand that we concern ourselves with the poor, particularly the working poor. It is within our reach to help these food processors, janitors, housekeepers, dishwashers, nursing home attendants, security guards, child care workers, landscapers and many other laborers, take a step out of poverty simply by giving them their due -- just wages and benefits for the efforts of their own hands. This begins with our own employees at KI (who, so far as I know, are treated well, including our subcontractors), and extends to our influence in the larger community.
Rabbi Laurie Coskey is the spiritual leader of Chavurah Kol Haneshama in San Diego, CA
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