This is the sermon I gave at Congregation Kneseth Israel this past Shabbat.
An Ode to Simon Klein on Labor Day Weekend
Take a deep breath. Go ahead. It is Shabbat. An opportunity to cease working. And pause. Congratulations. You are some of the few who chosen to spend part of the long weekend to be in shul today. Today is Labor Day Weekend, a weekend set aside to remember our workers and to work for worker’s rights. These are not new concepts nor are they antithetical to Judaism. In fact, labor relations starts right in the Torah and is included in this week’s parsha.
The idea of Shabbat that we learn about in the 10 Commandments, is a labor law. We are given two reasons in the Kiddush that Shabbat is holy, set apart. To remember that G-d ceased creating on Shabbat and to remember the Exodus from Egypt which allowed us time to worship, to serve G-d as free people. Slaves do not get to rest. The 5th commandment tells us that everyone in our community should rest, us, our children, our man servants and maidservants, even our animals. Everyone is entitled to this pause.
It was a radical concept. It is one many of us in this 24×7 culture have fallen away from. The Massachusetts Council of Churches has had a campaign for several years now entitled, Take Back Your Time which argues that every worker deserves some Sabbath time. They found in a Gallup poll that 79% of Americans say that Sunday is their favorite day of the week becomes it affords the opportunity to hibernate, read the Sunday paper, do a cross word puzzle, watch a football game, visit with friends. It is a change to relax and kick back. To be free to do what you want and not be on someone else’s schedule. This pause, it turns out, is necessary to being a productive member of society, a productive worker. G-d and the Israelites knew that thousands of years ago.
Perhaps Rabbi Akiva was the first labor organizer. According to the Talmud, he argued with the Roman governor of Israel to preserve Shabbat. The Romans, like the Greeks, could not appreciate the concept of Sabbath in which you would allow all of your slaves a “day off” of labor. How could giving people 1/7 of their time off be productive?
“What makes this day different than any other day?” the Roman Governor Turnusrufus asked Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva responded: “What makes you, different than any other person?” The governor answered, “The Emperor has so willed. He bestowed upon me special honor.” “And the Emperor of the world, has chosen this day, as a unique and holy day, bestowing upon it special honor.” Sanhedrin 65b
Perhaps Akiva had learned this courage from his teacher Joshua ben Chanina. Once the Emperor himself visited Rabbi Joshua ben Chanina Yehoshua on Shabbat and found the food to be exceptionally good. In explanation the sage told him that there is a special spice – “Sh-b-t” – which gives the Shabbat food its special flavor. When Rabbi Yehoshua was asked to give some to the emperor, he replied that the spice only works for one who observes Shabbat (Shabbat 119a). The emperor ordered that everyone should observe Shabbat.
Ahad Ha’am, the Zionist thinker said “Just as Israel kept the Sabbath so too has the Sabbath kept Israel.” Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “The Sabbath is a reminder of the two worlds–this world and the world to come; it is an example of both worlds. For the Sabbath is joy, holiness, and rest; joy is part of this world; holiness and rest are something of the world to come.” It is a foretaste of the world to come. Even Tevye gets into the act with his wisdom. “If I were rich I’d have the time that I’d lack to sit in the synagogue and pray and maybe have a sweet by the eastern wall. I ‘d discuss the holy books with the learned men 7 hours every day. That would be the sweetest gift of all. Ah…
So how does this relate to today’s Torah portion. In two critical ways. Today’s parsha, in its full reading has more mitzvoth than any other single parsha. 74 to be precise. They range in content, from ethical behavior—how we treat one another to spiritual behavior, how we are to treat G-d. Many of them are put in the context of “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your G-d redeemed you from there; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment.” These include a lot of mitzvoth to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. In fact we are not allowed to abhor an Edomite or an Egyptian, despite their sins against us and “Children born to them may be admitted into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation.” The sins of the parents are not transferred onto the children and children’s children. Important to keep in mind both as we approach the High Holy Days and for our Keruv committee. We are told here that we cannot deduct interest from loans to our countrymen, whether in money or food or anything that can be deducted as interest. And the verse that follows this morning’s triennial reading is perhaps the strongest example of how to treat workers. “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 out to the Lord against you and you will incur guilt.”
Rabbi Jill Jacobs , now Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, North America and the author of There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition and Where Justice Dwells: A Hands-On Guide to Doing Social Justice in Your Jewish Community wrote a teshuva for the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards that was approved in 2010 entitled the Living Wage Teshuvah. Teshuvah as we know at this season of preparation means return or repentance. It is about fixing mistakes by returning as she says to the path of G-d. This teshuvah, or answer or responsa requires that Jewish employers treat their workers with dignity and respect. It includes refraining from yelling at or embarrassing employees. It means that employees are paid a living wage. A living wage is defined as one sufficient for a person to afford food, housing, transportation, child care, etc. The amount of that wage is based on costs related to living in a specific town. Boston, New York, Los Angeles will have a higher living wage than Grand Rapids or Elgin. A living wage is considered to be at least 80% of the median income for that area. A living wage is higher than minimum wage. Not many people can make ends meet on minimum wage. The primary objective of the Living Wage is to prevent people from having to live below the poverty line despite working 40 or more hours each week. In addition—and directly related to today’s parsha, employers must pay employees money due on a timely basis! Employees have to provide appropriate safety equipment and training and not allow exposure to dangerous conditions. Finally employers are obligated to allow their workers to make independent decisions regarding unionization.
This is the Conservative Movement—based on today’s Torah portion. Labor Day was declared a public holiday first in 1894. Workers had not much to celebrate. There was an economic depression and a growing concentration of corporate wealth and power. Unions were being seen as the source of economic woes. A national railroad strike led to the firing of workers who dared to speak up leaving more than 30 workers dead and the strike leader, Eugene Victor Debs in jail. When I read this I wasn’t sure if I was reading American history or American current events. Jews were at the vanguard of the Labor Movement. The Jewish immigrants and children of immigrants. An injury to one worker was an injury to all. Collective bargaining made sense rather than dividing working people to an every man for himself. It was about building community. The labor movement helped in turn to build the middle class. Today you will hear arguments about how the labor movement is the cause for the ruin of our economy or individual businesses such as GM. That a unionized workforce is too expensive to be competitive. Or that the Chicago teachers who may strike next week do not have the interest of the children at heart.
This Labor Day, workers are again facing tough times. There is consistent unemployment and underemployment and that concentration of wealth and economic power not seen since the 19th century. Many American households are one paycheck away from homelessness. We argue that workers do not have the right to organize or to collective bargaining. Just look at what has happened in our neighboring states of Wisconsin and Indiana. The Jewish community is not immune to these hardships. We have members who are unemployed and underemployed. I know Jews in Boston who have lost their homes to foreclosure.
Do you remember the commercials, “What can brown do for you.” It was for UPS, a unionized shop. My husband who is retiring from UPS, on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, to join us here in Elgin, is a teamster. They protected his job when one of his managers thought he should quit after the trial period. They provide us with health insurance, amongst the best in the country. They are providing a pension and some retiree health benefits. And they provide a steady job with meaningful community that helped improve his self-esteem after a series of high tech layoffs. That’s what Brown did for us. While I was aware of the history of American Jews in the labor movement having learned about it proudly in Religious School; I hadn’t seen it in action. That moment when they saved Simon’s job was amazing. Are unions perfect? No. They need to make concessions too. But the principle behind them is based on these very basic Jewish values.
Steven Applebaum, the president of the Jewish Labor Council points out that the growing inequality has coincided with organized labor’s decline. Union membership is down to under 12%, the lowest in 70 years. He says that in poll after poll a majority of nonunion workers say they would like to join a union if they could but hostility of some employers and state and local governments has prevented them from organizing.
How we treat workers, all workers, even the strangers among us is very much a Jewish ideal, a value, a mitzvah. And it begins with Shabbat. So take that breath. Enjoy one last barbecue of the summer. Kick back and relax. Watch a football game. Take a nap. And remember, Shabbat is a sign between the people of Israel and G-d because we were once slaves. It is a gift. We are obligated to protect that gift and take care of our workers so that all us have the freedom of leisure. Ken yehi ratzon.