Making Work Holy

requiring, among other things, that busi-
OK, sure. We'll complete the divine act of ness be conducted with honor and integri-
ty; that people treat each other with
creation by going to work every day.
kindness
and dignity; that workers be pro-
But, uh ... could you be a bit more spe-
tected;
that
health and welfare be safe-
cific? (Heading down the beltway this
guarded;
that
profits be shared with those
morning, listening to National Public
Radio and sipping a hot latte while nav- who help earn them," Rabbi Dosick writes.
In general, he says, Torah can offer
igating one-handed through the bumper-
sound,
practical guidelines on "how to
to-bumper ordeal, you probably didn't say
earn
a
living
while living decently, how
to yourself, "I'm off to complete the divine
to be productive and prosperous while be-
act of creation ...")
Exactly how one brings Torah to work ing honest, just and fair."
is an open question. Be honest, fair and
just, some say. Don't work on Shabbat,
or on the holidays, others suggest. Per- To sum up thus far: Work is a curse, a nec-
essary evil that we can make noble and
< worthy by using it as a means toward liv-
g ing a life inspired by, and in service of,
Torah. So far so good. Now there's just one
more small piece missing to this puzzle:

A Day With No Work

The coming of the Messiah and

FE the ultimate redemption of all hu-

the work of creation, some say, we actual-
ly hasten the day of redemption.
Yiddish writers, Jewish unionists and
labor Zionists in the early part of this cen-
tury caught onto this idea, and the tra-
dition Rabbi Waskow describes — of a
"joyful possibility" in Jewish labor — be-
came a driving force in their efforts to ef-
fect social change.
Many early Zionists (as well as Jewish
socialists and communists) argued that
hard work, especially agricultural labor, es-
pecially in the land of Israel, could and
should be a crucial element in the Jews' ef-
forts to bring about a Messianic era. In the
view of these pioneers, such work "enno-
bled the Jew and fulfilled him," Rabbi Bal-
lon explains, while also fulfilling the purpose
of creation.
In general, the rabbis and scholars tell
us, this promise of a final redemption — a
day of all rest — has been a driving force

throughout Jewish history. It is a promise
that makes the workday that much lighter,
and the Sabbath rest that much sweeter.
But still, it is nice to imagine what might
have been, if the other rabbis had won.
There were sages, remember, who argued
that it is better not to work at all in this
world: better to emulate today the perfec-
tion that the Torah promises will someday
be ours. Better to make every day a Sab-
bath ...
But alas, no such luck. As Rabbi Broyde
points out, the promise of future leisure does
not excuse us from working here and now.
"Adam and Eve walked around naked,
so are clothes a concession?" he asks. "The
assertion that something will be in Mes-
sianic times, is not an assertion that we
should aspire to bring this thing about now.
It is not really a valid Jewish argument."
Rabbi Broyde puts it in its simplest form
— and perhaps this is the understanding

ployer an honest day's work.
Overall, Jewish teachings on the sub-
ject of labor relations have always been
rooted in a notion of fairness and justice.
If the rabbis show "a predisposition to
treat workers with compassion [and] an
assumption that workers are vulnerable,"
Professor Schnall says, it only comes from
"the reality that they saw: that in fact
there is an enormous potential for abuse
in that relationship" — with the employ-
er as the likely abuser.

that most informs traditional Jewish think-
ing about labor: "Work became a part of the
human character after that first sin, just
like wearing clothes," he says. And just like
you gotta wear clothes, Jewish tradition
says you gotta go to work.
And so we fall from the Messianic ... back
to the mundane: ever crossing that bridge
built on intellect and faith, that carries us
back and forth, and back again, between
this world and the world-to-come. ❑

man beings!

Rabbi Jeffrey Ballon: "In a redeemed world there is
no need for work."

haps it is simply a question of "doing unto
others ..." As in all things Jewish, there
are levels of observance when it comes to
ennobling one's work.
The overall point, though, is that Ju-
daism's "ancient truths and enduring val-
ues" can help to make the modern
business world a place where "personal
growth, decency and dignity are the
everyday guides and goals," suggests Rab-
bi Wayne Dosick in his 1993 book The

Business Bible.

`The Bible is filled with civil legislation

Ready? OK then ...
In the first place, the rabbis have
promised that when the Messiah comes
— when the sacred reigns supreme —
there will be no more work to do at all,
like in Eden, or on the manna-strewn
road to Sinai. We get a taste of that fu-
ture redemption every week, they tell
us, when the Sabbath rest frees us from
working. Then we can devote ourselves
full-time to the study of Torah, to the ob-
servance of mitzvot, or commandments.
As Rabbi Ballon explains, the Messian-
ic promise suggests that "in a redeemed
world there is no need for work, because of
all the work that has come before."
An intriguing notion, this: that some-
how our everyday labors contribute toward
the healing of a shattered cosmos. Creation
exists, Judaism teaches, in order that the
Messiah might come. Thus, in completing

What Do You Owe Your Boss?

I

n the early part of this century, Jews
were among the foremost advocates
of the effort to unionize labor, and
many have traced this involvement
to a religious heritage that has an abid-
ing respect for the rights of the worker.
Torah and Jewish tradition are rife
with teachings that spell out the obliga-
tions of employers to their workers. It is
forbidden, for example, to withhold a la-
borer's wages even for a single day. Such
teachings served for centuries to ensure
the rights of the politically and economi-
cally powerless.
Lesser known, however, are those Jew-
ish teachings that make clear the oblig-
ations of the employee to his or her
employer.
In the course of his research, Yeshiva
University Professor David Schnall has

discovered some little-known, but high-
ly provocative, passages, which spell out
some of these duties.
In the first place, he said, there is "a
very firm requirement that employees
work hard, and work well, and work hon-
estly." Maimonides, for example, writes
that an employee may not "steal the la-
bor of his employer by wasting a bit here
and there and completing the day with
trickery. Instead, he must be most de-
manding upon himself and his time."
And the tradition goes even further,
stating, for example, that a worker can-
not moonlight if his or her full-time work
will suffer the following day.
Even more remarkable is the dictum
that a father cannot go hungry, even to
feed his own family, if his weakened state
detracts from his ability to give his em-

—Adam Katz-Stone

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Adam Katz Stone is a Maryland

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freelance writer.

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