{"id":59432,"date":"2021-02-05T17:19:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T23:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=59432"},"modified":"2021-02-05T17:19:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T23:19:46","slug":"off-the-pulpit-judaism-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-judaism-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Judaism works!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

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\u201cSix days shall you work,\u201d says the commandment concerning the Shabbat. Work is as essential to human dignity as resting from work. Human beings are created in part for work; God places Adam and Eve in the garden \u201cto keep and tend it.\u201d Labor, say the Rabbis, honors the person engaged in it (B. Nedarim 49b).<\/p>\n

There are many regulations about the dignity and proper treatment of workers. The Talmud tells a story of two laborers charged with repairing wine bottles which they accidentally broke. The employer took their cloaks. When the Judge ordered him to return them the employer asked, \u201cIs that the law?\u201d The Judge answered by quoting proverbs, \u201cSo you may walk in the way of the good\u201d and when told the men were hungry and poor ordered their wages paid as well. When the employer again asked, \u201cIs that the law?\u201d the Judge quoted the end of the verse, \u201cAnd keep to the paths of the just\u201d (Prov. 2:20).<\/p>\n

To learn more about the future of work, its problems and possibilities, see Working Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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