The Working Poor 91
servants.”* In the Shulchan Arukh, Caro codified that interpretation, writing:“A time-worker may retract even before the specified work period is over. The employer may not force him to complete the work because Jews are God ’s slaves , not the slaves of other people.”*
Rabbi Meir of Rottenberg(Germany , c. 1215-1293) confirmed the principle that“all the laws and regulations that benefit a Hebrew slave also apply to a hired worker.”*” Those rights include provisions for sick days and ha’anakah, severance pay.** Concerning the Hebrew slave who is freed after six years of labor, the Torah teaches: “lo t’shalhenu reigam, you shall not send him away empty. You shall furnish him liberally(ha-a-niq ta-a-niq) out of your flock and out of your winepress; give to him from all that the Lord your God has blessed you”(Deut. 15:13-14). The talmudic interpretation of these verses expanded the protection and the benefits for the servants.* In turn, we find these rights and benefits owed to the freed Hebrew slave were later codified and granted to the modern laborer.” For instance, Sefer haChinukh derives one negative commandment and one positive commandment from Deut. 15:13-12. Namely, that we are forbidden by the Torah to send a Hebrew servant away empty-handed and we are commanded by the Torah to provide him with a generous severance(ha’anakah).”® Most importantly, the author of Sefer haHinukh® wrote that the mitzvot dealing with severance for one’s freed slave are applicable to the hired hand in the modern era:©... If he hired one of the Israelites and the man served him a long time or even a short time, he(the employer) is to give him(the laborer) a liberal bonus(ya-a-niq lo) from that which the Lord has blessed him when he leaves.”