The Working Poor 93

back.” He said to him:“Is this the law?” He[Rav] said to him:“Yes,[in compliance with the sacred instruction]‘That you may walk in the way of good men’(Prov. 2:20).

They[the porters] then said to Rav,“We are poor and we have worked all day, and we are hungry, and we have nothing.”

Rav said to him[Rabbah]:“Go and give them their wages.” He said to him,“Is this the law?” He said to him:“Yes,[in compliance with the sacred instruction] ‘and keep the paths of the righteous’(Prov. 2:20).

Technically, the porters were liable for at least part of the damage.®' But in dealing with employees, we are instructed to go beyond the letter of the law. As Rashi points out, Rav’s reference to Prov. 2:20 serves to remind Rabbah bar Bar Chanan of the principle of lifenim mi-shurat ha-din.** Indeed, Jewish ethics and morality compel us to be moved by the workers’ heart wrenching plea:“We are poor, and we have worked all day, and we are hungry and we have nothing.” The simple wage earner is often in a vulnerable and tenuous position. Not only are we to err on the side of leniency in regard to the liability of workers for damage they may cause, we are also instructed to look after their personal welfare. The stark consequence of withholding payment to our workers is that, God forbid, they and their families may go hungry. As Nachmanides (1194 Spain- 1270 Eretz Yisrael) taught:

And so Scripture commands[the employer] to pay him

during his day as soon as he finishes his work...in

order that he could purchase with his wages what he,

his wife and his children need to eat at night. Because

he is poor as are most of those who hire themselves

out for the day. He has staked his life upon this wage

to buy with it food to sustain his life.’