Richard S. Rheins

CONCLUSIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROGRESSIVE HALAKHAH

As we review the primary texts, it is evident that throughout halakhaic literature, Judaism seeks a balance that is mindful of both the difficult circumstances of the working poor and the rights of the employer. Halakhah rejects practices that are too strict and unsympathetic to the plight of the poor. And at the same time, halakhah conveys the awareness that policies that neglect the vital interests of employers will, in the long run, adversely affect employers, workers, and society as a whole.

A marvelous aggada in the Babylonian Talmud illustrates the halakhic ideal: a harmonious relationship between workers and employers. Thus we read in B. Shabbat 127b:

The Rabbis taught in a baraita“One who judges

another favorably is himself judged favorably.” There

was an incident[that illustrates this principle]. A

certain man from the upper Galilee went down and

hired himself out to a farmer in the south for three years. On the eve of Yom Kippur he[the worker] said

[to the farm owner]:“Give me my wages, and I will go

and provide for my wife and children.” He[the farm

owner] said:“I have no money.” He[the worker] said:

“Give me[my wages worth in] produce.” He said to

the worker:“I have none.”“Then give me land.”“I

have none.”“Give me livestock.”“I have none.”

“Give me mattresses and cushions.”“I have none.”

The worker then slung his belongings on his back and

returned home with a dejected spirit.

After the festival, the farm owner took[the worker’s]

wages along with three donkeys. One[donkey] was

carrying food, one carrying drink, and one with