Labor Rights, Labor Rights You Shall Pursue?

At our September 7th Saturday morning service, we were honored to hear from Mishkanites Frank and Margarita Klein, some of the foremost champions of labor rights in Chicago. They spoke to our tradition’s evolving concept of justice and equality, from the Torah to the Talmud to mystical texts and the modern day.

For High Holiday registration and information on pricing, schedule, venue, and more, head to https://www.mishkanchicago.org/high-holy-days/

****

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

So Frank and Margarita Klein are two amazing mishkanites who I've had the joy of teaching, but I've also, I think more more powerfully, have had the joy of being their student. If you want to know anything about the history of labor unions, labor organizing and labor rights in the city of Chicago and the country. These are the two people to talk to. It is actually it's really amazing to sit their feet and to hear their wisdom. And I'm really excited, and I think we're all very blessed to hear from both of them today about their work and how our tradition connects this very important work.

Thank you much too kind. Rabbi Deena, okay, yeah, good morning, everyone and Shabbat shalom. I want to thank Rabbi Steven, Rabbi Lizzi, Rabbi Ari and the Mishkan leadership for the opportunity for us to share our thoughts on today's parsha. So I'm going to join Asher. So congratulations Asher and Rabbi Lizzi on sharing with you kind of a broad view of today's Torah portion that is judges, for a number of reasons, excuse me, Asher sort of kind of went into a part of the Parsha, kind of going from ancient times to the modern in terms of the issue of sanctuary city. So what did that mean at that time, and what sort of values, what lesson do we draw that we can apply today? Rabbi Lizzi sort of referred to a view of judges and judgment as an internal practice, kind of referring back to a Hasidic master from three centuries ago, and so I'm going to join them in this, and I'm going to share a broad, broad view for several different reasons. Firstly, because it seems plain that the judgments referred to in the portion are not limited only to the portions criminal and civil commandments, but to the entirety of the commandments in the Torah. So can you folks tell me how many commandments, how many mitzvot are there all together in the Torah? Yeah, yeah. 613 I think, was the number that I've that I've usually seen. So in this Torah portion, there are 40. So that leaves 573 to go to Render judgments on right. So these same judges, they're referred to in the portion would be called upon to render decisions over a complaint that laborers were not paid, which is in a different Torah portion, in fact, in last week's or that the widows were not allowed to gather olives that had fallen to the ground during during a harvest. So so the portion, so the judgments are not confirmed, confined only to what we see in the portion. Secondly, on justice, justice shall you pursue? Sadek tirdoff, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, pointed out many times that repetition in the Torah usually signifies significance. Now justice, as used by the ancient Greeks and in modern English, is generally defined as fairness, equity and impartiality. That is the idea of the rule of law, the Hebrew word sadec a key to the portion. I think we can say it's the key due to what's being repeated in a very dramatic fashion, refers to a broader vision of justice that includes concern for the treatment of the laborer, the widow, the orphan, the refugee for how wealth is distributed, how land is cared for, and so on. And in the Jewish tradition, this is tzedakah, the rule of the rule of law, and more is conveyed by the Hebrew word Mishkan. And the rule of law is, of course, important, and it's part of today's Parsha, but Sadeq is mishpat and Sadaqah together, the early mystic text, the sephirah Bahir, has the very empowering teaching that when the people of Israel act with Sadeq, the Shekinah, the presence of the Lord, dwells amongst them. What's more, it suggests that Sadek is mentioned twice, because the first Sadek refers to the Shekinah, citing the prophet Isaiah, decoration that Sadek once dwelt in Jerusalem. The second Sadek is peace, shalom, which accompanies the shekem. Now, thirdly, I have a very practical reason for taking an expansive view into labor issues. Mishkan leadership has wanted to highlight the work of arise Chicago on labor issues like wage theft, workplace safety and the right to organize. Last week's Torah portion included a variety of commandments pertaining to worker issues, but we didn't have services on Labor Day weekend, as Rabbi Lizzi pointed out, that even spiritual workers have a right to a weekend offer every once in a while. So here I am setting the stage for arise. Chicago's membership director, Margarita Klein, I'm Frank Klein, so Margarita Klein, that's my wife. So what choice do I have? So our tradition gives special attention to attention to tzedakah. To be clear, this concept differs from the modern Western understanding of charity. Sadaqa is an ethical obligation to aid the poor, and do so in a way that protects their dignity and empowers the powerless to support themselves, helping them in developing their talents and skills, attesting to its centrality in the talmuds. Bhava Batra Rav Assi says, daca is equal to all of the other mitzvot combined. I refer again to the late Rabbi Sacks, who often emphasized that Jewish religious, social and even mystical thought has always tended towards the holistic, in keeping with the holistic view of the Torah. Mishkan itself goes beyond the simple rule of law, Mishkan must reflect the values of tzaku. It is not enough to just that judges be honest. The laws also must be just, and if they are not, as regards to racial and gender equality, living wages, worker safety, access to healthcare and housing and more than we have to work to change them. Sacks in his commentary on the Corinne Shalem, Shalem siddur observes that, and I quote The Prophets saved their most stinging prose for those practicing the meticulous observance of sacrificial laws, while ignoring the plight of the poor, the widow and the orphan, the empowering aspects of our tradition have a special relevance in tzedakah, given the gold setting mitzvah, there shall be no poor among you. I think this is supported by how the Sages of the Talmud applied tzedakah and Mishkan that is Sadeq to their own communities as we have it in Mishkan. So let's give ourselves a little credit here in promoting just laws to address racial equality, police reform, affordable housing, as well as doing some of the more charitable things when you think of the word, like resettling refugees and supporting asylum seekers, asylum seekers as Labor Day was just last week. I'd like to say a few words about the question of labor. Sadek, in our tradition, Talmudic scholars who were often skilled laborers themselves, derived forms of sick leave and workman's compensation from the commandments protecting indentured service in Exodus. 21 the leading North African Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Duran, wrote that employers must compensate laborers injured in their employ and indentured service are not required to make up for days lost due to illness. In fact, the Talmud even broached the concept of fringe benefits, according to a ruling in bhava mitsia, agricultural workers could eat from the fields in which they were laboring up to one DNR worth of cucumbers a day, for example, not a bad deal if you love cucumbers from the mitzvot on wages, poor debtors, indentured serve indentured workers and more. In Deuteronomy, the Talmud derived a variety of rights for tradesmen, sailors and other workers. The Talmud warns that employers who withhold wages are guilty of six violations, including theft and oppressing the poor. On the empowerment side, the Talmud recognized the guilds and trade unions to have been a part of Jewish communal life since the since the times of the temple. In fact, possibly the first strike in recorded history. Is discussed in Yoma 38 a wherein the sages recognized that when the temple's ritual, bakers, a highly skilled trade at the time, withheld their labor to secure fair rages and work rules to safeguard the quality of their products. They had been right to do so. What are modern, often systemic equivalents to which we might apply the Torah and Talmudic values in our own day? What. Age, theft and non living wages related to immigrant and unskilled labor and often undervalued work comes immediately to mind, but perhaps even salaried workers with salaries so low and student debts, rent and health care cast costs so high that even well educated professionals often have to start putting up, putting off, starting families, buying homes, and even pricing the cost of cans of beans to the point of losing agency over their own lives. So seems we have a lot of work to do. Now. I'd like to introduce my wife, Margarita, to say a few words about arrive Chicago's work, to bring sadec to the workplace.

Morning,

like my husband say, I'm Margarita crying, and I would like to thank Rabbi Deena and Rabbi Lizzi for the opportunity to be with you today. I'm the Director of Member organizing at arise Chicago. It's a known for profit, founded by faith leaders in 1991 our mission is to educate and organize immigrant workers in advocating for public and policy changes, so far, we have recovered over 9 million in stolen wages because workers were not paid the proper minimum wage over time or were forced to work off the clock. Arise, along with other coalitions alike, has also successfully worked to pass nine laws improving working conditions and protected 21 more from being repealed. Among the most recent new laws are Chicago's PTO ordinance, providing for total of 10 paid days off. The most robust in the country. In another law providing for five PTOs days in Cook County at the state of Illinois level, we passed the domestic workers Bill of Rights. This bill recognized the people who take care of our children, our elderly and clean our homes as employees, not as independent contractors. That is, workers who have the right to the protection of labor laws against discrimination and sexual harassment, among others. We do all this by connecting people, bringing the faith community together with workers, beginning with Moses, all faith traditions speak out against workplace exploitation, which make this partnership organic and effective. We live in a time of idolatry, the idolatry of wealth, which places profit profit over people, the idolatry of greed, which places material gains over the planet, the idolatry of selfishness, when the bottom line matters more than the People who makes that bottom line possible because some employers consider their workers disposable. In God's economy, no one is disposable. No one should be exploited or have their wages stolen. In God's economy, people and the planet must come before profit with the faith community arise is advancing God's economy, and workers are showing courage and determination to end the exploitations they have endured for decades. Here are just two examples, the workers at el milagro tortilla plant and the workers at Portillo's production plants, probably some of you are familiar with them, both build up knowledge and strategy with arise gaining $5,000.04 4000 increases in wages, respectively. They put an end to several unlawful practices, improve workplace safety and gain new respect on the job and admiration in the community. In both campaigns, the faith community hosted weekly workers meetings, met with workers, wrote letters to management, prayed at press conference and rallies and supported arise to get it done. You see, the presence of the faith community tells workers that there are moral issues here and that their struggle is righteous. Is the righteous one this faith. Presence inspires workers to fight for their humanity and their dignity. That is the essence of our work at arise we are honoring the humanity and dignity of every worker. Is the faith community that makes the work of arise Chicago possible, and please know we are not done yet. The struggle continues. We hope that you will become a part of it with us. Thank you. Applause.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai