LEV356 The study of oshek gives the contemporary Reform Jew a way of looking at the nexus of ritual practice and social justice in sanctification of our daily meals. Oshek, the oppressor of a laborer, is forbidden by the Torah (Leviticus 19:13-14). It is a transgression against God as well as against the exploited worker (Leviticus 19:11-13). Oshek is first prohibited in the “Holiness Code” in Leviticus 19:13: Lo taashok et rei-acha, “Do not oppress your neighbor. Do not withhold that which is due your neighbor and do not rob him. The wages earned by a day laborer shall not remain overnight with you until the morning.” It occurs again in Deuteronomy 24:14-15: [these verses]. Writing in eleventh-century France, Rashi interpreted this text prohibiting oshek to apply particularly to a farm worker. V’eilav hu noseh et nafsho, “It is the farm worker who risks his nefesh, his life, climbing up a ladder or hanging from a tree to do his work.” (Pentateuch with Rashi Commentary, 119). The classic sacred sources of Judaism call on us to actively oppose the oppression or exploitation of the farm worker who frequently toils under dangerous conditions. (Ibid.) What then is the relationship between Jewish dietary ritual and the prohibition of oshek? The prophet Isaiah preached that exploitation of the laborer actually nullifies the value of a dietary ritual observance (Isaiah 57:14-58:14). In these passages, Isaiah proclaimed that God is unresponsive to the ritual piety of fasting while the laborer is oppressed. Instead, God desires a fast comprised of breaking every yoke, sharing one’s bread with the hungry, housing the homeless, and clothing the naked. This view became so essential to Judaism that Isaiah’s words became the haftorah portion for the Day of Atonement. it provides the linkage every Yom Kippur between filling the dietary ritual of fasting and the ethical responsibilities of social justice. Isaiah’s ancient words describe the social justice goals we help fulfill when we become part of the contemporary farm workers’ movement. (National Farm Workers Ministry website: www.nfwm.org). (By Richard Litvak, “OSHEK: The Meeting Point of Ritual Piety and Human Moral Purity in a Contemporary Reform Kashrut”)