LEV358 Torah study influences its students to become more empathetic. For example, if we study the laws regarding employers and employees, we learn the Torah mandates paying a worker as soon as his job is complete (Deuteronomy 24:15; see also this verse); as the text puts it: "For he is needy and urgently depends on it." In a different context, the Tanchuma (in its commentary on Exodus 22:25-26) notes: "It is like the case of a man who had bought a sheath of corn which he placed upon his shoulder, and then walked in front of a donkey who was longing to eat it. But what did the owner do? When he reached home, he tied the sheaf high above the donkey so that the animal could not reach it. People said to him, 'You cruel man; the animal has been running the whole day for the sake of the sheaf, and now you refuse to give it to him.' So it is with the hired worker; the whole day has been toiling and sweating, hoping for his wages and you sent him away empty-handed" (Mishpatim number 10). Throughout history, and in many societies, wealthy people not only underpaid laborers, but often paid them late; they knew that even if their employees complained, the law was unlikely to protect them. But how could anyone study these two texts and not feel concern for the needs of his or her workers? At the very least, these texts teach us that not treating our employees fairly and compassionately is an offense against humanity and God.