GEN425 See [[GEN277]] Genesis 2:15 till BOROJMV 82

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GEN427 To our sages, the best of all possible worlds would be one in which we did not have to support ourselves and our loved ones, but could devote our lives to the study of Torah. Jewish folklore similarly fantasizes about studying with Moshe Rabbenu, Moses, our Teacher, in the world to come. Yet in this world, where we must produce our bread "with the sweat of our brows" [this verse], most of us are able to devote only a few precious moments in our hectic schedules to a little Torah. Apparently that is not a new problem. A custom arose among eleveth-century French Jews of Rashi's time to include a "bare-bones" minimum of study text that each Jew would recite at the start of the daily early morning service. One's obligation to fulfill the commandment of Torah study is thus satisfied with three verses from the Torah and two rabbinic passages (T. Ber. 11b). Let us see how even this pittance of education helps to shape our lives. (Continued at [[NUM50]] Numbers 6:24 Lord BOROJMV 255). 

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GEN426 The poverty of Hillel was proverbial. He was a charcoal-burner who spent more than half of his meager earnings to be admitted to the academy of the great teachers Shemaiah and Abtalyon. A similar profession was followed by R. Joshua who lived in a house the walls of which were begrimed from his work. Berachot 28a  R. Johanan, a shoemaker; Avot 4:14 R. Judah, a baker Jerusalem Talmud, Chullin 2:1; Abba Saul was a kneader of dough Pesachim 34a as well as a grave-digger. Niddah 24b. All these translated into reality the advice God gave to Adam: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” [this verse]. They sincerely believed that “idleness leads to lewdness: lewdness to mental instability” Ketubot 5:5 They emphasized that “great is work, for it honours the workman” Nedarim 49b; that Torah is good only when it is combined with a trade; for only the practice of both leaves man little time for sin. Avot 2:2 LEHRMAN 230

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GEN424 Most people go to work primarily in order to earn a living. This is the consequence of the “curse of Adam,” which decreed: [this verse]. At the same time, most of us spend more time interacting with our colleagues at work than with family or friends, which highlights the need to pay attention to the human side of human resources. Examining the Jewish sources, we can distinguish three prominent themes regarding employer/employee relations, or what is known today as “human resources.” One theme is the fundamental interdependence of the two sides, and the responsibility of employer and employee alike to fulfill their side of the employment bargain in a responsible fashion. Maimonides writes, “Just as the employer is warned not to steal the wage of the [employee] and not to delay it, so the [employee] is warned not to steal the work of the employer and idle a little here and a little there.” Maimonides, Sekhirut 13:7  Alongside this consideration is the recognition that despite the ostensibly equal status of employer and employee in the bargain, the hired employee is never quite the equal of the boss. Since the employee is more vulnerable, a large body of laws and customs provided him with special rights that make his subordinate status less extreme and also more tolerable. For example, the Torah warns the employer to pay wages promptly. Deuteronomy 24:15  Finally, we find a consistent emphasis on the human side of human resources—the need to supplement ethical behavior in the monetary aspects of work with thoughtful conduct in interpersonal relations in the workplace.  For example, the Torah tells us not to lord it over our servants, Leviticus 25:43 and Jewish tradition urges us to apply the same standards to ordinary worker relations. Sefer ha-Hinnuch 346 MEIR 175

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GEN422 Before Adam sinned it was not necessary for him to till the soil. “With the sweat of your face will you eat bread” [this verse] is indeed a curse, but it is a dispensation as well. Without such dispensation Adam would have had no right to plow the field or to uproot thorns and thistles. One who enters his neighbor’s field and engages in such acts is an intruder and usurper. Since the land was created by God, Adam had no right to till the soil unless given specific dispensation.  In declaring, “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread” God at one and the same time grants dispensation for tilling the soil and indicates that henceforth it is the divine will that Adam do so. Adam may not longer simply rely only upon the largess of God; he must till the soil for sustenance. ROSNER 22

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GEN423 Jewish tradition teaches that work is a source of kavod. When we have done our economic share, we have a different relationship to what we consume. The idea that labor is a critical source of human dignity has powerful biblical and rabbinic support. The God in whose image we are created is pictured, from the very first chapter of Genesis, as a working God, one who creates on every one of the first six days—and then creates daily, as is stated in the first blessing of the morning service—Hamehadesh betuvo bekhol yom tamid ma’asey v’reyshit, “who in goodness renews the work of creation every day.” Some people picture perfection is immutable. Not the Jews. Thank God that God does finally rest on the seventh day, reminding us that rest, as well as work, is Godly. The rabbis required fathers to teach their sons a trade; we would broaden this to include all parents and all children. From Pirkey Avot 3:17 we learn that “where there is no flour, there is no Torah Book & Portion; where there is no Torah, there is no flour.” This reminds us that worldly needs (flour) and spiritual needs (Torah) must be met in balance with each other. “You will eat the fruit of your labor and be happy, and it will be well with you” says the Psalmist (Psalms 128:2). The Talmud (Berakhot 8A) interprets this verse to mean “happy” in this world and “well with you” in the world to come, and goes on to point out that reverence for God (yirat Shamayim) does not by itself guarantee that things will go well in the next world. Work is thus seen as having redemptive power for the person who undertakes it. Productivity has value beyond the external goods purchased. Producing value also has worth in terms of the workers’ experience of the world and their place in it. After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam was told that he would eat bread only by the sweat of his brow [this verse], and the Talmud (Pesahim 118A) notes that he felt relieved upon hearing this because he understood that making bread involved toil that would separate him from the other animals.  The punishments of Eden may also conceal blessings. Though work and childbirth may be among the most difficult of life’s tasks, they can also be among the most rewarding.  While work conveys dignity, idleness is often portrayed as dangerous. The Mishna (Ketubot 5.5) states that people who can afford not to work should work anyway because idleness can lead to lewdness or depression.  The rabbis say that no matter how wealthy one is, one has an obligation to personally play some role in the preparations for Shabbat. Without making the effort to prepare for Shabbat, we would not be able to fully appreciate the rest and joy that it brings. A midrash (Tanhuma Vayetze 13) says that “when a person toils with both hands, God grants blessing.” While we might not all agree with the theology of this passage, the point it makes about work is clear—our lives are shaped and given meaning, in part, by the work that we do. Of course not all work conveys dignity. Oppressive work conditions, poor treatment of workers and devaluing the results of labor remove the meaning and satisfaction from work. Labor that is dehumanizing or degrading robs the worker of kavod (dignity or honor). Leading a life of kavod is one of the important reasons to work. Thus, a good society is one that ensures meaningful work to those who are willing and able to do it. Work should not be understood in purely selfish terms as producing value only for the worker. One rabbinic tale (Vakikra Rabba 25.5) describes an old man planting a tree. The emperor Hadrian happens by and asks why the old man is planting the tree since it will take many years to bear fruit and the old man will not benefit. The old man replies that just as his ancestors planted for him, so is he planting for those who come after him. This popular story uses an apt metaphor. Our work is always about planting. We cannot know the final outcome. All we can do is labor with a clarity of wholesome intentions—plant seeds of emet, kavod, and kehila (truth, respect and community). Work can be a generative and redemptive act.  Employers must meet several conditions for work to produce kavod for their employees. The employer must treat the worker as a person who has kavod. The worker must see the work as accomplishing something worthwhile. And the conditions under which the worker laborers must be compatible with worker dignity in terms of hours, safety, physical surroundings, compensation and so on.  One of the most consistent and central teachings of the biblical prophets was their profound objection to the exploitation of workers. TEUTSCHEO 15-19

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GEN428 See [[GEN412]] Genesis 3:18 thorns MEIR 190-193

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GEN429 We must make an effort to earn a livelihood.  A person might have been able to sit idly [and wait] for the realization of what was ordained [as his] if not for the penalty imposed upon all men.  As a result, man is obligated to expend a minimum of effort in order to earn his livelihood, for thus has the Supreme King decreed.  It is like a tax, which must be paid by the whole of mankind and which cannot be evaded.  PATH 151 (Continued at [[DEUT694]] Deuteronomy 14:29 actions PATH 151).

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GEN431 Jewish teachers have realized that, though we humans are only one more creature created by God, how are unique likeness to God requires us to hold our bodies in special regard. After all, before the expulsion from the Garden of Eden it was God, no less, who made the first clothes for Adam and Eve [this verse]. The rabbis so prize modesty that they imaginatively find it in the conduct of our “cousins,” the animals.  “The dove is modest in its conduct and graceful in its movements” Song of Songs Rabbah 1:15, 2, and reputedly, “camels are modest [private] about their copulation” Genesis Rabbah 76:7. “Standing around naked in inevitably decreases a person’s dignity” Berachot 2:14 The medieval Roman commentator Yehiel b. Yekutiel agrees: “It is great immodesty in a man to go about naked, even in his own home. He therefore demeans himself by behaving like an animal” Sefer Maalot Hamiddot. So most of us put clothes on even if we don’t expect visitors. BOROJMV 153

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GEN437 We usually think of “clothing the naked” as mere metaphor.  But for much of Jewish history this phrase had a far more literal meaning. Jews lived on poverty’s fringes; subject to rulers’ whims or mob violence, they easily found themselves stripped of their goods. The rabbis had no difficulty associating the duty to “clothe the naked” with God’s exemplary act in Eden.  For when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they knew that they were naked and needed makeshift clothes to cover themselves: “Adonai Elohim made tunics of skins for Adam and his wife, with which God then clothed them” [this verse]. Rabbinic preaching asks us to imitate God and care for the unfortunates among us. When disaster strikes, we take the duty to clothe the naked quite literally. Whether monsoons or earthquakes devastate communities thousands of miles away, or floods or hurricanes ravish areas closer to home, the losses are immense. For all that governments and private agencies do to help, they can’t completely carry the burden when many people lose just about everything. Then we also feel the imperative not to let those people go naked, but provide as best we can the basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing. And even when nature is relatively benign, there are always those who, for whatever reason, can use what no longer suits us. But we cannot neglect saying a word about a far more pervasive problem: people who, one way or another, are stripped of their dignity. “Outsiders” of every variety are regularly degraded. And even those who seem integrated into the mainstream of their communities suffer at the hands of the many who debase others. Creating humane working conditions, respectful teacher-student relationships, sensitively egalitarian marriages, a politics of merit—these are the great challenges for gemilut hasadim today. BOROJMV 47-8

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