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Labor RightsText
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We have already explained in another place that the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch, stating that one is not obligated to give tzedakah until he has earned enough to support himself, deals only with fixed gifts such as tithes. Everyone – even a poor person who is sustained by tzedakah – is obligated to fulfill the basic mitzvah of tzedakah by giving at least a third of a shekel each year. Now there is something fundamental about the details of the laws above that troubles me deeply. הנה כבר בארנו בסי' רמ"ח סעי' ג' דזה שכתבו שאינו חייב ליתן צדקה עד שיהיה לו פרנסתו זהו בצדקה תמידיות מעשר או חומש אבל לקיים מצות צדקה שלישית שקל בשנה מחוייב כל אדם אף עני המתפרנס מן הצדקה. האמנם בעיקרי הדברים ק"ל טובא דאם נאמר דברים כפשוטן דאלו קודמין לאלו ואלו לאלו דהכוונה שא"צ ליתן כלל למדרגה שאחר זה ולפ"ז הא הדבר ידוע שלכל עשיר יש הרבה קרובים עניים וכ"ש לבעה"ב שהצדקה שלו מועטת וא"כ לפ"ז אותם העניים שאין להם קרובים עשירים ימותו ברעב ואיך אפשר לומר כן.
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The Tur writes in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon: “A person’s own livelihood takes precedence over that of anyone else, and one is not required to give tzedakah until he [or she] has acquired a livelihood, as it says: “And your fellow will live with you” (Leviticus 25:36), meaning your life takes priority over that of your fellow’s. A person who earns a living, like that of an important land owner, that allows him to eat bread, meat and spices and dress nicely, should certainly give a tenth or a fifth of his or her income. כתב הטור שם רב סעדיה גאון חייב אדם להקדים פרנסתו לכל אדם ואינו חייב לתת צדקה עד שיהיה לו פרנסתו שנאמר וחי אחיך עמך, חייך קודמין לחיי אחיך. האיש שמרויח פרנסתו כבעל בית חשוב שאוכל כראוי לחם ובשר ותבשילין ולובש ומכסה א"ע כראוי וודאי דחייב בצדקה מעשר או חומש מפרנסתו.
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Though it is the case that according to the law the owner is not liable for the damages of the worker…I am inclined to say that the owner is warned by the Torah to do all that is possible to insure his workers from the danger of death or disability, as it says: “You shall make a parapet for your roof and you shall not bring blood-guilt upon your house” (Deuteronomy 22:8), which includes any hazard which is likely to cause injury, like a mad dog or a rickety ladder [Bava Kamma 15b, Choshen Mishpat 427:5]. אם אמנם מצד ההלכה אין בעל הבית חייב בנזקי הפועל…נוטה אני לומר שבעל הבית מוזהר מן התורה לעשות כל מה שאפשר להבטיח פועליו מסכנת מות או מום ככתוב: "ועשית מעקה לגגך ולא תשים דמים בביתך" שכולל כל מכשול העלול להזיק כמו כלב רע וסולם רעוע וכו'. מכאן אנו למדין חובת בעל הבית או הקבלן לדאוג בדיקנות זהירה בתנאי העבודה שיהיו בטוחים מכל מכשול הגורם לאיזה אסון שהוא…ובאם לאו הוא נלכד בעוון "לא תשים דמים בביתך וצריך כפרה. אבל אין זה דבר היוצא בדיינין.
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I would be a traitor to those poor burned bodies, if I were to come here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public—and we have found you wanting. The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. We know what these things are today: the iron teeth are our necessities, the thumbscrews are the high-powered and swift machinery close to which we must work, and the rack is here in the firetrap structures that will destroy us the minute they catch fire.
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I am your God who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians to be their slaves no more, who broke the bonds of your yoke and made you walk upright - the image presented by this verse is one of an ox that is accustomed to wearing the yoke made for it. The ox keeps its head bowed (even when it is not wearing the yoke), as though it knows that the yoke will be placed upon it (at any moment). Even when the yoke is taken off, the ox is ready to accept it again after a short while has passed. אֲנִי ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִהְיות לָהֶם עֲבָדִים וָאֶשְׁבּר מֹטֹת עֻלְּכֶם וָאוֹלֵךְ אֶתְכֶם קוֹמְמִיּוּת - ואשבר מטת עלכם. הוא משל כמו שור שרגיל לישא עול שנוצר לזה. וראשו כפוי למטה כמו שיודע שהעול יהא מונח עליו. ואפילו בשעה שמסירים העול מעליו יודע שאחר שעה מוכן הוא שנית למשאו. עד שמשברים את העול לעיניו הוא בטוח שלא יחרוש עוד. ועדיין הוא בראש נמוך מרוב הרגלו לכך. עד שבא בעליו ומרגילו להגביה ראשו ולילך קוממיות.
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Most people are not outright thieves, taking their neighbors’ property and putting it in their own premises. However, in their business dealing most of them get a taste of stealing whenever they permit themselves to make an unfair profit at the expense of someone else, claiming that such a profit has nothing to do with stealing. It is not merely the obvious and explicit theft with which we have to concern ourselves, but any unlawful transfer of wealth from one individual to another that may occur in everyday economic activities.
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When two armies are locked in battle, the place where the struggle takes place is called the front line. This line is drawn at the place where the two forces meet. On either side, there is territory that belongs to that side and is thus not the location of battle. The front line moves and changes, but battle, generally speaking, occurs only where the two sides meet. Our moral choices can be thought of in a similar way. There are decisions that we have made in our lives so many times that they are no longer decisions.
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Within the workers' organization, which is formed for the purpose of guarding and protecting the work conditions, there is an aspect of righteousness and uprightness and tikkun olam. The workers' organization may sue both the employer and the worker who causes this [problem], for unorganized labor brings damage and loss of money to workers. For the unorganized worker works under worse conditions, both in regard to wages and in regard to working hours, etc. And this is likely to make working conditions worse in general.
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This must be our aim, especially in this young society being formed in Palestine out of the desire of the (Jewish) people to preserve its character and its “self” through work and creation. The young Jewish women who come here want not only to fulfill their national roles as daughters of our nation, but also to find themselves, the “self” of the woman-person, who has no more fitting place in the world in which to find the roots of her soul and to give it expression than in the workers’ sector of our land.
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Whoever withholds an employee’s wages, it is as though he has taken the person’s life from him. כל הכובש שכר שכיר כאילו נוטל נפשו ממנו 
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