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Archive for the ‘Labor’ Category

From this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tetzei:
You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it, else he [...]

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Tyra Banks: Friend of the Working Man

In a previous blog post I discussed the Congress Hotel strike in Chicago, America’s longest running labor strike at five years and counting.  The saga unfolds: it turns out that none other that “America’s Next Top Model” was prepared to cross the picket line when they announced they would be holding auditions at the Congress [...]

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You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land.
(Deuteronomy 24:14)

Want to do something meaningful this Labor Day? Consider supporting the The Employee Free Choice Act: bipartisan legislation that promotes the right to join a union as a fundamental [...]

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I spent an incredible day yesterday in Postville, Iowa, where an interfaith mobilization of nearly 1,500 people prayed, marched, sang and testified in solidarity with the 390 immigrant Agriprocessor workers arrested in the May 12 raid. I’m still processing the experience the morning after - suffice to say this action provided a powerful ray of [...]

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Tonight I was back at the Broadview Detention Center - a facility west of Chicago where undocumented workers are processed before their final deportation. I was there to participate in the “Night of 1,000 Conversations” - a program sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The all-night vigil offered an evening of [...]

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I spent my afternoon yesterday with 1,000 other demonstrators in front of the Congress Park Hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Ave. - the site of the longest ongoing labor strike in the country. Marking the fifth anniversary of the strike, it was certainly the largest labor demonstration this city has seen in some time.
Some shameful stats: [...]

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What can you say about the situation at the AgriProcessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa other than it was the kind of thing for which the term “shandeh fur de goyim” was invented?
The Jewish world has been seriously abuzz about this whole big mess for a several weeks running now. If by chance you haven’t [...]

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One of the best pieces I’ve read about being Jewish on Labor Day is this article from The Jewish Advocate by David Dolev of the New England Jewish Labor Committee. As the rabbi of a congregation that is currently building a new synagogue facility, I was especially appreciative of his closing paragraph:
Let us remember all [...]

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From this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo:
“Cursed is he that removes his neighbor’s landmark.” (Deuteronomy 27:17)
This curse forms the basis of the commandment known as Hasagat G’vul, (literally, “infringement of boundary”) which, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, was intended to prohibit unfair competition in business or trade. As it is clearly wrong to [...]

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The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time. It shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day, God ceased and was renewed. (Exodus [...]

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