Deuteronomy 24: 14-15:
"Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. In the same day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD and it be sin in thee."
G-d asks us to be fair and considerate with the people we employ. "A servant" in Biblical times can be translated as "an employee" in modern concepts. The commandment is for an employer to not withhold due wages from his/her employees, but rather to pay their salary on time.
In this context, I would like to share the following story about a Jewish man from America, Aharon Feuerstein, a businessman and philanthropist, who was the CEO of a textile factory ("The Malden Mills") in Massachusetts. This factory employed 3,000 employees, giving these people their salaries, livelihood and dignity as working man. It supported the economy of two whole towns near by. One day in 1995 the factory was burnt down. Everything was gone. Owner and employees were distraught. Even though the place was insured, it would take many long months before the factory could be rebuilt, and for the employees it meant 6 to 12 months of no work, no salary, and facing the uncertainty of what the future holds - should they look for another job or wait for the factory to be rebuilt?
Feuerstein chose a very unusual, noble course of action. While he was using the insurance money to rebuild the factory, he kept all the 3000 employees on pay roll. Even though he couldn't give them work during the long months of rebuilding, he kept paying their salaries and giving them their benefits. He did this in the 1990's when globalization was accelerating and many companies were firing their local employees and moving to China and other places in the Asia.
This cost him something like 25 million dollars, and - he lost his own job for doing this. But he won his life at the same time. A person who merited to do something so noble and so great is a man who lived a life worth living. He didn't waste the chance he was given to make a difference in the world.
When asked about it later, faced with the consequences of his deed, he said he would have done the same thing again. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. He attributed his decision to his life-long study of the Torah and the Talmud, quoting the teachings of ancient rabbis like Rabbi Hillel: "In a situation where there is no righteous people, be righteous". He said in an interview: "Maybe on paper our company is worthless to Wall Street, but I can tell you it's worth MORE". Hearing about such people makes one feel good about mankind. We still have hope.
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| Aharon Feuerstein |
Speaking evil words against another person is a horrible sin in Torah Law. Our mouths can easily turn into lethal weapons, and kill a person with our words, ruin a person's life, etc. We are commanded to keep our mouths holy, to use it as a vessel of sanctity and purity, a vessel to bless G-d, pray to Him and speak of His glory, but not to ruin another person's life with it. Unfortunately, the sin of evil tongue is very common in all societies around the globe.
In 1873, a book was published by Rabbi Israel Meir HaKohen about the rules and safeguards we should all observe in order to keep our mouths clean and avoid ruining other people. The title of the book is: "HaChefetz Chaim" (lit.: A person who desires life), and it's taken from the verse in Psalms 34: "Who is the man that desireth life, and loveth days, that he may see good therein? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.". This book is very famous in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora, and people learn small portions of it daily, and talk about it and discuss it. Rabbi Kagan is known as "HaChafetz Chaim" because of this book.
The story I want to share with you in this regard is about an Israeli man, someone who prays at a synagogue in which I pray. That man used to work in one of the highest positions in the Bank of Israel, and after retiring he now works as an international consultant. Recently, that person returned from a trip to Mongolia, in the Far East, and told the following story:
When the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Mongolia met him and saw the Yarmulke (kippah, a small cap worn by religious Jewish men) on his head, he asked him if he knows Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, and added, "perhaps you know him by his name taken from the title of his book, HaChafetz Chaim".
The Israeli man was shocked. Here he was in Mongolia, as far away from Israel and Judaism as can be. How would the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Mongolia know anything about Rabbi Kagan or his book? He was curious. So he asked the Mongolian man: "How do you know about Rabbi Kagan?".
The Deputy Governor told him that he completed his PhD in the United States, and that his adviser was a Jewish Professor. In one of his conversations with his adviser, the Deputy Governor told the Jewish professor that the staff meetings in the Central Bank of Mongolia are not efficient at all, because all of the participants yell at each other for the entire duration of the meeting.
The Professor listened, nodded, and then gave his student an English translation of Rabbi Kagan's book titled "Guarding of the Tongue" (published 1876), and the Deputy Governor took it. He read it thoroughly with increasing interest. He was so deeply impressed with the contents of the book, that when he finished his PhD he returned to Mongolia and brought with him more copies of the book. He told the staff at the bank that no one would be allowed to participate in the staff meetings without first reading the book. So everyone read it. Ever since then, the staff meetings at the Central Bank of Mongolia run very smoothly and peacefully, and are very efficient.
This is a true story from my neighborhood in Jerusalem.
It is amazing how the Torah pervades every corner of the world and makes people better, makes lives better, makes bank meetings better :-)
Baruch Hashem.
And with that, I'll say to you Shabbat Shalom, and I hope to see you again next week or the one after that.
Yours with love,
(You know who I am)