To Work or Not to Work--Is That a Question?

Editor's Note: I had this posting scheduled months ago. In the meanwhile, two other blogs posted related articles referencing an article by Yonason Rosenblum, ( http://wolfishmusings.blogspot.com/The Answer is Nine To Five and http://orthonomics.blogspot.com/Variety Post: Links and Comments on a Whole Bunch of Stuff ) so I decided not to publish what follows. However, two things happened which changed my mind. One, the conversation with my reader that I posted about a few days ago, and two, I overheard a comment yesterday about a new choson and kallah where it was remarked "No, the kallah's parents aren't anybody special. The father works and so does the mother." That sent me scurrying to find the draft of this. The focus of Mr. Rosenblum's article was work and the Israeli Hareidi world. The problem of work is not limited to this sector, thus the posting that follows is not sector specific.

Okay, the battle has been fought, a protracted one at that, the combatants have given it their all, and it is time for the gong to ring signalling the end. All that remains is for the judges to declare a winner. "What battle is that?" you ask? The one about frum Jews and work.

Who are the combatants in this battle? Everyone it would seem. Younger folk who are determined to sit and learn forever. Younger folk who are determined to sit and learn to at least 25 or 26. Parents who want their boys learning. Parents who can't support their learning boys. Parents who won't support their learning boys. Parents who want their boys to learn and earn. Parents who expect the community to take care of training their children to make a living. Parents who believe it is their job to prepare their children for work. Parents who are in favor of college. Parents who are against college. Girls who want to marry a learning boy. Girls who want to marry an earning boy. Girls who want to marry a learning/earning boy. Parents of girls who want a learning boy. Parents of girls who want an earning boy.

Parents of teenagers who want their children to begin making money on their own. Parents who think that teenagers should not be working. Parents who believe that being 14 or 15 entitles you to entry level wages on the same level as adults get. Parents who want someone else to solve the problem of low wages and few jobs. Parents who have good ideas about how to provide jobs for teenagers but who have no one who will listen. Parents who refuse to even get in the middle of the discussion because it just might be bad for shidduchim some day.

Community leaders of every stripe--shul rabbis and roshei hayeshiva and school principals and seminary heads and teachers and tzedaka organization heads and doctors, lawyers and all the Indian chiefs.

Where do they all agree or disagree? On whether or not "Work" is something that the members of frum Klal should be doing. They disagree on how to define what work is. They disagree on what kind of work members of Klal should be doing. They disagree on when members of Klal should be working.

Mention one thing, though, and all the combatants agree: You can't live without money. One way or the other you need money to purchase the real necessities of life. This is where the "Work" battle bogs down--where are people going to get the money they must have?

There are three ways to get money in this world: you can work for it, you can marry it or you can inherit it. Plenty of Jews who believe that the last two are the route to take. However, the last two ways still have their basis in the first way, since somebody had to work to begin with in order for the money to be there. So basically we are still left with the first way as the only way to get money.

"Wrong!" someone yells loudly. There are two other ways to get money: you can steal it and you can "shnorr" for it. Let's eliminate the first choice, even though we all know or know of people who play fast and loose with government programs. And yes, who play fast and loose with other people's money as well. As to the second choice, yes I suppose it is more than possible to use charity collecting as a way of providing the money you need and don't have. It's already being done. It is, however, a very risky way of providing for a family.

WORK! Just hearing that word or seeing it written out gives some people wild frissons of fear and distaste. "Work" is what the other person does, so please stop waving the word in our face. How did we get to this point? In every other argument heard in frum communities you will find someone offering psukim from Chumash, from the Gemorah or Mishnah, from the writings of the greats of our past. But the side that is so anti-work is almost strangely silent here when it comes to bringing a precedent from our Jewish writings--the only canonical basis for their argument they bring is the Yissochar/Zevulun agreement. And that argument has some flaws in it. It raises some questions for me. Not every member of Yissochar sat down and learned; some worked. And not every member of Zevulun worked; some learned. Did no other shevet have learning people in it? Yes, they did. How were they supported? Or did they support themselves? The agreement was made between two specific shvatim--who are the direct descendants of those two shvatim today? With the exception of the leviim and cohanim of today, where a genetic link has been found going back centuries, who today can prove what shevet they are descended from? And then there is that pesky little posuk that says that a father is required to teach his son a trade. Why? Just for giggles? Or because work is expected?

One way or the other, work, and those who work, is not something to be ashamed of nor something to feel "less worthy" about. In every culture on earth working is a sign of an independent adult. Are we really truly saying that adult Jews don't need to work?

And then there is this. Does a rosh yeshiva get a salary from the yeshiva? Benefits? Does he perform tasks for the yeshiva? Does he have specific duties? Then he is a working man. Does a rebbi get a salary? Benefits perhaps? Does he have specific duties he must perform? Then he is a working man. Does a shul rav get a salary? Benefits? Are there tasks that are expected he will perform? Then he is a working man. Why is it then that so many roshei hayeshiva, so many rabbaim denigrate working people? Isn't this really a case of the pot calling the kettle black? If they are going to make the argument that working is a no-no, they are going to have to give up their salaries and benefits before saying so. Otherwise it's do as I say, not as I do. Just think: if all the holier-than-thou principals and rebbis gave up their salaries, so that labeling them as "working" people would no longer be possible, schools might have more money available to actually educate students.