Labor Day

Designed to work, create, produce

Labor Day is upon us, and in the USA, it marks the beginning of a new civic cycle. Kids return to school, teams form, clubs are in outreach mode, and all sorts of beginnings occur.

The roots of Labor Day are interesting. During the industrial revolution of the 1800s, working folks in factories, mills and mines were subjected to 12-hour workdays, seven days a week, in terrible conditions. Kids as young as 5 years old worked alongside adults. These terrible workplaces were known as sweatshops.

It was within this context the labor unions emerged. These fledgling workers’ groups held demonstrations and marches. The first unofficial “Labor Day” parade was held in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882. Sometimes, these labor-sponsored marches and demonstrations turned violent — like the famous Haymarket riot in Chicago in 1886. Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894, after President Grover Cleveland was unable to break a major strike against the railroads by Pullman Car Company workers. Labor Day was enacted by Congress as a gesture toward the American labor movement, as a way to honor the contributions of the American working class and to bring focus to the rights of workers.

To be sure, “labor” is a central theme in the traditions of religion around the world. Specifically, in the Bible, the story of creation tells us that there were six “days” of work followed by the Sabbath, the day of rest. At the end of those six days, we read that God looked at all of the results of his work and said, “This is very good!” Work is good!

Suggesting that work is good for our well-being, in the book of Ecclesiastes we read: “Sleep is sweet for the laborer.” And in Leviticus, the treatment of the laborer is made a pillar of Biblical ethics: “The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” Thus, the Biblical tradition suggests that work is healthy for living. It gives us purpose, self-respect and value.

But, in reality, work can also be self-negating. The old saying, “Some people live to work, and others work to live,” comes to mind. Which kind of person are you? Do you work so hard that it is negatively impacting your health? Your relationships? Do you hardly see your kids because you are working all the time?

In my 30-plus years as a clergyman, I have never heard anyone say on their deathbed, “I wish I spent more time at the office or working.” Rabbi Rob Lennick is the rabbi of the Community Synagogue of Northwest Arkansas in Bentonville. Contact him at (484) 707-0047.

ROB LENNICK