Six Days Shall You Toil: Classic Jewish Work Values in Summary and Comparative Religious Perspective

Jewish typically exists in social relationships. Especially in the financial and economic realm, it tilts in favor of those lacking privilege and prerogative, whose weakness may result in their abuse. While these include the widow, the orphan and the poor, objects of compassion in most religious codes, the tradition also bids us recall the renter, the consumer, the borrower and the employee. Labor was accorded a respected position in the schema of Jewish social values. Still there was a realistic understanding that those who toiled for others were generally less affluent and possessed fewer rights than their opposites in the commercial equation. Aside from their material or legal status, their position in a