Does Jewish law permit workers to organize into labor unions to help secure better pay, benefits, and working conditions? Does it permit those unions to go on strike or undertake other such actions to enforce achieve their demands? The answer to those questions is a definite – maybe. In this shiur, we’ll look at some texts that may give us some guidance but that leave a lot of questions open. So stay tuned for our next shi'ur, when we’ll see how a leading 20th-century posek constructs from these vague and often ambivalent sources a ringing endorsement of unionization in the name of Torah and social justice.

Source sheet available at www.freehofinstitute.org/podcast.