The Conservative movement’s policy body on Jewish law has passed a legal opinion arguing that Jewish employers should pay their workers a living wage and strive to hire union workers.

The opinion, written by Jill Jacobs, a rabbi in residence at Jewish Funds for Justice, was passed by the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards with 13 votes, easily surpassing the six votes necessary to gain legal standing. A previous version of the opinion had been rejected in 2006. With the vote, the opinion gains stature as a valid legal opinion, though it is not considered binding.

Labor rights have become a signature issue for the Conservative movement as part of its Hekhsher Tzedek initiative, which would certify kosher products that meet acceptable standards for labor conditions and environmental impact. Jacobs, a former labor activist who has been involved with Hekhsher Tzedek, has pushed for the Conservative movement to take stronger stands on social justice issues.

Jacobs’s legal opinion on the obligations of Jewish employers had sparked debate in the law committee, as some members had argued that its provisions would place an undue burden on Jewish employers and might even cost workers their jobs. Committee chair Rabbi Elliot Dorff told the Forward that the final opinion ultimately gained support because its recommendations were not too stringent and because it also covered a host of other important workers’ rights issues, such as prompt payment for workers.

It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.

This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions. 

We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.

As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday! 

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a gift and our board will match it.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$129 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT