Update: Thanks to Adderabbi for linking in the comments to his summary of the issue.

AP reported Friday that Hertz, the rental car company, is firing 26 Somali Muslim employees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport because they refuse to clock out for their daily prayer breaks. The Teamsters local union that represents the workers says that the company agreed during negotiations last year that the employees would not need to clock out. Hertz says that the failure of many employees to return promptly after their prayers had created an unfair work environment.

Below is a short summary of this question from Rabbinic sources and what modern Israeli law has to say about whether employees should be given time off for prayer.

On Berachot 16a there is a discussion of this question:

תנו רבנן: הפועלים שהיו עושין מלאכה אצל בעל הבית – קורין קריאת שמע ומברכין לפניה ולאחריה, ואוכלין פתן ומברכין לפניה ולאחריה, ומתפללין תפלה של שמונה עשרה אבל אין יורדין לפני התיבה ואין נושאין כפיהם. והתניא: מעין שמונה עשרה! – אמר רב ששת, לא קשיא: הא – רבן גמליאל, הא רבי יהושע. – אי רבי יהושע, מאי איריא פועלים, אפילו כל אדם נמי! – אלא, אידי ואידי רבן גמליאל, ולא קשיא: כאן – בעושין בשכרן, כאן – בעושין בסעודתן. והתניא: הפועלים שהיו עושים מלאכה אצל בעל – הבית קורין קריאת שמע ומתפללין, ואוכלין פתן ואין מברכים לפניה, אבל מברכין לאחריה שתים, כיצד – ברכה ראשונה כתקונה, שניה – פותח בברכת הארץ וכוללין בונה ירושלים בברכת הארץ; במה דברים אמורים – בעושין בשכרן, אבל עושין בסעודתן או שהיה בעל הבית מיסב עמהן – מברכין כתיקונה.

A. Our rabbis have taught on Tannaite authority:
B. Workers who were at work at a household [take time to] recite the Shema and recite the benedictions before it and after it,
C. and eat their bread and recite the benedictions before it [the meal] and after it [cf. T. Ber. 5:24],
D. and recite [three times daily] the Prayer of eighteen [blessings].
E. But they do not descend before the ark [to lead the recitations of the Prayer in a synagogue].
F. And they do not lift up their hands [in the priestly benediction] [T. Ber. 2:9].
G. But has it not been taught on Tannaite authority: “[They say not the complete Prayer but only] an abbreviation of the eighteen benedictions”?
H. Said R. Sheshet, “There is no contradiction. The one position represents the position of Rabban Gamaliel, the other of R. Joshua [at M. Ber. 4:3].”
I. If it is R. Joshua’s view [represented at G], why specify that the rule applies to workers? [In Joshua’s view, the same law] pertains even to ordinary people.
J. Rather, both positions represent the view of Rabban Gamaliel, and there still is no contradiction between the two statements, for the statement [permitting the workers to say only the abbreviated version] speaks of workers who are laboring for a wage, while the other speaks of workers who are working for their keep [and the latter may take longer in reciting the Prayer].
K. And [in proof of the foregoing distinction] has it not been taught on Tannaite authority: Workers who were at work at a household take time to recite the Shema and recite the benedictions before it and after it and eat their bread but do not recite a benediction before it but they do recite the benedictions after it, stating both required blessings. How so? They recite the first of the two blessings as it is laid down, and in the second one, one opens with a blessing for the Land, then including “who builds Jerusalem” in the blessing of the Land. Under what circumstances [does this rule apply]? It applies to workers who are working for a wage, but in the case of those who are working for their keep, or with whom the householder was joined in the meal, one says the entire blessing as it has been laid down. (trans. Neusner)

R. Yosef Karo codies the law in the Shulḥan Arukh (OH 110:2). The challenge is to translate his terms of reference to the modern workplace.

הפועלים שעושין מלאכה אצל בע”ה, אם אינו נותן להם שכר חוץ מסעודתן, מתפללין י”ח, אבל אין יורדין לפני התיבה ואין נושאין כפיהם; ואם נותן להם שכר, מתפללין הביננו. והאידנא, אין דרך להקפיד בכך, ומסתמא אדעתא דהכי משכירין אותם שיתפללו י”ח.

Workers who are working at the home of a homeowner, if he doesn’t give them a salary outside of meals, they pray the eighteen blessings [i.e. the amidah], but they do not act as a prayer nor do they recite the priestly blessing. If he gives them a salary, then they pray [the shortened prayer] haveneinu. At present, there is no way to be strict about this, and the default is that they are hired [with the understanding] that they will pray the eighteen blessings.

The Mishneh Berurah (sub. par. 12) attempted to find a balance between allowing a worker to fully participate in prayer, yet also not to take too much time away from his work:

שיתפללו י”ח – וה”ה כל נוסח התפילה כשאר כל אדם וכתב הלחם חמודות דה”ה שמותרים לילך לבהכ”נ להתפלל בעשרה ועיין במ”א דזה דוקא במקום שאין דרך בעלי בתים להקפיד בכך ומ”מ אין יורדין לפני התיבה כ”כ הפמ”ג ובפר”ח איתא דהאידנא יורדין ג”כ לפני התיבה ונ”ל דאין להחמיר אם עי”ז לא יתאחר הזמן יותר:

Other authorities emphasized that how workers should behave is determined by what is the accepted practice (“מנהג המקום”).

Israeli Law explicitly allows employers to have a break for prayer. In the Hours of Work and Rest Law (Sec. 20:4) it states the following:

עובד רשאי להתפלל במהלך יום עבודתו בהתאם לדרישות דתו; זמן התפילה ייקבע במקום העבודה בהתאם לצרכי העבודה ואילוציה, ובהתחשב בדרישות דתו של העובד.

A worker is permitted to pray during the day according to the requirements of his religion. The time of prayer will be determined in his workplace as is appropriate to the needs and exigencies of work, and taking into consideration the requirements of the worker’s religion. [trans. MM]

A summary of Israeli labor legislation regarding rest can be found here. An English translation of the law that is not entirely up to date can be found here. See here for a discussion (Hebrew) of how this clause was added to the original law from 1951 and a court case that addressed this question. According to the answer given at the above link, time for prayer should be separate from other breaks that employees are entitled to. For a contrary understanding of the law see this post (Hebrew) that feels that the law only requires that an employer allow an employee to pray, but that it be on his or her own free time. Also see this (Hebrew) opinion that seems to also feel that the prayer time should be part of an already allotted rest period.

For more discussion about selling synagogue honors see this post at On the Main Line about 18th century London, and this post at Failed Messiah about more recent practices in the Hasidic world.

Paying for religious services was a part of traditional Jewish life. The following is from the Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.

In addition to the above, and to the ordinary round of domestic expenditures, families also had to find money for notable life-cycle activities involving schooling, marriage, and death, each of which required its own set of expenses, marked by particular money traditions. Funeral and mourning customs might require, for example, the “renting” of a quorum during the week of mourning, or the hiring of a kadish-zoger—someone to recite the memorial prayer (Kaddish) on one’s behalf. But it was the burial costs themselves, or kvure-gelt, which were notorious as an object of resentment, with the burial society frequently accused of “fleecing the dead and the living” (raysn fun toyte un fun lebedike). And in spite of centuries-long efforts to regulate fees, people often endured inflated and indiscriminate charges. Hence the proverb, “Owning a home brings with it two worries—paying for it, so that you have a place to live, and paying for your burial plot, so that you have a place to die.” School tuition or kheyder-gelt was an essential part of the family budget. “There are two requirements in life: to eat and pay tuition,” says the reigning folk wisdom.

Selling honors in Ashkenaz was common in the Middle Ages. See the following comments by this article by Simcha Assaf.

One of the honors that was sold was to sweep the synagogue. This is probably any synagogue executive-director’s dream, to have people pay to help clean up. See Assaf’s article for more discussion of the history of these practices.

The bottom line is that the synagogues must be paid for, and each community has to figure out its own way to balance between the financial and spiritual realities. The Knesset doesn’t seem like the place to find that balance.

The Palm Beach Post reported yesterday that Jupiter, Florida’s Temple Beth Am and its former cantor, the Grammy-nominated Bruce Benson, have settled a lawsuit in which the Temple claimed that Benson was violating a non-compete clause in his contract. The Palm Beach Sun Sentinel reported Monday on a lawsuit. ‘Benson’is planning to conduct high holiday services beginning tonight in a rented high school auditorium on behalf of his recently-formed Institute for Jewish Living. The Institute is aimed at attracting some of the many Jews in the area who are not affiliated with a synagogue. ‘Tickets for Benson’s services are $136, while Temple Beth Am charges non-members $225 to attend high holiday services. A spokesman for Beth Am says that the High Holidays are an important way for the synagogue to raise funds and attract new members, and that Benson’s services will siphon people away from Beth Am.

Benson’s non-compete clause bars him from working at another synagogue in Palm Beach or Martin counties for 18 months after leaving Beth Am, and prohibits his attempting to attract members or employees from Beth Am. Benson says his Institute for Jewish Living is not a synagogue, and so he is not in violation. Benson’s lawyer argues that civil courts cannot define what is or is not a synagogue. ‘Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Benson will not promote his services in northern Palm Beach County, from which Beth Am attracts most of its members. He is free to promote them in West Palm Beach or Boca Raton.

(From Religion Clause.)

Dates: Mondays, September 19-October 3, 7:30-9:00pm
Location: Mechon Hadar, 190 Amsterdam Avenue (@69th Street)
Price: $5 per session, $10 for whole series

Can’t make it in person? Watch live on UStream.

Session I: Meaning (September 19, 2011)
Taught by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

Is prayer meant to be read as prose or interpreted as poetry? This session will look at the many layers beneath the text of the siddur and the mahzor and see how words and phrases have the potential to unlock deeper meanings beneath the text. Take home a methodology that will open up new pathways to make meaning from the text of prayer.

Session II: Spirit (September 26, 2011)
Taught by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

The words are only the beginnning. How loudly we say them, how we move, where we stand and the nature of our prayer space significantly impacts the prayer experience. We will explore all of these issues by examining traditional sources, with the goal of emerging with a greater consciousness of how aesthetics are critical to prayer.

Session III: Music (October 3, 2011)
Taught by Joey Weisenberg

The printed page only has a hope of penetrating to the soul through music. In this session, we will explore the ways in which music can not only enhance prayer, but build communities who truly know how to pray together.

Recently, the NY Post had an article titled Too Cool for Shul.

A man in a crisp black suit stands outside the plate-glass doors on Crosby Street, checking off the names of the chosen on a clipboard. Young women with tousled hair and fashionable heels slip inside, followed by men in sharp suits or dark jeans. This is SoHo’s latest hot spot, but you don’t have to be a Hollywood actress or star athlete to get in. You just have to be Jewish.

The SoHo Synagogue, which opened last month where a Gucci store once stood, may be the hottest thing to happen to Jews since Bar Refaeli graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Rabbi Dovi Scheiner and his wife, Esty, hop[e to attract yioung, unaffiliated Jewish New Yorkers to their congregation. Eilon Paz Rabbi Dovi Scheiner and his wife, Esty, hop[e to attract yioung, unaffiliated Jewish New Yorkers to their congregation.

“I thought it was a club at first,” says attendee Yoni Zanger, 28, of the sleek new space. “There’s a bouncer outside!”

Rabbi Dovi Scheiner and his wife, Esty, both barely in their 30s, wanted the space to echo a hotel lobby or chic boutique, so that young, mostly lapsed New York Jews, who probably haven’t set foot inside a temple since their bar or bat mitzvahs, would feel at home.

“We had to offer a space they were comfortable with,” says the rabbi, who answers to Dovi and wears Converse sneakers and jeans most days, his tzitzis tassels peeking out from beneath his polo shirt. “People don’t go to temple because it’s not relevant or exciting or engaging or social. So we’ve made it all of those things. If we offer them a place that looks like the synagogue they were dragged to by their parents, they’re going to have a nervous breakdown and never come back.”

The article describes how innovation and creativity can sometimes be successful in getting people into synagogue, and why am I not surprised that the rabbi and his wife have Chabad roots.

If you had to make a list of places that were somewhat different from SoHo, Nazareth Illit (Upper Nazareth) might very well be on it. Apparently a synagogue in Nazareth Illit was on the verge of closing, when some innovation, creativity, and tolerance, brought it back to life. Walla! has a news story (Hebrew) that describes how a gabbai, who is a lawyer by training, decided to go for broke.

He set up a Facebook page for the synagogue, had the ḥazzan start using tunes from popular music for prayers (e.g. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah for Lecha Dodi), made the starting time of Shabbat morning services a little later, promoted a tolerant atmosphere, and guess what, more people started to attend synagogue. Luckily the ḥazzan and rabbi were on board with what he was trying to do.

The gabbai said that all are welcome, with or without cellphones or wallets in their pocket, even women. While that may sound chauvinistic to many, being that many Israeli Orthodox synagogues don’t even have a section for women, or if they do, it is only a little bit bigger than a closet, this is welcoming.

For some time now in Arad there has been a battle between hasidim from Habad and Gur over who has control over the central synagogue. From time to time things get a bit violent, and the confrontation from this past shabbat created a rare situation. Apparently, there was an argument over which rabbi was going to have an aliyah, and it happened to be that two policemen were passing by when the tumult was happening. In the end, a female policewoman along with a Beduin policeman had to restore order to the synagogue. Ynet has some pictures that were first published on Kikar Hashabat. The above picture is a rarity, a woman on the bimah of an orthodox synagogue in Israel on shabbat, let alone surrounded by hasidim.

Yondov Kaplon has recently published Meimcha Eilecha: Sefer ha-Shabbat. (hat tip) The book is based upon the traditional liturgy for Shabbat, and it includes commentaries, both ancient and modern, stories, poetry, etc. This is similar to the popular mahazor that Kaplon edited for the Yamim Noraim.