Sh’ma Koleinu: Solidarity with Butler workers is a moral call for us all

Sh’ma Koleinu: Solidarity with Butler workers is a moral call for us all

By now, you have likely seen, read, or heard that on May 15, 2025, the nearly 800 union employees at Butler Hospital went on strike. A collective of both medical and support staff working in partnership with the dedicated leaders of 1199SEIU New England (NE), those striking are demanding a livable wage and a demonstrated commitment from management to keeping workers safe through increased protections against workplace violence and ensuring appropriate staffing numbers on all shifts. In the nearly two months since the strike began, Butler management stripped striking workers of their health insurance benefits and posted their jobs for permanent replacement.

Though the RI Department of Labor and Training has granted unemployment payments for those striking workers whose jobs were posted for replacement as of June 1, the failure of Butler’s management to reach a fair agreement that honors the humanity of its care and support staff is a failure for our whole community. That unionized nurses at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital have since voted to also authorize potential strikes in their respective workplaces points to the dire state of labor and care across our state, the consequences of which extends far past the walls of our local hospitals.

During the candlelit vigil that took place on June 8, striking workers and community members alike gathered in solidarity to uplift the lifesaving work that Butler has provided in Rhode Island and beyond since its founding in 1844. With teary eyes and fierce pride, individuals of all ages shared their personal experiences at the hospital, honoring the intergenerational impact of Butler’s caregivers and underscoring the urgency of resolving unsafe working conditions for the sake of being able to go back to doing the critically necessary work of caring for patients at the hospital as soon as possible.

As the speakers continued, one fact emerged clearly: no one understands how acutely this strike affects those most in need of care as do the people gathered in this picket line. No one is more heartbroken, no one is more aware, no one is more desperate to resolve these negotiations for the sake of their patients than these striking workers. And, no one is more aware of what is at stake if the people who are expected to care for individuals in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives cannot meet their own basic needs for safety, survival, shelter and healthcare.

The Talmud teaches, “Anyone who has the ability to protest against the wrongdoing of the members of their household but fails to protest, that person is held accountable for the sins of the members of their household. Anyone who has the ability to protest the wrongdoing of the people of their town, but fails to do so, is held accountable for the wrongdoing of the people of their town. And anyone who has the ability to protest the wrongdoing of the whole world, but fails to do so, is held accountable for the wrongdoing of the whole world” (Talmud Bavli tractate Shabbat 54b: 20, translation by R. Sharon Brous)

As our 24/7 news cycle becomes more crushing by the day, it is easy to feel paralyzed by the scope of suffering and wrongdoing calling out for our attention now. Add to that a multi-millennia-old tradition that teaches us that we’re personally responsible for each and every failure of justice in the world, and how could we not feel overwhelmed? Far from being a sign of weakness or fatigue, to be moved, hurt, exhausted and scared by what’s happening in our world is an enduring sign of our shared humanity. With so much at stake, allowing ourselves an alternative to feeling powerless and paralyzed is a path to power, and it becomes available to us only when we allow the cries of our neighbors to break through the cacophony of crises we’re bombarded with daily.

If you saw this strike not as something causing traffic on the boulevard but instead as a fundamental violation of the well-being of a beloved family member, neighbor or friend, how would you respond? Who would you call, email or hold accountable? If you saw the Talmud’s call to personal responsibility as practical permission to experience an alternative to powerlessness instead of just another abstract burden to an already exhausted conscience, what would you do right now, today, in your own backyard?

In a world that profits literally and metaphorically from our feeling too dumbfounded to act, taking care of each other is a path to power. Walking our Jewish values out of our prayer spaces and into our board rooms, contacts and community spaces is a way to put that path to power into effect. Showing up for people and believing them when we hear that they are hurting is a way we can take control in this moment. To remain passive in response to the call of these beloved community members is to surrender the power that is well within our hands to change things for the better. It is my firm belief that doing so is acting in direct opposition to some of our most central Jewish values.

We are a small state, connected to one another in intricate webs of relationships frayed and re-braided again and again through decades of rupture and repair, a state built through generations of friends and families always finding their way back to this one tiny stretch of land. I believe that at the end of the day, it will be relationships leveraged with loving accountability that will tip this strike trajectory toward the conditions needed to allow Butler’s dedicated staff to get back to the work they’re so skilled at providing for our community. As a fellow community caregiver and as a lifelong community member, I am imploring each of us (yes, even you, dear reader) to act as though our actions matter even and especially in a world that is screaming at us to tell us that they don’t. Our tradition teaches us that we are all responsible for one another; it’s time to act in a way that honors the seriousness and the sanctity of that responsibility.

To any of Butler’s striking workers reading this, to anyone who wanted to walk out but couldn’t and to those who were forced back due to financial or familial stress, please know that we, your local clergy, see you. We believe you. We are with you, not just as representatives of our faith communities but also as your colleagues, friends, neighbors, patients and family. We are full of gratitude for the work that you do to keep this tiny state of ours thriving for every person you serve and support. We know that we cannot do the work that we are doing if you are not able to do yours. We are at your back and with you shoulder to shoulder. You should not have to be in this position, and we are so sincerely sorry that you are. May the way we stand together be a reminder that “that’s just how things are” need not become how things will always be.

To the rest of us, let us not just answer but also echo and amplify this clear call to justice, to humanity, to a world that not only believes but also acts in a way that values people over profits. Those who want to amplify the voices of the striking workers can contact Dr. Michael Wagner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Care New England Health System or the Board of Directors. Those who want to offer solidarity to those striking can also stop by the picket line any day of the week. These striking workers are our neighbors and our caregivers begging us to give them the basic support they need to be able to safely and sustainably provide the care they’ve been offering for decades and are desperate to be able to return to as soon as possible.

Just a few short chapters after instructing us, “not [to] abuse a needy and destitute laborer” (Deut. 24:14), the book of Deuteronomy reminds us, “Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to observe it… Choose life” (Deut. 30: 11-14;19b).

There can be no cause closer to us than this, a call coming from within the walls of our own home. The call of these dedicated professionals is a call to “choose life” – life for Butler’s workers, life for Butler’s patients and life for the sustained health of the greater Rhode Island community.  The call to choose life is, in this very moment, sounding in the cries of our neighbors. You have this imperative from Deuteronomy to act, how will you answer their call?

RABBI HEATHER SHORE is an HUC-JIR ordained rabbi and received an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling & Spiritual Integration through Fordham University in May 2024. She has worked in a wide range of programmatic, educational and pastoral capacities in the US and Israel, and loves the challenge of crafting creative spiritual experiences to meet the needs of our moment. She now serves the greater RI Jewish community through chaplaincy and clinical work as an LMHC-A.