  Given a partition $\la = (\la_1, \la_2, ... \la_k)$, let $\la^{rc} =
(\la_2-1, \la_3-1, ... \la_k-1)$. It is easily seen that the diagram $\la\slash
\la^{rc}$ is connected and has no $2 \times 2$ subdiagrams which we shall refer
to as a ribbon. To each ribbon $R$, we associate a symmetric function operator
$S^R$. We may define the major index of a ribbon $maj(R)$ to be the major index
of any permutation that fits the ribbon. This paper is concerned with the
operator $H_{1^k}^q = \sum_R q^{maj(R)} S^R$ where the sum is over all
$2^{k-1}$ ribbons of size $k$. We show here that $H_{1^k}^q$ has truly
remarkable properties, in particular that it is a Rodriguez operator that adds
a column to the Hall-Littlewood symmetric functions. We believe that some of
the tools we introduce here to prove our results should also be of independent
interest and may be useful to establish further symmetric function identities.
