RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:MADOFF:JEWISH ETHICS

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:MADOFF:JEWISH ETHICS

 

 Shalom:

 

As we all know, the Madoff fraud case, coming on the heels of the economy in general, and on the terror to our Martyrs in Mumbai, is just another blow to our collective psyche.  The blatant deceit, especially to Jewish charitable organizations, again makes us wonder, how far Jews have come from the teachings of our sages.  While it is easy to sit back and point fingers and blame it on assimilation and a Judaism that doesn't teach or practice the  way it used to do. We must take note that many of these organizations had folks who were well-schooled in Talmud. Despite this, they still were not working with God on a spiritual basis, a day at a time, to negate their yetzer ha ra, and their greed.

 

As  W.C. Fields as "Larsen E. Whipsnade", said, "You can't cheat an honest man." James Walsh discussed this idea in detail in: " You Can't Cheat an Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes and Pyramid Frauds Work...And Why They're More Common Than Ever "

 

Judaism in both or our Talmuds, the Yerushalmi  and the Bavli tells us that we need to be rigorously honest.  Anything less is chullul ha Shem. We must not trick a buyer by hiding  blemishes (good-bye car wax at the Tel Aviv used car dealer).
Our goods cannot be made to seem better than they actually are (bye bye plastic surgery?).

 

"Rabbi Avdima, from Milcha, would steep his lean meat in water to improve its appearance.  Yaakov bar Ahah said to him: Was it not taught, one doesn't deceive by beautifying merchandise?   From  the words of Yaakov bar Ahah we can learn that the prohibition of beautifying applies to food.  R. Zeira who worked with flax came to Rabbi Abahu .  He said to
him : May I beautify my work?   Said Rabbi Abahu to him R. Zeira: Go and do what you know ...act according to your understanding of the law.  Rabbi Abahu was weaving veils.  He came and asked Rabbi Yose ben Hanina and said, : What can we do with these veils?  Yose said to Abahu: Go and do what you know ... act according to your understanding of the law. Rabbah painted a bath red to beautify it. Rabbi Yaakov Amsonya taught :What does it mean, ''One doesn't deceive by beautifying merchandise ? That one doesn't paint one's body.'' (Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Bava Metzia 4:7-9)

As far us Jews being rigorously honest this a given. I have written many essays on Jewish business ethics.

 

But the Jewish consumer has to be rigorously honest as well. The Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Bava Metzia 8c tells us of a sage , Shimon ben Shetah , who found a gem in the saddle bad of a mule he bought and returned it to the  pagan seller. The seller praised him and Shimon's God. This is kiddush ha Shem. But  when his students asked him why he returned the gem, the sage answered : "Do you think Shimon ben Shetah is a barbarian?"

Shimon ben Shetah's response it is not a statement about faith or theology but about good and evil, right and wrong.

 

The  ethical principle   taken from the Numbers 32:22: "Vihyitem neki'im meihashem umiyisrael"—"And you shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel," must be followed. This principle dictates that those in a position of trust must be above suspicion. Thus, in Talmudic times, charity collectors were not permitted to exchange copper coins which they had collected for their own silver coins, because this might give the impression of impropriety. Therefore, they were only allowed to exchange the coins with outsiders (Babylonian Talmud Tractate Bava Batra 8b). Similarly, when surplus food accumulated in the soup kitchen, the overseers could not buy the food themselves but had to sell it to others (ibid.).

This principle of "above suspicion" finds easy application in the modern business setting. A manager or a treasurer of a company can frequently secure reimbursement of business expenses without submitting receipts. The principle of "v'heyitem neki'im," however, requires him to submit the appropriate documentation in order to avoid suspicion of embezzlement. Biblically, this is why Priests, handling the Temple's money, had no pockets.

We cannot be greedy. The rest of the USA is getting 4% to 6% in investments. Some Jewish hedge fund New Yorker goes to Yeshiva University and promises higher interest than Ha Shem Himself could get. Greed takes over. The yetzer ha ra of these folks shouldn't be surprised when they lose their money. They knew darn well, that if some one is paying this amount of interest something is amiss. There are businesses that are desperate  for capital, cannot get it through other legitimate sources, and hence go to private hedge funds for funding. So money made in this manner goes against Talmudic principles.

 

There are those who asked their brokers to invest their money 'safely.' They had no idea that their brokers unethically went to Madoff who ''made-off'' with 50 billion dollars. Hopefully some lawyer can recover their funds. These people were duped and not greedy. 50 billion is hard to spend in a life time by an individual. There will be a special place in Gehena for Madoff.

 

Rav Nachman of Kossover taught that we should always have the Lord in our thoughts. He was asked, "Can we think of the Lord when we are engaged in buying and selling?" "Surely we can," answered the Rabbi. "If we are able to think of business when we are praying, we should be able to think of praying when we are doing business."

 

For Jews, rigorous honestly is demanded  upon us both as consumers and as business folk. If we go to the grocery store, [and this happened to  me last week], and we are given a ten dollar bill in change when we were to receive a one dollar bill, we have an obligation to drive back and return the money. And this is exactly what I did.

 

(Zechariah 8:16): "Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace."

 

Happy Hanukah. We can be our own tyrants if we think liberty means we no longer have to carry the Yoke of God and Torah.

Shalom,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Jewish Renewal

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton,SC

Savannah, SC

 

Acknowledgements to Rabbi D. Golinkin

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