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A Jew's business dealings must be conducted in good faith, so that his hands remain clean of dishonest earnings. Then, he will merit to ascend the mountain of Hashem, as it is written, "Who may ascend the mountain of Hashem and who may stand in the place of His sanctity? One with clean hands and a pure heart..." (Tehillim: 24:3-4). From this verse we see that one whose hands are stained by dishonest earnings is distant from "the mountain of Hashem and the place of His sanctity." Our Sages have taught that whoever is guilty of theft will not be permitted within the confines of Hashem's Presence, as it is written, "No evil dwells with You" (Tehillim 5:5).''
In his discourses, the Manchester Rosh Yeshivah, my great uncle, Rabbi Yehudah Zev Segal z"l, exhorted his talmidim to faithfully adhere to the Torah's requirements regarding honesty in word and in business:
''It is the halachah which determines what constitutes gezel (theft)... If the halachah requires one to pay and he does not, then he is a thief; if the halachah rules in his favor, then he is innocent.
It is clear that without a thorough knowledge of Choshen Mishpat, it is virtually impossible to conduct one's business in full consonance with Torah law.
A shochet (ritual slaughterer) cannot practice without kabbalah, verification that he is skilled and well versed in the relevant laws. It would be proper if similar verification were required of those entering the business world... (Inspiration and Insight, vol. I)''
Rabbi Segal's personal standards in money matters earned him the reverence of all, including gentiles. Once, he found himself unable to concentrate properly on his studies while sitting in the noisy second-class section of a train. He moved to the first-class section with the intention of paying the additional charge when the ticket attendant would make his rounds. By some error, the attendant never appeared, so upon disembarking, Rabbi Segal approached the station attendant, who said to "forget about it." Rabbi Segal, however, went to the station master to pay the fee. The astounded fellow declared that Rabbi Segal was "one in a million."
In my own life, I still have friends look at me with amazement when I am in a theatre, having bought a ticket for one movie, and everyone moves to a second 'room' to see a second movie 'for free,' and I go to the ticket office, and buy a seat for that second movie. Theft is theft, and one sin will lead to another, our sages teach. If I were caught, I would be the "Jew-rabbi" caught stealing, and this would be chillul ha shem.
Again, from the Chofetz Chaim, writing 90 years ago:" To our great misfortune, lying and deception in matters of business have increased lately among some of our people, to the point that they see such behavior as permissible! They lie when negotiating a deal and say, "I paid such-and-such for this item," and sometimes they even swear to that effect. (According to Torah law, an oath in any language is binding.) They consider such shameful behavior mere "shrewdness" and contend that nowadays, anyone who does not engage in such practices will starve [for he will never succeed financially]. This has made us the object of scorn and derision among our neighbors, for they say that Jews are dishonest! Woe to us over this chillul Hashem (desecration of Hashem's Name)!"
One of my adult Talmidim said to me the other day that in desperate time, desperate people will act desperately. Truth be told, Jewish people of God, or any people who are of God, will behave even more ethically during tough times. I cannot tell you how my heart grieves when I watch my fellows behave unethically to others.
When we Jews conducts ourselves according to the Torah's high standards of honesty, we earn the respect and admiration of his gentile neighbors. When we do not, we foster the seeds of anti-Semitism . If we act without Torah's ethics, we may not be the recipient of scorn at the movement, but may cause the Jew who is ''of Torah'', to be the victim. Anti-Semites don't discriminate between the good Jew and the rotten one. Hence when a Jew behaves poorly, he or she harms all of us. This is why the Talmud teaches ''all Jews are responsible for one another.'' Kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh.[ Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 39a]
The late Mashgiach of the Kaminetz Yeshivah in Jerusalem, Rabbi Moshe Aharon Stern, often traveled abroad together with a distinguished acquaintance. Two months after R' Moshe Aharon passed away, his acquaintance found himself at the money-changer's desk at the Amsterdam train station. The clerk, a gentile woman, recognized the man and inquired about the rabbi who always accompanied him. Upon hearing that R' Moshe Aharon had passed away, she burst into tears. "It's thanks to him that I still have my job," she said tearfully. She explained:
Once, as he counted his money after changing some currency at her desk, R' Moshe Aharon realized that he had been given far too large a sum. He returned to the desk and asked the woman to recount the money. Assuming that he was claiming that she had given him too little, the woman snapped that she had already counted the money once and if he wanted to make a claim, he should have counted the money in her presence. "How can you leave the counter and then return to claim that I cheated you — everyone knows that you can't do that!"
After listening to her tirade in silence, R' Moshe Aharon said softly, "I think that you gave me too much money. Please do me a favor and count the money again." She did and was astonished to find that, indeed, he was correct. She told him gratefully, "Had you not returned the money, it would have been deducted from my salary. And since I am new at this job, I may very well have been fired for making such a mistake."
Later, she went to the station manager, related what had happened and told him, "I have never met such an upright person." The manager, equally amazed, announced over the station loudspeaker that a Jew from Israel had returned a large sum of money that had been given to him by mistake, and he praised R' Moshe Aharon's upright conduct (from The Mashgiach of Kaminetz).
This leads us to Alexander the Great of Macedonia in the Talmud.
Alexander of Macedon went to the king of Kasya. Kasya showed him that he had a great deal of gold and silver. Alexander said to him: I don't need your gold and silver. I came only to see your customs, how you distribute alms
and how you judge cases. While he was chatting with him, someone came with a case against his fellow. He had bought a piece of a field with its rubbish dump and he had found a trove of money in it. The one who had bought the property said: I bought a junk pile, not a trove. The one who had sold the property said: I sold you a junk pile and everything in it.
While they were arguing with one another, the king said to one of them: Do you have a son? He said yes. He asked the other: Do you have a daughter? He said yes. He said to them: Let this one marry that one and let the treasure belong to both of them.
Alexander began to laugh. Kasya said: Why are you laughing? Didn't I judge the case properly? If you judged the case how would you have judged it? Alexander said: We would have killed them both and kept the treasure for the king.
Kasya said: Do you love gold all that much? He made a banquet for him and laid out before him gold loaves and gold chickens. Alexander said to him: Can I eat the gold? He replied: You don't eat gold? Why do you love it so much? (Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Bava Metsia 2:5)
Please note of the honesty of the two litigants. In the Talmud, with two Jewish litigants, the one who bought the land, would insist the treasure was his, while the seller would insist the treasure was his. In this case, both wish to give the treasure to the other, and each won't accept because 'a deal is a deal.' The Talmud makes it clear, by the way, that Kasya, is not a Jewish place. He rules and " dwells on the other side of the mountains of darkness.''
Now in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 33:4 the story ends differently, there is no banquet with gold food.: ''The King of Katsia (Kasya) is reported to have asked Alexander if the rain fell and the sun shone and if there were animals in the land of Alexander. When Alexander answered affirmatively the King of Katsia told him that the sun shone and the rain fell in the merit of the animals, not the people of his land.'' Man and beast you save, O Lord' . 'Man' you save 'on account of the merit accrued by the dumb animals' do you save, O Lord.'" [Ps.36:7.]. This is one of these 'put downs' for which the debaters in the Talmud are known.
One must note that the rabbis in Talmud Yerushalmi are not really discussing Alexander, but the lack of ethics of the Romans, who are ruling Jerusalem at this time, because in everywhere else in the Talmud and the Midrash, Alexander is treated respectfully.
The Talmud Bavli Tractate Yoma 69a relates the famous story of the meeting between Alexander the Great, the world-conquering Macedonian Emperor, and Shimon HaTzaddik. At the behest of Jew-haters, Alexander marched on Jerusalem, with intent to destroy it. Shimon the High Priest donned the White Priestly Garments that he wore on Yom Kippur when he would enter the Holy of Holies, and went out to meet Alexander. To the surprise of his entourage, when the Emperor saw Shimon HaTzaddik, he dismounted and prostrated himself before Shimon. Alexander's generals asked him why he was bowing to this Jew, to which he replied that every night before a battle, he would see in a dream the figure of that Jewish High Priest, who would advise him on tactics to use the following day - a service that never failed him.
Shimon HaTzaddik took Alexander the Great on a tour of the Temple. Alexander was very impressed and requested that a marble image of himself be placed in the Temple courtyard. Shimon explained that it was forbidden for the Jews to have images, and certainly not in the Temple, but he suggested an alternative way giving homage to the Emperor: that all male babies born that year would receive the name "Alexander." The Emperor accepted, and that is how "Alexander" became a Jewish name.
In the Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 91a, we read about a most relevant story that took place in the days of Alexander of Macedonia, aka Alexander the Great (4th century before the common era).
Just after Moshe's death, when Yehoshua was about to enter the Land of Israel together with his People, there were seven tribes hostile to the Jews occupying the Land. Yehoshua offered them peace and security on condition that they would commit themselves to the Seven Commandments of Noach, the basic moral code for all humanity.
In case they would refuse, and as such ,implying that they would not adhere to civilized behavior, Yehoshua informed them that they still had the option to leave peacefully. After this, he led his People into the Land. Since most tribes refused to opt for either suggestion, war broke out. The only tribe which actually left were the Cana'anites. Tradition has it that they settled in Africa (Rambam, Melachim, 6:5).
Hundreds of years later, the Cana'anites came to Alexander's international court with a claim that the Land of Israel should be returned to them. When the court inquired into their reasons, the Cana'anites, also called "B'nai Africa" (inhabitants of Africa), said that they were forced out of the Land by the Israelites in the days of Yehoshua and that this injustice should be rectified. When Alexander asked them for proof of their claim to the Land, they responded that it was the Torah of the Jews that in fact supported it. Did it not say, "The land of Canaan with the coasts thereof"? (Bamidbar/Numbers 34:2) Since Canaan was their forefather, they had a legitimate claim to return to the Land and take possession of it.
Consequently, Alexander (who is known to have been somewhat sympathetic to the Jews) turned to the sages with a request to respond. One Jewish ignoramus by the name of Gebiha (the hunchback) ben Pesisa, known for his great love for his fellow Jews, asked that he defend the Jewish claim to the Land against the Canaanites:
"Authorize me to go and plead against them before Alexander of Macedonia. Should they defeat me, then (you can) say: 'You have defeated an ignoramus from among us,' and if I defeat them, then say: 'The Torah of Moshe has defeated them.'"
After the sages decided to give him their approval, Gebiha ben Pesisa said to the Canaanites, "From where do you have your proof?"
"From the Torah!" they responded.
"I will also bring a proof from the Torah," said Gebiha ben Pesisa, "for it says that at the time that Chem, one of Noach's children, had uncovered his father's nakedness, Noach said, 'Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brothers.'" [Beresheit/Genesis 9:25; Canaan was another name for the children of Chem] Gebiha ben Pesisa continued, arguing that since the Cana'anites, due to this curse, became slaves to the children of Shem [another son of Noach and the forefather of the Semitic Peoples and the Jews], the Jews would, in any case, be the owners of the land: "Whatever a slave acquirers belongs to the master, since the slave is the property of his master. Moreover", he said, "you have not served us for years!"
Then Alexander said to [the Cana'anites], "Answer him."
"Give us three days," they responded. They looked, but found no answer. And they left.
When carefully studying this incident, several matters are difficult to understand. First of all, it is rather obvious that the Cana'anites were guilty of reading the Torah selectively. Had they turned the page, they would no doubt have found that the Land was already promised to Avraham in earlier days, and that the Torah keeps on making the point that God willed it to the Jews.
Even more mysterious is the defense of Gebiha ben Pesisa. Why did he use an argument that was so roundabout? Why did he not use the most obvious argument; i.e., that the Torah makes it abundantly clear that the Land was given to the Jews? He could have quoted tens of verses to back up his claim!
Maharasha, in his commentary, argues that the motivation behind the Cana'anites was much more sophisticated than one might imagine. The Cana'anites had read the Torah very carefully and were well aware of the promise that God had made to the Israelites concerning the Land. They reminded Alexander's court that they, the Cana'anites, had been forced out of the country because of their immoral behavior. The Holy Land had no longer been able to contain them and had consequently spat them out. But, continued the Cana'anites, the Israelites had become just as evil as they, the Cana'anites, had been. They had also become disobedient and had violated the moral code. Even more so, had not the Torah made it abundantly clear that the Jews would only merit the Land when they would be a holy nation as demanded by the Torah? In that case, the Jews no longer had a claim on the Land and they, the Cana'anites, having lived there prior to the Jews, had full right to claim it in return.
Now, when one says to me, ''Why should I study Talmud, or Torah? What relevance does this have to me as a secular Jew today?! I write a check to the Federation to help Israel and eat bagels and lox on Sundays, eat latkas in December, and Matzah in the spring. I am Jewish enough!!," I can point them to this news story.
Here is a real news story bringing the 2000+ year old Talmud to life:
The loud chortling sound you may have heard last week was the collective mirth of countless Talmud-conversant Jews as they read about a lawsuit being prepared by a group of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland. The news came in the form of an interview, published in the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, with Dr. Nabil Hilmi, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq. The article was translated and made available by the invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Dr. Hilmi's lawsuit is ostensibly being filed against "all the Jews of the world" for recovery of property allegedly stolen during the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt approximately 3300 years ago. Citing the Torah, Dr. Hilmi is demanding, presumably on Egypt's behalf, the return of "gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments, clothing and more," not to mention interest thereon, taken by the ancestors of today's Jews "in the middle of the night" -- a "clear theft of a host country's resources and treasure, something that fits the morals and character of the Jews." According to Dr. Hilmi's mathematical computations, which include an annual doubling in value of the material in question, 1,125 trillion tons of gold are owed by the Jews for each of the 300 tons he estimates was taken. And that doesn't include interest, which he claims, without explanation, should be calculated for 5758 years. The merriment that greeted the report was born of the fact that the Talmud tells of precisely such a claim lodged over 2000 years ago in a world court of sorts presided over by none other than Alexander the Great. The story is recounted in Sanhedrin 91a, where it is recorded that one Geviha ben Pesisa responded on the Jews' behalf. A paraphrase of the excerpt follows: "What is your source?" Geviha asked the Egyptian representatives. "The Torah," they replied. "Very well," said Geviha, "I too will invoke the Torah, which says that the Jews spent 430 years laboring in Egypt. Please compensate us for 600,000 men's work for that period of time." The Egyptians, the Talmud continues, then asked Alexander for three days during which to formulate a response. The recess was granted but the representatives, finding no counter-argument, never returned. One supposes that Dr. Hilmi was unfamiliar with that page of Talmud, and perhaps with the underlying Biblical narrative on which it is based. His gift to us, though, is more than a good laugh. For by sending us to Sanhedrin 91a, he provides us great consolation and hope in these trying times. For the very next account on that page concerns yet another historic lawsuit -- ancient and yet as timely as tomorrow's headlines. This suit was filed by "the children of Ishmael and Keturah [Abraham's second wife, identified by the Midrash as Hagar]." Ishmael, of course, is claimed by many Arabs as their ancestor. The plaintiffs in this suit claimed that Canaan, or the Land of Israel, was really theirs, as the Torah identifies their antecedents, no less than Isaac, to be progeny of Abraham. Once again, Geviha responded on behalf of the Jews. "Your source?" he asked. "The Torah," they responded. "If so," he continued, "I too will invoke the Torah, which says that Abraham gave 'all that was his to Isaac; and to the children of his concubines [other wives], he gave [only] gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son... eastward'" [Genesis, 25:5,6]. Intriguingly, the Talmud mentions no Ishmaelite or Keturite reaction in Alexander's court -- not even a request for time to formulate a response. It's almost as if those plaintiffs simply refused to acknowledge the unarguable case that had been presented, as if they were utterly unable to countenance the idea that the Holy Land was in fact bequeathed in its entirety by Abraham to Isaac, who in turn bequeathed it to Jacob; and he, to his children after him, the Jewish people. According to the Jewish religious tradition, though, the entire world, including Ishmael's descendants, will one day come not only to countenance the idea but to fully embrace it. That day has not yet arrived, to be sure, and it will not be military or political actions in the end that will bring it, but rather our merits as a people. It will arrive, though. As the prophet Jeremiah tells our Rachel, one of the mothers of the Jewish people: "Restrain your voice from crying and tears from your eyes... for there is hope for you in the end ... the children will return to their borders." Just like the Torah one should not depend on the Talmud as an accurate historical record. Alexander was the celebrated conqueror of the East, 356-323 The following day Alexander asked the people what favors he should grant them; and, at the high priest's request, he accorded them the right to live Afterward the Samaritans, having learned of the favors granted the Jews by Alexander, asked for similar privileges; but Alexander declined to accede to their request. But in Jewish legend Alexander abounds: Alexander plays a real life role in the history of Judaism. His conquering of Persia and allowing local religions to continue, allowed Talmudic Judaism to thrive in what is now Iran and Iraq. His dying without a recognized heir, allowed his kingdom to be split, and eventually caused the Hanukah story. His Syrian territory, which included Judea, was treated cruelly by one of Alexander's successors, war was waged, and the Macabees one. Unfortunately, the Macabees' grandchildren, known as the Hasmoneans, were Hebraists, cruel to Rabbinic Judaism, and invited Rome into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE. This was the beginning of the end for an independent Judea and the seeds of the Roman galut (exile). Both ethical Judaism survives. As Jews we must continually go out of our way to be rigorously honest. We cannot survive the stereotypes of the money hungry, rude, loud mouth, pushy, stiff necked people in an age of the world wide web. Whether we chose to follow ritual or not is our personal choice. Our ethics however especially during tough times is a choice we need to decide to follow. Many blessings, Rabbi Arthur Segal Jewish Spiritual Renewal Jewish Renewal Hilton Head Island,SC Bluffton , SC Savannah, GA member; temple oseh shalom Thanks to the Jewish Encyclopedia , The works of the Chofetz Chaim, and the News Article for Aish's Web Site Welcome to Rabbi Arthur Segal's Jewish Spiritual Renewal bookstore. We invite you to create an account with us if you like, or shop as a guest. Either way, your shopping cart will be active until you leave the store. You can purchase each book individually, but if you purchase them together as a set with the Tzadakkah Bundle, I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to a tzadakkah of your choice, such as your synagogue. Simply provide the donation information in the "Special Instructions" box during checkout. When doing so, please include the following: Thank you for visiting. In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality. A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal 
] should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he was the person intended, and rejoiced thereat.
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