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Al Chet: Sins in the Marketplace

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The Talmud says that the very first question each of us will be asked when we are called to account is: "Were you honest in business?"

According to Judaism, prosperity, like happiness, is a beneficent side effect of the pursuit of justice. Jewish business ethics therefore call for the most scrupulous honesty and the most exacting standards of fairness; one's purpose is not to "die with the most toys" but to conduct one's affairs in a just manner.

Here Meir Tamari (author of _The Challenge of Wealth_ and _With All Your Possessions_) provides an informative sampling of excerpts from traditional Jewish texts, interspersed with his own commentary, elaborating on thirteen major types of "business sin." (Since the editorial review above provides an accurate and helpful summary of the book's contents, I don't need to spell them out here.)

The resulting volume is helpful either for those reflecting in preparation for Yom Kippur or for those looking for a somewhat in-depth introduction to Jewish business ethics in the words of the Tradition itself. (It should also make a nice companion to Tamari's other works.) As such it should be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about a crucial area of Jewish ethics.

In particular, since even the very Reformest of Reform Judaism still officially regards the _ethical_ mitzvot as binding, this volume should help to promote dialogue and understanding on ground common to all branches of modern Jewry.

The Talmud says that the very first question each of us will be asked when we are called to account is: "Were you honest in business?"

According to Judaism, prosperity, like happiness, is a beneficent side effect of the pursuit of justice. Jewish business ethics therefore call for the most scrupulous honesty and the most exacting standards of fairness; one's purpose is not to "die with the most toys" but to conduct one's affairs in a just manner.

Here Meir Tamari (author of _The Challenge of Wealth_ and _With All Your Possessions_) provides an informative sampling of excerpts from traditional Jewish texts, interspersed with his own commentary, elaborating on thirteen major types of "business sin." (Since the editorial review above provides an accurate and helpful summary of the book's contents, I won't spell them out here.)

The resulting volume is helpful both for those reflecting in preparation for Yom Kippur and for those looking for a somewhat in-depth introduction to Jewish business ethics in the words of the Tradition itself. (It should also make a nice companion to Tamari's other works.) As such it should be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about a crucial area of Jewish ethics.

In particular, since even the very Reformest of Reform Judaism still officially regards the _ethical_ mitzvot as binding, this volume should help to promote dialogue and understanding on ground common to all branches of modern Jewry.

This book is mostly comprised of quotes from various Jewish sacred texts (including the Torah, the Mishnah and the Talmud) as well as quotes from leading rabbis of the past millenium or so. By and large, Jewish financial ethics are common sense (don't lie, pay your bills etc) supplemented with more stringent practices based on the Torah (such as the Torah's restrictions on lending with interest).

My favorite quote (from the Talmud): While some folktales glorify ants as models of industry, the Talmud states "the ant only eats two grains of wheat and lives for but one season, yet it labors ceaselessly to amass a fortune."

Tamari supplements the quotes with occasional short bits of commentary. The commentary, alas, is a bit more erratic than the quotes; Tamari's commentary is often phrased a bit confusingly. For example, after discussing the halachic ban on interest Tamari writes that "Because of fluctuations in prices or in exchange rates, it is forbidden to borrow goods on the understanding that one will return them at a later date, the price increase is regraded as interest." Is Tamari saying that you can only borrow goods if you WON'T return them? That can't be right!

On the other hand, there are times when more commentary might be appropriate. For example, Tamari quotes the Chofetz Chaim (an early 20th-century rabbi) as stating that a worker must always "be paid at daybreak." Does this mean that the American custom of paying workers every couple of weeks violates halacha?