Customer Reviews

Challenge of Wealth

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Meir Tamari has written a serious yet eminently readable examination of Jewish perspectives on earning and spending wealth from an Orthodox Jewish angle. His central thesis: Judaism posits that we are but stewards of wealth, and must act responsibly in our conduct of our financial affairs, as employer, as employee, as transactor in the marketplace, as debtor, as creditor. Jewish sources are accessible and interpreted in a clear manner. This book is stimulating, and helps one to ponder a variety of imporant issues outside the traditional capitalist-socialist dialogue box. This area of Jewish law is not studied to the proper degree in any of the Jewish denominations today.

Review by Dr. Lawrence R. Klein, Benjamin Franklin Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

"It takes a rare combination of talent and deep scholarship in two fields - Jewish religion and economics - to provide a sophisticated Jewish interpretation of individual economic activity. Meir Tamari is one of the few persons who truly understands both fields. There have been other religious interpretations of economic terms of behavior and performance, in the form of Catholic pastoral letters and Muslim, Buddhist, or Protestant studies, but very few modern interpretations for persons leading a conscious Jewish life. Tamari's book makes an extremely valuable contribution toward filling the void."

Review by Herbert Stein, Senior Fellow, The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

"What role should ethical guides play in an economy organized on the principle that individuals pursue their self-interest, and what should the guides be? These have always been important questions, but recent scandals, in both private and public life, have brought them forcefully to our attention.

Meir Tamari's new book, The Challenge of Wealth: A Jewish Perspective on Earning and Spending Money, provides valuable illumination of those questions. Jewish sages have been thinking about them, in real-world applications and with biblical precepts in mind, for two millennia. Tamari gives a clear and provocative account of their reasoning and their conclusions. Even readers who do not share the Jewish tradition and may not accept the conclusions that flow from it will get a better view of the issues that must be faced. Beyond that, to see hundreds of supple and serious minds at work over the centuries is a delight."