Jewish Wisdom for Business Success: Lessons from the Torah and Other Ancient Texts (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Sam Jaffe (Author)
Key Phrases: divine intellect, gas ruach, spiritual entrepreneurship, Wall Street, The Talmud, Grameen Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an eye to gleaning savvy business tips from the Torah, Rabbi Brackman and columnist Jaffe cover a span of topics-"Conquering Fear," management styles (referred to as "Patriarchal Business Models"), negotiation and "Dealing with Failure." Each chapter includes an illustrative story from the Torah, a real-life corporate example, insight for business and personal life and a meditation-evoking both The Art of War for Executives and The Secret (a chapter addresses the power of positive thinking, albeit divinely guided). The corporate examples are relevant and timely (right down to the implosion of Countrywide Financial) and the proposed practices contain pearls of wisdom such as a weekly "audit of the soul" where strengths and weaknesses are assessed in terms of recent actions and are examined for mistakes, correctable by a four-step process. The authors outline sound principles and provide ample strong examples in this solid business primer.
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Review

"The corporate examples are relevant and timely (right down to the implosion of Countrywide Financial) and the proposed practices contain pearls of wisdom such as a weekly 'audit of the soul' where strengths and weaknesses are assessed in terms of recent actions and are examined for mistakes, correctable by a four-step process. The authors outline sound principles and provide ample strong examples in this solid business primer." --Publishers Weekly

"This is an enlightening, inspiring guide that will help you climb the rungs of success using the same principles that have worked since the days of the Bible." --Jewish Ledger

"Those seeking a spiritual dimension to their commercial enterprises might find this book useful." -- Book News, Inc.

"This book may not turn you into a millionaire, but it could certainly help save--or wisely invest--the money you have." -- Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia, PA)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (September 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814412742
• ISBN-13: 978-0814412749
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,728 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Sacred Writings > Torah
  #22 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Theology
  #93 in	Books > Business & Investing > Business Life > Motivation & Self-Improvement

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best business advice book ever, October 13, 2008

By	Ronny Karpinman (New York City) - See all my reviews

I don't say that lightly. I have read many business advice books and this tops them all. What you find in this book are nine pivotal lessons and wisdom teachings that are applicable to both business and life. What others authors might spend an entire book on are presented in this book in an engaging and concise manner in one chapter. In this sense you are getting nine books in one.

This book is heavily based on the Old Testament and uses stories from Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Pharaoh to teach important business lessons.

The premise of the book is that the Old Testament is a repository of timeless wisdom and Jewish people have made use of that wisdom throughout the ages leading to their success in business and other areas. The authors of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success decipher that wisdom and share it with the readers in an engaging and practical manner.

Each wisdom teaching is followed by an interesting and relevant contemporary business story and then two pearls of wisdom that the authors entitle "insight for business" followed by an equally pertinent "wisdom for life" which shows how the same lesson can be used to improve the readers personal life.

The book starts off with lesson about how to overcome fear using the story of the Israelites at the Sea of Reeds being chased by the Egyptian army. The lessons from that chapter, as well as from all the other chapters in the book, are extremely relevant and timely as the current financial crisis unfolds.

The next chapter talks about the importance of finding one's authentic inner will power and gives important pointers how to find it. This chapter will really help the reader in a concrete manner find their unique niche in life and work.

Chapter three deals with humility and business and gives a refreshing take on the concept of ego and humility offering four models of ego.

Chapter four deals with the need to balance one's management style both in business and in life. Chapter five gives the reader invaluable tips for negotiating--one of the best chapters on the subject I have ever read.

Chapter six deals with the all important concept of failure and gives concrete steps how to avoid failure including a regular "audit of the soul" and maintains that when seen from the proper perspective their really in no such things as failure.

Chapter seven stakes out three models of entrepreneurship and offers its own unique concept of an especially fulfilling manner of doing business that it coins "spiritual entrepreneurship." Immense wisdom for how to view the money making process.

Chapter eight gives an impressive overview of the power of attraction and how it works. In this chapter you get "The Secret," "Think and Grow Rich" and numerous other Power of Attraction books in one.

The final chapter deals with the importance of having an intellectual emotional balance in one's life and business dealings.

Each chapter ends with a meditation and a guide how to use the meditations is also provided at the back of the book.

This book is packed full with great advice and wisdom packaged in an interesting an engaging manner. I give it a full five stars because there aren't six stars available.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Six stars business book, December 21, 2008

By	Guido Sullam "The book Guide" (DENVER, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've read many business books, hundreds, being a CPA with two Masters, in economics and in business, and over 25 years of business experience. Most business books are based on a simple concept, like "loyalty", "quality", "focus", that the author repeats over and over again, like a mantra, as if just one idea were enough to succeed in business. Useless to say, business life is more complex.
This book: "Jewish wisdom for Business success" instead, is unusually rich and varied in content.
Each chapter deals with a different but important business issues, as can be seen from the title of its chapters: "Making the sale: negotiating techniques from the Torah" or "The humble path: :taking ego out of the entrepreneur".
Each chapter takes examples from the Bible and the business world, draws conclusions and offers also several meditation points.
The chapter that I preferred is probably:" Dealing with failure: handling failure to secure future success".
In this chapter, I found the idea of repentance, applied to business failure. This idea should be in the mind of every businessman, starting from the CEOs of Wall Street and Detroit and certainly in mine.
I also liked the idea that, to be successful, you have to combine passion and pleasure, and follow your Authentic Will (in the chapter:" Nothing stands before the Will: Harnessing willpower to succeed in Business").
I strongly recommend to read, study this book and meditate on its lessons.

5.0 out of 5 stars Jewish Wisdom Business Success, June 30, 2009

By	Francis Montiague "Fransmon" (Jakarta, Indonesia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The lesson and teaching in this book is different from the usual book I use to read. It open's your mind to the other perspective of life in terms of discovering one's true self to be truly happy and satisfied in once life. To be successful in any field of work we do this book will help you understand.