The challenge of wealth

Dr. Meir Tamari, well-known as an expert in the fields of economics and Jewish law, has written an engaging, in-depth study on the subject of money as it applies to earning and spending, business transactions, financial management, charity, economic morality and immorality, and Judaism's teachings on the use of wealth. Most books dealing with business ethics or economic morality do not emphasize the spiritual aspects of these crucial factors. Rather, they seek to find applications of modern economic theory or present a Jewish legal framework for economic activity. This book emphasizes the idea that concepts of morality and ethics (rather than economic systems) are the real basis for achieving economic justice and a more equitable market. Part I of this study is devoted to moral issues related to the creation of wealth. The author reviews the causes of economic immorality and the solutions offered by religion, free markets, and socialism. He also addresses Jewish spiritual concepts such as kiddush HaShem (sanctifying the name of God) through economic activity, operating beyond the demands of the law, and the effects of unethical behavior on the individuals who perpetrate it. The author also discusses the biblical injunction against placing a stumbling block in the path of the blind, relating it to the marketing of goods harmful to the buyer, to conflicts of interest, and to those involved in consulting and the marketing of advice. Advertising, consumer protection competition, and government regulation are reviewed in light of the Jewish definitions of honesty and their application to a modern economy. Special attention is paid to Jewish-gentile relationships. Part I concludes with an analysis of the moral obligation of both private and public corporations to adhere to the ethical demands of Judaism. This discussion of the corporate veil in halakhah centers on the rights and obligations of shareholders and executives. Ethical problems in financial management, such as insider trading, leveraged buyouts, and bankruptcy, are reviewed. Part II of the book is devoted to Judaism's teachings on the use of wealth. Acknowledged patterns of consumption, justice, communal demands, and the use of wealth are the factors that largely determine the moral restraints and ethical decisions of both individuals and society. Moral imperatives, however, are not sufficient in Judaism, so that the social obligation of charity, both voluntary and legislated as taxation, has been a characteristic of Jewish life throughout the ages. In the same light as charity, the halakhic treatment of interest forms part of this search for social justice.