Mensch•Mark For Elul 10: Moderation in Business - Miyut Sechorah
On page after page, traditional sources are filled with wisdom that people in the business world need to hear – and to heed – in order to curtail the sins of excess.
About the Mensch•Mark Series
The Talmudic tractate Avot, 6:6 provides a roadmap as to how to live an ethical life. This passage includes 48 middot (measures) through which we can “acquire Torah.” See the full list here. For each of these days of reflection, running from the first of Elul through Yom Kippur, I’m highlighting one of these middot, in order to assist each of us in the process of soul searching (“heshbon ha-nefesh”).
Today’s Middah:
Moderation in Business - Middah Miyut Sechorah
URJ’s Take
This text, taken from the Talmud, illustrates the importance that Judaism places on moderation in virtually all aspects of our lives.
The rabbis of the Talmud often expressed their concerns that people would get so involved in conducting their businesses that they would neglect the study of Torah. R. Meir cautioned,
"Give little time to business, and occupy yourself assiduously with Torah. Be lowly in spirit before all men. If you have once been remiss in study of Torah, soon you will find many other occasions to be remiss in studying. But if you have toiled (assiduously) at the study of Torah, God has abundant reward to give you." (Avot 4:9-10)
While they deemed very little to be more valuable than study, the rabbis knew that a certain amount of work was necessary in order to make learning possible.
"Rava said to the rabbis: Don't come to me to study during the month of Nisan [harvest time] or the month of Tishrei [when grapes and olives are ready for pressing]. Do your work then so you won't be threatened by poverty." (Jewish Moral Virtues, p.82)
In fact, what they counseled was moderation—a middle course. R. Judah illustrated this advice by the following parable:
"There is a highway that runs between two paths, one of fire and the other of snow. If a person walks too close to the fire, this person will be scorched by the flames; if too close to the snow, this person will be bitten by the cold. What is the person to do? This person is to walk in the middle, taking care not to be scorched by the heat nor bitten by the cold." (Avot de Rabbi Natan 28)
In allocating our energy, we are continually making decisions about the relative importance of each choice that we make. While making money is a highly regarded Jewish goal, it is only one of many. Taking the time to study and to learn about the paths that the Torah can lead us to can help us reach other worthy goals.
MARLENE MYERSON
My Take - Work and Worship
On page after page, traditional sources are filled with wisdom that people in the business world need to hear – and to heed – in order to curtail the sins of excess. “Who is rich?” the Talmud asks, “The person who is content with his lot.”
The great early 20th century Jewish moralist Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, known as the Chafetz Chayim (the one who seeks life), was famous for being scrupulously honest in his business dealings. He made it a habit not only to be ethical in his treatment of others, but to routinely go above and beyond the letter of the law.
For example, it is said that he and his wife invested in a grocery store to earn some extra money, and one time a woman who had purchased a herring left it in the store. He couldn’t recall who that person was, so for the next few days, the Chafetz Chayim gave free herring to everyone who came into the store. On another occasion, he insisted that his son distribute numerous free replacement copies of a book when he discovered that several pages of the original printing had been inserted in the wrong order.
He was once asked, by a disciple just before Passover, what supervisors of female matzah bakers should be most fastidious about in making sure that the product is prepared according to the strictest standards of Jewish law. “Make sure,” he replied, “that the women are paid on time.” On another occasion, he scampered through the streets of Warsaw just before the Sabbath in order to compensate printers who had left work early, before the paychecks had been handed out.
The Chafetz Chayim remains a beloved figure to this day, and a perfect exemplar of the rabbinic assertion that "Whoever conducts business honestly is universally admired and it is considered as though he observed the entire Torah." (Mechilta, Exodus 15:26).
The public arena has been a central component of Jewish thought and practice since biblical times. The Hebrew words for “work” and “worship” are the same, and my premise is that they are identical, and if anything, the Bible is more about the former than the latter. The second word of the Bible is “bara” “created.” In the beginning, before there was anything else, before there were stars or oceans or human beings, there was work – honest, ennobling work, productive and revitalizing for employer and employee alike.
The history of religion is the history of people who have sought salvation through their business dealings. Abraham humbly struck a deal with the Hittite Ephron for Sarah’s burial place. Jacob, both the deceiver and deceived in his transactions, learned the hard way how to toil with integrity. The prophets spoke of an age of blissful peace, and for them such an age would include meaningful, joyous work, with swords transformed into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. Early Christian heroes were carpenters and fishermen and their monks chanted “labore est orare,” “Work is praying.” The Moslem world knows of no distinction between work and religion; many of its rules of the marketplace are drawn directly from the Quran and its commentaries.
“Great is work,” says the Talmud, “for it exalts the person who does it.”
I learned early on of the similarities between work and worship and how the academic pursuits of the ancient Jewish sages were not at all that different from the transactions of Wall Street execs. If religious and business leaders understood that they are speaking essentially the same language, each striving to tap into a pervasive sense of manifest destiny, a prevailing optimism that our work is God’s work, and that God’s world can be perfected through that work, maybe that gap could be closed and maybe the almighty dollar and the Almighty could join forces again.
Bonus Material: Basic Principles of Jewish Business Ethics
One way to combine business and Torah is to do business according to the values of Torah. Here is an abridged version of basic principles of Jewish business ethics, as laid out by Rabbi David Golinkin:
First we shall deal with the laws of accurate weights and measures. We are admonished in the book of Vayikra (19:35-36): "You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, an honest weight, an honest ephah, and an honest hin ".
The Mishnah rules (Bava Batra 5:10 = 88a) that the wholesaler must clean out his measures once every thirty days and the householder once every twelve months... The retailer cleans his measures twice a week and polishes his weights once a week; and cleans out his scale before every weighing.
Throughout the Talmudic period, the rabbis appointed agronomoi - a Greek word for market commissioners - whose job it was to inspect measures and weights and to fix prices for basic commodities (Bava Batra 89a). The agronomoi eventually disappeared, but the ideal was still there as late as the nineteenth century when Rabbi Israel Salanter wrote: "As the rabbi must inspect periodically the slaughtering knives of the shochtim (ritual slaughterers) in town to see that they have no defect, so must he go from store to store to inspect the weights and measures of the storekeepers" (Dov Katz, Tenuat Hamussar, Vol. 1, Jerusalem, 1996, p. 281).
Today, these laws are just as applicable as they were in biblical times. Wholesalers and retailers must check their scales and cash registers on a regular basis, not just because civil law demands it, but also because Jewish law requires it.
The second category of Jewish business law is called ona'at mamon or monetary deception. It is based on a verse in the book of Vayikra (25:14): "When you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from your neighbor, you shall not deceive one another".
This verse clearly refers to monetary deception. The rabbis of the Talmud used it as a basis for a series of specific laws on the subject (Bava Metzia 49b and 50b; Rambam, Mekhira, Chapter 12). They ruled that if the price charged was more than one sixth above the accepted price, the sale is null and void and the seller must return the buyer's money. If it was exactly one sixth more, the transaction is valid, but the seller must return the amount overcharged. If it was less than a sixth, the transaction is valid and no money need be returned. Needless to say, these laws are still very relevant today. It is permissible for a Jew to make a fair profit; it is not permissible to price gouge and rob the customer blind. Such behavior is ona'at mamon or monetary deception.
The third category is related to the second. It is called ona'at devarim or verbal deception. It is based on another verse in the same chapter of Vayikra (25:17): "Do not deceive one another, but fear your God, for I the Lord am your God." Since the other verse had explicitly mentioned monetary deception, the rabbis concluded that this verse refers to verbal deception. And thus we learn in the Mishnah (Bava Metzia 4:10 = 58b and parallels): "Just as there is deception in buying and selling, there is deception in words. A person should not say to a merchant: 'How much does this cost?' if he has no intention of buying it".
But why not? What's wrong with comparison shopping? Nothing! But in this case he is not asking in order to compare prices. He is asking out of idle curiosity, which gives the merchant false hopes. Therefore the mishnah says "he has no intention of buying it" and a parallel beraita (Bava Metzia 58b) states that he doesn't even have any money.
As for our own day, once again the law of ona'at devarim is very applicable. Let us say that Reuven goes into a warehouse outlet in order to buy a computer, but he wants a demonstration before he spends $1000. The warehouse outlet is not equipped for demonstrations. The salesman says to Reuven: "go to the IBM showroom down the block and ask for a demonstration, then come back here and buy the computer at our low low price". Reuven complies and gets a free demonstration plus a discount.
In this case, Reuven has committed ona'at devarim - verbal deception. When Reuven asks for the demonstration at the IBM store, he has absolutely no intention of purchasing the computer there. He merely wants a free demonstration. The IBM salesman is being deceived. He either loses a real customer while waiting on Reuven, or feels badly when Reuven walks out on him after a half-hour demonstration. This is ona'at devarim (cf. Tucker pp. 261-262 and Levine, Economics and Jewish Law, pp. 8-9).
The fourth category of Jewish business law is called gneivat da'at, which literally means "stealing a person's mind". We would call it false packaging or false labeling. Interestingly enough, it is not based on a specific verse from the Bible, but was derived by the Sages from the laws of theft and the laws of honesty. We learn in the Mekhilta (D'nezikin, Chap. 13, ed. Lauterbach, Vol. 3, p. 105): "There are seven kinds of thieves: the first is he who steals the mind of his neighbor.".
The Talmud gives a number of specific examples of such false packaging or false labeling.
Our Sages have taught: one should not sell a sandal made from the leather of an animal that died of disease as if it was made from the leather of an animal that was slaughtered, because he is misleading the customer" (Hullin 94a).
One should not sift the beans at the top of the bushel because he is "deceiving the eye" by making the customer think that the entire bushel has been sifted. It is forbidden to paint animals or utensils in order to improve their appearance or cover up their defects (Bava Metzia 60a-b).
We are all familiar with these kinds of false packaging. A wholesaler takes an inferior brand of shirt and puts on Pierre Cardin labels. You buy a box of perfect-looking tomatoes or strawberries, only to discover upon opening the box at home that they were packaged with the bad spots facing down. And we all know how used cars are touched up and polished for the sole purpose of overcharging the customer. These are all good examples of gneivat da'at, clearly forbidden by Jewish law.5) The next category we shall discuss is called "putting a stumbling block before the blind". We would call it giving someone a bum steer. This law is based on Vayikra Chapter 19 (v. 14): "You shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God, I am the Lord". Our Sages interpreted this verse in a very broad fashion (Sifra ad. Loc.):
"You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind" - before someone who is blind in that particular matter. don't say to your neighbor 'sell your field and buy a donkey', when your whole purpose is to deceive him and buy his field. And if you claim 'But I gave him good advice!' [Remember,] this is something which is hidden in the heart, [and therefore] the end of the verse says: "but you shall fear your God, I am the Lord".
Once again, the law of the stumbling block can be readily applied to modern situations: a real estate agent should not dupe a young couple into buying a home with structural faults simply in order to make a fast buck. A stockbroker should not sell his client a bad investment just to collect the commission. A salesman should not convince his customer to buy an expensive item he really has no use for. These are all considered "a stumbling block before the blind" about which we are warned "and you shall fear your God, I am the Lord."
Considering the scope of Jewish business law, it is not surprising that it also has a clear opinion regarding tax evasion. 1800 years ago the Amora Shmuel established the legal principle that in civil matters dina d'malkhuta dina - "the law of the land is the law" (Bava Kama 113a and parallels). In its discussion of this principle, the Talmud specifically includes taxation as a secular law that must be followed. This, for example, is the way Maimonides summarizes this law (Gezeilah 5:11 and cf. Hoshen Mishpat 369:6):
but a tax fixed by the king of 33% or 25% or any fixed sum. a person who avoids paying such a tax is a transgressor because he is stealing the king's portion, regardless of whether the king is Jewish or not.
So we see, Jewish law requires us to pay our taxes in a scrupulous fashion because in civil matters "the law of the land is the law".
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