torah musings on the economic downturn

Adapted from the blog TorahMusings.com

by Rabbi Gil Student

Torah Musings on the Economic Downturn

Adapted from the blog TorahMusings.com. © 2009. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

A Spiritual Message in the Credit Crisis ............................................................................ 3 Did You Lose Your Job Because God Is Punishing You? ................................................. 5 Responding to Crises with Emunah.................................................................................... 8 Coping With the Economic Downturn ............................................................................. 11 The Corporate Dilemma and the Financial Downturn...................................................... 13 Making God a Part of the Stimulus Package .................................................................... 16 Jewish Charity In A New Era ........................................................................................... 21 Charity Priorities............................................................................................................... 23 The Stimulus Package and Halakhah................................................................................ 25 Shacharis Tips for the Unemployed.................................................................................. 26 Rav Soloveitchik and the Madoff Scandal ....................................................................... 29 Purim as a Temporary Remedy for the Economic Downtown......................................... 30 Hagbahah and the Financial Crisis ................................................................................... 31 Judaism and the Financial Crisis ...................................................................................... 32

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A Spiritual Message in the Credit Crisis*

The current economic crisis in which we are in, which started with mortgage

problems but spread to most of the banking system in the form of a credit crunch (that is

hardly over!), has many lessons for those who are willing to look for them. Some of them

are obvious, such as the need to perform adequate analysis before investing in a security.

Others are more remote, like the importance of creating compensation packages that

promote the right behavior. However, there is one lesson from this crisis that I find

meaningful but have not seen anyone else discuss it. It is the fact that corporate denizens,

the people who sit behind computer screens and roam the halls of large, faceless

companies, created this mess. Why is this significant?

I only heard R. Henach Leibowitz speak once, and one of the questions he was

asked was how a yeshiva-trained student, someone who was taught for all his life that he

was created to learn Torah, can find meaning in his participation in the working world.

This is a critical dilemma for the working person who usually spends the majority of his

waking hours in the corporate (or retail, etc.) world. All that time and effort is spent

trying to make money. How can a Ben Torah find peace with himself when he spends

most of his day on such mundane things? The guilty feelings of being inauthentic to your

ideals can be overwhelming.

R. Leibowitz’s response was that people who go out into the workforce should

look at it as an opportunity to glorify God’s name through praiseworthy behavior. I think

that this is a powerful answer because it enables people to find meaning in every

potentially mundane act. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, it encourages

people to be on constant guard to act properly in the office and not fall prey to the many

ethical and other pitfalls that come across their path.

Notwithstanding R. Leibowitz’s approach, rather in addition to it, I have always

struggled to see how my actions in the corporate world benefit mankind. This is usually a

stretch. When I worked as a property & casualty insurance actuary, I used to try to make

the case that my work enabled people to buy homes, start businesses, drive cars, etc. All

* Originally posted Wednesday, June 18, 2008, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/06/spiritual-message-in-credit-crisis.html



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of these things are only possible because insurance is available. My colleagues never

bought it because it is a rather remote benefit. However, it seemed to me that I was

helping society and enabling it to function.

When I moved into Finance, it became harder to see my work as benefiting

mankind. Moving money from one large corporation’s account to another’s hardly seems

to make society function. It is very, very remote from the individual customer.

However, what I’ve learned from the slowdown of the economy is that work in

Finance does, in fact, benefit society. It allows people to buy homes (studies show that

the securitization of mortgages enables lower rates). It allows banks to lend to other

companies, including both big and small companies. It allows local governments to

improve infrastructure, and even maintains lower local taxes than would otherwise be

necessary.

When things break, you realize that they are important. Finance is broken for the

moment. One consolation is that we now know that, when it works right, it actually

benefits the lives of many people.



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Did You Lose Your Job Because God Is Punishing You?*

I. Why Mezuzos?

Many people are suffering financially right now and Jews are certainly no

exception. On some level, the question “Why me?” is not that applicable because just

about everyone is hurting. However, the people who have been hit the most – those who

have lost their jobs and/or savings – might very well be thinking that they have done

something wrong to deserve it. Is this the right attitude to take?

There are some Jews who, when something bad happens to them, reflexively

check their mezuzos. They reason that they must have had some religious failing to

deserve this bad event. The introspection is praiseworthy but I’m not sure that mezuzos

are always the best place to start. There are often more obvious religious failings that are

better targets for improvement. For example, money problems often lead to marital stress,

so maybe the original problem was with how the spouses treated each other. God might

have said, as it were, “If you will treat each other poorly then I’ll give you a good reason

for marital tension.” Or maybe there are other appropriate areas you can find for religious

improvement. Frankly, I’d find it hard to believe that anyone can fail to find something.

But don’t make the mistake of blaming yourself for your troubles. You can never

know for sure the reason. It might have been a divine punishment for your own misdeeds

but there are other possible explanations for it. However, as we’ll see, using this

unfortunate situation as an opportunity for religious growth can serve multiple purposes.

II. General Decree

As we’re all aware, the current economic downturn is affecting just about

everyone. If that’s the case, the question “Why me?” might not be the right one to ask.

Perhaps you should ask “Why wouldn’t it be me?”

* Originally posted on Thursday, March 26, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/03/did-you-lose-your-job-because-god-is.html



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There are multiple approaches to deciphering the ways of divine providence, and

it is not at all clear that we can ever gain a true understanding. However, let us follow

down one path and see what we can learn from it.

The Kuzari (5:20), based on a verse in Shmuel Alef (1 Samuel 26:10), lists three

ways a person can die – Divine (he is punished by God), Natural (he simply reaches his

time) or Accidental (he goes off to war and dies “by chance”). R. Yosef Albo, in his Sefer

Ha-Ikkarim (4:21), restates this passage in the Kuzari and adds an important explanation

of the Accidental category. He explains that sometimes there is a general decree that

overrides an individual decree.

For example, while a person may be written for life in the year, if he goes out to

battle for a country that has been decreed above to lose, this general decree (for the

country) will take precedence over his individual decree. The “by chance” does not

literally mean that God has no role in his fate. It means that his death is governed by

global concerns that override his individual merit (cf. R. Elchanan Wasserman, Kovetz

Ma’amarim, part 2 sv. ha-tzur, p. 38).

III. Avoid a General Decree

However, all is not lost. The Gemara (Ta’anis 21b) tells the story of a community

that was spared from a tragedy. Why? Was it the merit of Rav, who lived there, that

saved them? No, answers the Gemara, Rav’s merit was too great; it was the merit of some

other righteous resident who, while not great, performed wonderful acts of chesed. This

is, to say the least, quite a puzzling passage. What does it mean that Rav was too

righteous to save the community from tragedy?

The Maharatz Chajes (Glosses to Shabbos 55a) explains that someone great can

avoid a general decree. Even if there is tragedy all around him, he will be saved because

of his great merit. However, someone who is not as great is subject to a general decree.

Therefore, before God administers a general decree, He has to take into account the great

people who might be affected by it. Rav was so great that he would not have been

affected by a general decree. The other person was not as deserving and if there had been

a general decree, he would have been subject to it. Therefore, he saved the community

from a general decree to prevent the negative impact to that worthy person. While that



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saving might not always happen, depending on the divine calculus, this time it did (cf.

Malbim, Gen. 18:24).

IV. Why You?

Translating this to today’s situation, according to this one of multiple possible

approaches, you were may have been affected by a general decree that is impacting the

world. It isn’t your fault. The guaranteed way of avoiding the downturn is to look at

yourself, your actions and your attitudes, and ask: Am I worthy of getting a divine

exception? If not, do what you can to change that. While it is a bit much to ask anyone to

become righteous, there are certainly ways that you can improve religiously to make

yourself more worthy.

If that doesn’t work, and to be honest it is quite a long shot that any specific

person will become completely righteous, you can at least have the solace that it is not

your fault. There are forces at work greater than any individual and we can only go with

the flow of the larger community and do our best in those circumstances.



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Responding to Crises with Emunah*

How we react to difficult situations helps define who we are as people and what

our ultimate priorities are. As we face now one of the worst financial crises in two

generations, it is worth pausing to think about the best ways to respond.

I. Defeating Amalek

During the battle with Amalek, Moshe was on a mountain, raising his hands while

the battle took place. After a while, his hands grew tired. The Torah tells us (Ex. 17:12):

וידי משה כבדים ויקחו אבן וישימו תחתיו וישב עליה ואהרן וחור תמכו בידיו מזה אחד

.ומזה אחד ויהי ידיו אמונה עד בא השמש

But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under

him, and he sat on it. And Aharon and Chur supported his hands, one on

one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were emunah until

the going down of the sun.

The word “emunah” is unclear. We are used to it meaning “faith” or “belief” but

that does not make sense in the current context. Commentators generally have four ways

of understanding it, and, if I am permitted some broad homiletical license, I see these four

as being guides to useful responses to crises.

II. Pray In Times Of Need

Targum Onkelos and Rashi explain that Moshe had his hands raised in faithful

prayer. This is certainly an appropriate way to respond to a crisis, financial or otherwise.

The Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Ta’aniyos 1:1) writes that whenever there is a

trouble that comes upon the community, there is a special mitzvah to cry out in prayer to

* Originally posted Sunday, February 08, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/02/responding-to-crises-with-emunah.html



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God. He is the source of our salvation and our comfort, and prayer is our way of

communicating with Him. While this explanation of the verse is somewhat difficult from

a peshat perspective, the lesson can still be applied to those facing difficult situations:

pray.

III. Do Not Waver

Ibn Ezra offers two explanations. The first is that “emunah” here means strong

and steady, as it does in a number of places in the Bible. This is the most widely accepted

explanation, adopted by the Ramban and Rashbam in their commentaries, Radak and R.

Yonah ibn Janach in their respective Sefer Ha-Shorashim, and most modern

commentators and English translations. The lesson I see here is that in response to crisis

we should not waver. We cannot afford to give in to depression or otherwise slip in our

practices and attitudes. It is easy to have faith when times are good. It’s when times are

tough that you need your faith most but it is the hardest to find. You can’t waver; you

can’t let it slip.

IV. Growth Through Overcoming Difficulty

The Ibn Ezra’s second explanation is that “emunah” is related to “omen” in Esther

And Mordechai had brought up (omen) Hadassah”. Ibn Ezra - ויהי א מן את הדסה “ :2:7

continues to explain this, and the footnote in the Mossad Ha-Rav Kook edition expands

upon it, that in our context the word means that Moshe’s arms learned how to hold

themselves up. In other words, they became self-sustaining. While Moshe initially needed

help from Aharon and Chur, his arms became self-sustaining. The lesson I see here for

dealing with a crisis is that it is even possible to grow from challenges and to become

stronger.

R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Al Ha-Teshuvah, pp. 169-187) discusses two

approaches to repenting from a sinful past. One is to essentially erase the sinful times

from your memory. For some people, this means that they revert back to the way they

were decades earlier, before they started sinning. The other way is to take your sins and

build upon them to become stronger; to recognize the distance you once had from God



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and how spiritually alone you were, and to use that as an inspiration to become closer to

God.

Just like you can use a sinful past to become closer to God, you can also use other

types of crises to become closer to God. You can see how, in the past, you did not rely on

God enough and now you can realize how you always need to rely on Him. Or you can

see better how blessed you have been and how much God has given to you. There are

many ways to take your personal trials and turn them into opportunities for growth, to

become more self-sustaining.

V. Reach Out To Others In Need

Abarbanel suggests an explanation that was later adopted by the Malbim and

Netziv. According to this approach, Moshe’s hands were a source of emunah (faith) to

the people on the battlefield who looked up and saw them. In times of communal crisis,

we have to look beyond our own pain and recognize that the people around us are also

hurting. Even if we can’t solve our own problems, we can comfort others and strengthen

their resolves. Your own misfortune might even give you an added ability to do a chesed

to others through commiseration.

This past Shabbos, there was an appeal to establish local funds for unemployed

workers, sponsored by the OU, RCA, NCYI and Agudath Israel. This is an important

effort, especially since the local needy should take a high priority in your charity giving.

However, we should add to that financial support the (appropriate and tasteful) giving of

emotional support.

Just some thoughts on ways to positively react to difficult circumstances.



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Coping With the Economic Downturn*

To my knowledge, there has only been one Jewish

book published about the current economic crisis – The Sun

Will Shine Again: Coping, Persevering, and Winning in

Troubled Economic Times by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski,

MD. R. Twerski is a prolific author on issues of mental

health and self-esteem. As a professional therapist, he is

keenly sensitive to the potential effects on people of financial

troubles. In this short book, he addresses many issues of

concern and offers advice to help people deal with their troubles by changing their

perspectives and growing personally.

There are three main themes to the book. The first is that you shouldn't panic; it

will only make things worse. In order to avoid doing this, you should talk about the

situation with your family and friends, and try not to keep it bottled inside you. Talk to

your children as well so that they know they have to keep their expectations realistic.

This will help you bond as a family as you get through this rough time together. We have

to prepare our children for the real world and part of that is dealing with disappointment.

So be open with them.

You can't control everything that happens to you but you can control how you

react to it. Do just that, and take control. Do not allow despair to overwhelm you and

absolutely do not use alcohol or drugs (prescription or otherwise) to soothe the pain. That

will just lead to disaster.

The second theme is that of using mitzvos to make sense out of the world. Prayer

will bring you closer to God, the joy of mitzvos will bring happiness to your days and

Shabbos will bring you relief from your worries. But you have take the initiative to utilize

these mitzvos properly. So pay attention to the words of prayer, and be happy over

mitzvos and make Shabbos a financial-worry-free day.

* Originally posted Wednesday, April 01, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-iii-coping-with-economic.html



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The third theme is that you need to have perspective. Money problems are serious

but, after all, they are only about money. It is often hard to see, but there are many things

more important in life than money. This is the time to regain that perspective, to think

about what is permanent and what is temporary. Think about your priorities in life and

make living a truly religious life, both in practice and in spirit, the top priority. Learn

from your troubles so the experience is not wasted.

All of this discussion is peppered with R. Twerski's characteristic stories and

divrei Torah. That is stylistic. Thematically, the book is a unique combination of

contemporary self-help, Chassidic thought and the Mussar approach. Additionally, as part

of the new Artscroll line of pocket-size books (PocketScroll), the softcover book is priced

at an inexpensive $10.



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The Corporate Dilemma and the Financial Downturn* I. The Contradiction

The Gemara (Yoma 76a) records the following conversation: R. Shimon bar

Yochai’s students asked him why the man did not fall just once a year, and the Jews

would collect their needs for the year at that one time. He responded with a parable: A

man had a son to whom he gave money once a year and the son only came to visit that

one time a year. The man decided to support his son every day and, therefore, the son had

to visit each day. Similarly, regarding the Jews in the desert, if the man only fell once a

year then they would only have to think about God that one time annually. But since it

fell every day, someone who had four or five children would worry that the man would

not fall the next day and all of his children would starve. Because of that, the Jews

directed their attention to God (in their thoughts and prayers) each day. In other words, it

is religiously good for people to worry a little bit about their livelihood.

However, we find a talmudic passage to the contrary. The Gemara (Menachos

103b) quotes the verse that is part of the tochakhah curses: “Your life shall hang in doubt

before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life” (Deut. 28:66).

The Gemara explains that “Your life shall hang in doubt before you” refers to someone

who gathers his harvest each year and therefore does not know if he will have money in

the next year (cf. Rashi). The next phrase, “You shall fear day and night”, refers to

someone who gathers his harvest each week, and doesn’t know whether he will have

money in the next week. And the final phrase, “And have no assurance of life”, refers to

someone who lives from day to day. The implication seems to be that each succeeding

phrase in the verse is a greater curse. So having to worry about your daily living is worse

than having to worry about your annual living.

While the Gemara in Yoma says that it is good not to know where your food for

the next day will come from so that you will pray, the Gemara in Menachos seems to say

that it is a curse!

* Originally posted Wednesday, February 04, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/02/corporate-dilemma-and-financial.html



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II. Poverty

This is a level of poverty that is hard for most of us to imagine. Lately, my two

year old son has been enjoying the old childrens’ book Caps for Sale. At one point in the

book, the cap salesman does not sell any caps in the morning and therefore doesn’t have

money for lunch; instead, he goes for a walk. I think some of us might wonder why he

doesn’t just pack himself a lunch so he doesn’t have to worry about that. Of course, the

answer is that he doesn’t have any money until he sells his caps for the day. We aren’t

talking about someone not having enough money for an eggplant parmigiana at the local

restaurant. He doesn’t have enough money for a slice of bread!

I seem to recall that R. Barukh Epstein, in his memoir Mekor Barukh, tells of one

time when he was living with his uncle the Netziv, the rosh yeshiva of Volozhin. One

time, as I remember the story, when they were eating at home during a lunch break from

yeshiva, the Netziv asked his wife for a little margarine to put on his bread and his wife

said that if he had even a little margarine then there would be none for their daughter.

That story always struck me as a level of poverty I’ve thankfully never personally

witnessed.

III. The Corporate Dilemma

Is that living day-to-day, like the cap salesman, a blessing? In the corporate world,

where you receive an annual salary, you pretty much know how much money you’re

going to make over the next year and, often, you have a good idea of the next few years.

While bonuses vary, you at least have a minimum salary on which you can count. This

makes bitachon very difficult. Sure, unexpected expenses can come up and you will end

up keeping less of your salary (a wise man once said, “It’s not what you make but what

you keep”), so there is still room for God in your financial situation. But it is a much

smaller room than those who live day-to-day, such as peddlers who live off their daily

sales and, to some degree, salesmen who are paid from commissions.

There is an answer to that corporate dilemma, and it is the same answer to the

contradiction between the two Gemara passages above. R. Yitzchak Blaser (Kokhevei Or,



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no. 11) explains that whether living day-to-day is a blessing or a curse is all a matter of

your attitude. If you have strong faith, like the Jews in the desert, then the opportunity to

direct your thoughts and prayers to God is a blessing. You don’t go crazy with worry but

you also don’t take God’s sustaining you and your family for granted. But if you don’t

have strong faith, then living day-to-day is not an opportunity but a curse. Your worry

and anxiety can be consuming and even emotionally crippling.

The same, too, applies to the corporate dilemma. Your attitude is all the

difference. If you lack bitachon, then having a steady salary can be a curse similar,

although in a more comfortable way, to that of living day-to-day. It is religiously

damaging. If you can maintain the proper attitude of faith then having the steady salary is

a blessing.

IV. Learning the Lesson

However, that attitude is difficult to maintain, as is, I am sure, an attitude of faith

while living under crushing poverty. One thing we can do to improve our attitude is to

take lessons when available. The current financial crisis is one such opportunity. We have

seen things that we took for granted – jobs, salaries, retirement investments, endowments

– disappear. Unemployment has risen to shocking levels, particularly among highly

educated and experienced people. Entire industries have collapsed in mere months.

We can learn a lesson from this. We have to see that even a corporate job with a

steady salary is not guaranteed – nor are pensions, investments and severance packages.

Everything requires bitachon and the appearance of a guarantee is merely an illusion.

This is one lesson we can learn from the current economic downturn.



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Making God a Part of the Stimulus Package*

Guest post by R. Gidon Rothstein, PhD1

Americans pride themselves on their religiosity, with surveys trumpeting the

percentages who believe in God. At the same time, the public discussion of issues facing

this country—for now, that means the recession/depression and the stimulus—leave God

out as a factor in how we shape our actions. I would have thought, a priori, that belief

implies a continuing attempt to both understand and follow God’s Will, but that is not so

in this or any other Western country.

This is particularly distressing when it comes to Orthodox Jews, since this is so

ingrained in our tradition of how to react to times of trouble. For one quick example,

Rambam opens Hilchot Taaniyot by asserting a Torah commandment to respond to

communal troubles by calling out to Hashem (and blowing the hatzotzrot). Even more to

the point is Halacha Gimmel:

ם הלכות תעניות פרק א הלכה ג”רמב

נקרה אם לא יזעקו ולא יריעו אלא יאמרו דבר זה ממנהג העולם אירע לנו וצרה זו אבל

ותוסיף, הרי זו דרך אכזריות וגורמת להם להדבק במעשיהם הרעים, נקרית רות הצרה צ

והלכתם עמי בקרי והלכתי+ ו”ויקרא כ+הוא שכתוב בתורה , אחרות , עמכם בחמת קרי

.אוסיף לכם חמת אותו קרי כלומר כשאביא עליכם צרה כדי שתשובו אם תאמרו שהוא קרי

But if they do not cry out and blow, but rather say: “the way the world

works has happened to us, and this time of trouble just happened,” this is

insensitivity, and causes them to cling to their evil ways, and to add other

troubles, which is what the Torah says (Vayikra 26) “and you shall go

with me be-keri, I will go with you in a fury of keri” that is to say, when I

bring you a time of trouble so that you should repent, if you say it is

coincidental, I will add a fury of that “coincidence.” * Originally posted Tuesday, March 10, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/03/making-god-part-of-stimulus-package.html 1 Rabbi Gidon Rothstein recently published a new book, Cassandra Misreads The Book of Samuel (and other untold tales of the prophets).



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To me, that should have clinched it, but I have mentioned this idea, that we should

respond to modern troubles by considering what actions of ours have contributed to them,

in many contexts and have met, almost uniformly, with rejection by Orthodox Jews.

Why should this be, and how might we change it?

Two recent articles open a window on the why, and suggest to me ways we might

change our thinking and find our way back to a fuller engagement with Hashem, as

individuals, communities, and maybe one day as Klal Yisrael.

The first, an Op-Ed in a recent Sunday New York Times, was written by two

economists, Marcelle Chauvet and Kevin A. Hassett. They noted that history indicates an

eight percent chance of leaving a recession each month we are in it. In their words, “It is

as if God rolls two dice each month, and the recession ends when he [sic] rolls a 10.”

They end with, “But the dice will be thrown each month, and we could get lucky and be

out earlier—or unlucky and be stuck in the doldrums.”

The reference to dice-rolling recalls Einstein’s famous “God does not play dice

with the universe,” his reason for rejecting quantum physics. Since that physics has been

proven right repeatedly—and fruitfully, making our lives easier, more productive, and

healthier—Einstein’s quote is usually cited as an example of even great men sometimes

being unable to accept new truths.

At the same time, the randomness of the universe, only giving way to regularity in

the bigger picture, leads many to assume there is no role for a God, that Nature has it all

covered with its laws. I stress that even Orthodox Jews—of the more rationalist variety,

of course; more kabbalistically minded Jews will say everything comes from Hashem, a

la Ramban, but will not translate that into seeing the need for change in times such as

ours—adopt this attitude, that the world operates according to Nature. If so, there is little

need to consider God’s Will, since Hashem does not do anything so direct as bring about

an epidemic or a natural disaster or a financial collapse.

It is precisely in the aggregate nature of statistics, though, that we find room to

understand how Hashem can and does influence events. Individual occurrences resist

probabilities, can act “on their own,” as it were; when grouped together, though, they

often show aspects of regularity. It is this reason, for example, that the risk-management

people failed so miserably in the runup to the current crisis—they could predict safe

courses of action for ninety-nine percent of eventualities, but not for all eventualities.



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That each event has a rhyme of its own allows a religious person to realize that

among the factors hidden from human understanding may be a Divine one. As Rabbi

Mayer E. Twersky, Rosh Yeshiva at YU, once said, “Statistics is how God hides

Providence.” Providence, in this version, is God operating within probability, in ways

that will not skew statistics so obviously as to make His Hand clear.

Why hide? Perhaps to leave faith and free will as just that—free choices we make,

in the absence of ironclad proof, on the basis of traditions of revelation and open miracles

that were supposed to clinch the point for all of human history. It is for this reason,

according to Ramban at least, that we mention both yetziat mitzrayim and maaseh

bereshit, the Exodus and Creation, in Kiddush on Shabbat—one to note God’s having

created the world miraculously, the other to note Hashem’s continuing involvement in the

world and continuing ability to break into Nature and produce results Hashem wants.

A recent column by David Plotz suggests to me a reason so many of us squirm at

this idea, and either reject or resist it. Plotz blogged for Slate about his reading Tanach

cover to cover, and has now turned those blogs into a book. He comes away positive

about the experience, arguing that more of us should read large chunks of the Bible, but

closes by sharing his own discomfort with the God portrayed there. In his experience, the

God of the Old Testament—and this has been said by others— brings so much human

suffering, so many epidemics and plagues, that it would almost be better not to believe in

God at all.

Plotz’ comments are noteworthy because they are representative, unfortunately, of

many religious people. They may stay within the fold of the community in which they

were raised, whether Modern, Centrist, or “right-wing,” may even practice their

communal rituals or customs, but, deep down, are uncomfortable with the possibility that

world events, so obviously imperfect, can be traced back to God. In Jewish circles, the

common way to note this is to say, simply, how could God affect world events and have

allowed the Holocaust?

I don’t intend to answer that question, since it would assume that I, or any human,

can fully understand Hashem. Mori ve-rabi R. Lichtenstein is fond of quoting the Gemara

in Berachot 7a’s mockery of Bilam for characterizing himself as יודע דעת עליון , familiar

with the mind of God, when he did not even know his own donkey’s thoughts.



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I will surely not be so foolish as to make Bilam’s error; I will only note that the

opposite position makes it impossible for Hashem to communicate with us other than in

an era of nevuah. And, truth is, even then. Plotz, for example, ignores the underlying

condition of Tanach, prophets being repeatedly sent to a people who stubbornly cling to

activities that not only contravene God’s Will but do so in deep and fundamental ways.

How should God react to such human actions? Positive reinforcement is certainly

preferable, for Hashem as well (as Tanach also notes repeatedly), but it only works when

people strive to do what God wants, and have some correct understanding of what that is.

In times when people willfully or mistakenly violate the Divine Will, and prophecy is not

available, denying Providence means there is no way for God to communicate with us.

If this were all a lead-in to decrying our evils, based on my own list, it would be

better left unsaid. But the comforting part of recognizing that times of troubles may

contain a message from God is that it opens another avenue to digging our way out. In

addition to our attempts to rectify the financial system, recognizing the possibility that

God is calling out to us suggests that if we make that question a vital part of our

conversation around this and future similar events, we can hope to return more quickly to

times of bounty, that 10 will come up on God’s dice all that much faster.

Even more usefully, we have classical sources that offer avenues to how to think

through the issue, since of course that would be the next question—how are we supposed

to know what Hashem is trying to tell us? A first simple text consists of the eighth and

ninth mishnayot in the fifth chapter of Avot, where the Mishnah explicitly connects

certain punishments to certain crimes. Interestingly, the first one discussed is a רעב של

.a famine in which some are hungry and some are not ,בצורת

More broadly, Jewish tradition generally—in Kallah Rabbati, in Sanhedrin 90a,

and elsewhere, including dozens of times in Rashi—adopted the view that Hashem

operates in this world דהמדה כנגד מ , that Hashem’s responses to us, positive and

reproachful, are directly related to the issue at hand. We need not, in other words, flail

around for ideas as to what’s causing a time of trouble; if we examine the trouble itself

carefully, understand it fully, we should come to realize how it responds to our

inappropriate actions.

One prominent barrier to thinking in this way, so common and natural to the

Gemara and to Rashi, is the prevalence of bad ideas, usually offered first and loudest.



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Too often, the first writers to speak of God’s role in some time of trouble offer an

explanation so narrow or so tied into their own pre-existing agenda that they cannot be

taken seriously, killing the underlying assumption as well.

We cannot allow that to discourage us into abandoning what Hazal have told us is

the way to react to our times. It may take time and sober consideration; we may not be

able to speak to each other right away, we may need to start as individuals or small

communities, and then broaden out, tapping the wisdom of diverse communities to weed

out bad ideas from good, hoping God will help us understand where we are and what we

can do to improve ourselves, our communities, and our nation in ways that will bring us

closer to God.

The Voice of God is always heard, if only we listen hard enough. Sometimes we

enjoy what it has to say, but sometimes it challenges us to change, grow, and adapt in

ways we would not have expected. Rahm Emanuel has been widely quoted as seeing

crises as moments of opportunity; this is equally true for turning our country’s poll-ready

religiosity into an actual relationship with God. We can hear the Voice, heed the Voice,

change the world, and, we can hope, bring our current suffering to a close that much

sooner.



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Jewish Charity In A New Era*

After Yosef explained Pharaoh’s dream(s), he added a piece of advice on how to

proceed (Gen. 41:33):

.ועתה ירא פרעה איש נבון וחכם וישיתהו על ארץ מצרים

Now therefore let Pharaoh select a man who is discerning and wise,

and set him over the land of Egypt.

Yosef insists that the man who is chosen be a navon and chakham. But why?

Yosef has already laid out the plan for what to do so why does this man have to be so

wise and discerning?

Previously, when explaining Pharaoh’s dream(s), Yosef begins by saying that

“God has told (higid) Pharaoh what He is about to do” (Gen. 41:25). That is before

offering his explanation. Afterwards, Yosef says “God has shown (herah) Pharaoh what

He is about to do” (Gen. 41:28). Why both? Why did God both tell Pharaoh and show

him?

It seems to me that when dealing with a future event that is similar to past events,

you can tell someone about it and he will fully understand. However, when the future

event is so unique that no one in living history has experienced anything like it, then

telling is not enough and you need to illustrate it by showing it to him. Years of bounty

had happened in the past and so had years of famine. So, on one level, God could tell

Pharaoh what was going to happen. But the extent of the good and the bad, both in terms

of severity and length of time, were so unique that telling was not enough and God had to

show it to Pharaoh. If he had only told him, Pharaoh would not have understood how

severe the issue would be. He would think it was like prior years he had experienced and

not the unique, overwhelming event it would be.

This, I suggest, is why Yosef said that Pharaoh has to choose someone who is a

navon and a chakham. Chakham means wise, someone who is familiar with the existing

* Originally posted Sunday, December 28, 2008, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/12/jewish-charity-in-new-era.html



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governmental strategies with dealing with bountiful years and famines. Navon, on the

other hand, means someone who is a creative genius, a person who can reach new levels

of wisdom based on existing knowledge (meivin davar mitokh davar). If the years of

bounty and famine were similar to past experiences, then all they would need is a

chakham, someone who knew how to properly tax or raise funds in the good years and

give out funds in the bad years. However, because this experience would be historically

unique, they needed someone who was familiar with the old strategies but would also be

sufficiently creative to move beyond those methods and arrive at approaches that would

be appropriate for the unique circumstances. They needed someone who could create new

methods of fundraising and fund-preserving in the good years and fund-distributing in the

bad years, methods that would match the uniquely severe circumstances.

As we find ourselves at the end of what is perhaps a unique period of wealth in

the Jewish community and the beginning of what looks like a unique recessionary period,

it seems that Jewish charities need to think creatively about how to raise money and how

to distribute it. Old methods may not work anymore. The mega-donors may not be so

mega anymore and charities have to beware of those givers like they never considered in

the past. And there will likely be more recipients in extremely complex financial

situations in the near future. How do charities reach them and evaluate who is truly

needy? It is time to be creative. And, perhaps, it is time to begin thinking about

distributing the endowments – maybe partially – that Jewish charities have amassed in

the recent period of prosperity and/or consolidating redundant organizations. I don’t

claim to know what is the best advice but it seems to me that someone should be thinking

creatively about it.



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Charity Priorities*

Above, I mentioned briefly an appeal from four national Orthodox organizations

for communities to raise funds to help local families in this time of economic crisis. I was

recently discussing this with a local rabbi and he mentioned his need to review the

halakhic guidelines for prioritizing such money. I lent him my copy of the R. Daniel Z.

Feldman’s recently published Divine Footsteps: Chesed and the Jewish Souls, which has

a chapter on the gabbai tzedakah and another on the rabbi’s discretionary fund. I think

these chapters are based on guidelines that Rabbi Feldman wrote for the RCA, but I’m

not sure. Here is an excerpt from his discussion of charity priorities in general, before he

gets to the discretionary fund (pp. 230-233, footnotes omitted):

In addition to a system of prioritization among recipients, there are

preferences indicated between different causes, once the urgent needs of

the poor without food have been seen to.

The Shulchan Arukh maintains that one who has funds to spare could

do no better with them than to assist in the marrying off of poor young

women.[80] This appears to be the result of several factors...

Thus, even within the category of wedding and marriage expenses, a

hierarchy of needs exist. Of prime urgency is any element whose absence

would prevent the wedding from taking place. Next on the list would be

the provision of funds necessary for the couple to sustain their married

life, adapted to the sliding scale of dei machsoro. Of course, this point will

once again leave much to subjectivity and discretion.[83] Next, the needs

of the ceremony itself are considered; halakhic sources authorize whatever

is necessary to create appropriate joyousness and whatever is conventional

and will cause humiliation if omitted, while at the same time cautioning

against excesses[84]...

* Originally posted Sunday, February 15, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/02/rabbis-discretionary-fund.html



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Another priority in charitable giving is Torah education... Halakhic

authorities quote from earlier sources that in a community in which not all

parents are able to afford tuition for their children, the obligation falls on

the community members as a whole in accordance with their capacity to

contribute.[87]

The Shulchan Arukh states that “there are those who say that mitzvat

Beit Ha-Kenesset (the commandment of the synagogue) is greater than

tzedakah, and the mitzvah of tzedakah to young boys to learn Torah, or to

the poor of the sick, is greater than Beit Ha-Kenesset”[92]...



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The Stimulus Package and Halakhah*

“A person is an essential member of a United States governmental committee

dealing with resolving the current economic crisis. Of concern is whether this crisis is

deemed a form of pikuach nefesh (danger to life). Would this classification grant such a

person the permission to violate the Sabbath, if necessary, in order to extricate oneself or

a group of people from financial ruin?”

This question was asked to R. J. Simcha Cohen and his answer was in the

February 11, 2009 issue of The Jewish Press:

...The above sources appear to sustain the view that an economic

meltdown crisis is a form of pikuach nefesh. As usual in such a situation,

any action that is a violation of the Sabbath is to be performed ki’le’achar

yad, that is, in an irregular manner.

It is vital to note that though a total loss of resources may create a

situation of pikuach nefesh, there are major halachic distinctions between

cases of life-threatening circumstances and cases of loss of resources...

* Originally posted Thursday, February 19, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/02/stimulus-package-and-halakhah.html



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Shacharis Tips for the Unemployed*

We all know that unemployment numbers are way up and Jews are not immune to

losing their jobs. I thought I would point out an important rule that might have slipped

your mind.

I. Earliest Times for Shacharis

The general rule is that Shacharis can only be prayed (at or) after sunrise

(Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 89:1), which today was 7:01 AM in New York and 6:58

AM in Los Angeles. Bedi'eved, if you prayed after dawn, you fulfilled your obligation.

But really you are supposed to wait until after sunrise.2

However, someone who has to leave on a trip before sunrise is allowed to pray in

that period between dawn and sunrise (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 89:8).

Contemporary authorities categorize a commute to work as a trip for these purposes, and

when I was commuting to yeshiva from Brooklyn to Washington Heights I was told by

my rosh yeshiva that this was also sufficient reason for praying before sunrise.

II. Changing Your Schedule

Because of this, many people are used to waking up early and praying before

sunrise. They've done this for years, maybe decades. However, if you have lost your job

and aren't commuting to work, you probably no longer have permission to pray before

sunrise and you have to revert to the standard rule of praying at or after sunrise. While

most people probably wake up later anyway, some maintain their previous schedules out

of habit or for some other reason. This post is addressed to them.

Now, some unemployed people may have picked up other errands, such as driving

carpool(s). If so, and you will not be able to attend a later minyan, this might be sufficient

* Originally posted Thursday, March 19, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/03/shacharis-tips-of-unemployed.html 2 Dawn is calculated differently by different authorities. According to the OU Zemanim Calculator (http://www.ou.org/holidays/calendar), dawn today was 5:51 AM in New York and 5:48 AM in Los Angeles.



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cause for praying before sunrise. But that is something that should be discussed with your

rabbi.

III. The Dilemma

But let's say that you wake up early, according to your regular schedule, and it is

after dawn but too early to leave for the post-sunrise minyan you plan on attending. There

is a limit on what you are allowed to do before praying in the morning. While the

guidelines are not precisely laid out, it seems that you can do small things and mitzvah-

related chores but not extensive activities (see Tefillah Ke-Hilkhasah, ch. 6 and Laws of

Daily Living vol. 1, ch. 11). So, technically, you can't pray yet but you can't do anything

else either before praying!

However, there are exceptions. You are allowed to learn Torah but only if you

have a set minyan to attend (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 89:6). But what about

reading the newspaper? You are allowed to have a cup of coffee before prayers (Mishnah

Berurah 89:22) but are you allowed to read the news with that coffee during the few

minutes you have before it is time to go to your minyan? Note that while there is a

dispute about whether this rule applies before sunrise, the authorities seem to rule

stringently (Mishnah Berurah 89:31).

IV. Reading the News

R. Mordechai Willig does not discuss newspapers directly, but in his Am

Mordekhai (Berakhos, no. 10 p. 44) argues that the reason you aren't allowed to do things

before praying is because you might get distracted and miss prayers. Therefore, just like

you can learn if you have a set minyan to go to, you can also do other activities if you

similarly have a set minyan. You'll know how much time you have and keep an eye on

your watch. Therefore, it would seem that you would be allowed to read the news before

leaving for shul. Interestingly, the new book The Rav Thinking Aloud tells how R. Joseph

B. Soloveitchik read, before going to shul on Yom Kippur 1957, the newspaper headline

about the launch of Sputnik. However, that was just a headline and it was of a major

global event.



28

The Piskei Teshuvos (89:14) is very strict in general about reading the news

before your morning prayers because it distracts your thoughts. I'm not so sure if that is a

universal concern, but regardless I'd recommend using the time to learn a little Torah and

save the news for later.



29

Rav Soloveitchik and the Madoff Scandal*

I think most readers are familiar with the $50 billion Madoff scandal. I don’t have

much to add about this other than sympathy for those who have lost huge amounts of

money in this scam, including Yeshiva University which, according to the NY Times, lost

between $100-110 million.

R. Dr. Tzvee Zahavy offers some words of wisdom from R. Joseph B.

Soloveitchik on matters like this:3

As a courtesy, when I was his student, I used to drive the legendary

Rav J. B. Soloveitchik, the Rabbinic head of the Yeshiva, to the airport on

Thursday after he finished his teaching for the week, so that he could

return home to Boston.

During one such drive around 1971, with some concern I inquired

about what the Rav thought about the serious financial crisis of that time

that YU faced. I was surprised to hear both the certainty and the flavor of

the Rav’s response to me. He said:

“The Yeshiva has survived many serious financial crises for many

years and I am sure it will survive many more serious financial crises for

many more years.”

Ken yehi ratzon.

* Originally posted Tuesday, December 16, 2008, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/12/rav-soloveitchik-and-madoff-scandal.html 3 http://tzvee.blogspot.com/2008/12/yeshiva-university-will-survive-madoff.html



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Purim as a Temporary Remedy for the Economic Downtown*

The Gemara (Megillah 7b) tells us that on Purim we have to drink so much wine

that we don’t know the difference between “Cursed is Haman” and “Blessed is

Mordechai”. There are different interpretations of this obligation, and it should not

necessarily be taken at face value. However, the Torah La-Da’as (vol. 3 p. 137) quotes

the Maggid of Vilna (which one? R. Jacob Joseph?) as explaining that there is a special

rule on Purim that when poor people ask for charity, you have to give them money

without checking whether they are really deserving.

Therefore, poor people love Purim because they can obtain a lot of money while

rich people do not because they end up giving away large amounts. So on Purim, poor

people bless Mordechai for the holiday while rich people curse Haman for it. Our

obligation, according to this view, is to drink so much that we don’t know whether we are

rich or poor, whether we want to bless Mordechai or curse Haman. I am sure that those

who have, or rather had, significant funds invested in the stock market will enjoy

forgetting about that money.

* Originally posted Monday, March 09, 2009, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2009/03/purim-as-temporary-remedy-for-economic.html



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Hagbahah and the Financial Crisis*

Torah scrolls during the first few weeks after Simchas Torah are rolled all the way

to the right, at the beginning of the Torah, with almost the entire weight on the left side.

This means that someone who does hagbahah, lifts up the Torah open and then sits down

with it so it can be closed, needs to be able to handle the weight on the left side.

Yesterday, I saw the gabbai at the minyan I attended be turned down multiple times while

trying to assign hagbahah. Therefore, I decided to agree to it when he asked me. I don’t

look particularly strong... because I’m not. But I know that hagbahah is all about

leverage and not strength, so unless we’re dealing with an unusually heavy Torah scroll I

can do it.

When the time came, I made sure the scroll was taut, had my knees bent slightly

and tilted the scroll up at a good angle for what seemed like would be the perfect

hagbahah. Then the top of the scroll hit a low-hanging chandelier right over the Torah

that I had not noticed (who puts a chandelier right there???). Once you lose your balance

with a Torah so heavily weight to one side it is hard to regain it but someone standing

right next to me straightened me out and I sat right down.

Afterwards, I was talking to someone and pointed out that I had the math all right

but I neglected to factor in the chandelier. He said that it sounded to him like the current

financial crisis.

* Originally posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/10/hagbahah-and-financial-crisis.html



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Judaism and the Financial Crisis*

The Time website has an article about two scholarly articles about Jewish business

ethics and the current financial crisis.4 One article is by R. Aaron Levine, chairman of the

Economics Department at Yeshiva University, and the other is by Rabbi Eliezer

Diamond, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at JTS.

R. Levine is described as saying the following:

Medieval jurists like Maimonides identified a more specific kind of

bad advice. They tackled the idea of the “hidden flaw,” which, Levine

points out, leads directly to a demand for fiscal disclosure. “If you sell an

animal, you had to disclose to the buyer what the hidden flaw is,” he

explains. Not only that: “the disclosure has to be made so that a

‘reasonable,’ or average man can decide” whether to buy. Once again,

almost the entire chain of transactors in the mortgage crisis is guilty:

predatory brokers for not alerting working-class borrowers to the fine

print; middle-men selling mortgage debt to investment banks sliced and

diced into “tranches” that obscure their riskiness; bankers who used hard-

to-fathom financial instruments that leave ultimate responsibility for a

loan a mystery even to experts. Like many observers, Levine is

particularly exercized about credit default swaps, a largely unregulated

field since 2000.) And anyone who willfully ignored the fact that real

estate prices must eventually come down.

I haven’t seen R. Levine’s article and can only respond to what Time is reporting.

But if this is correct, I have the following few thoughts that relate only to the reality of

the financial market over the past couple of years and not to Jewish law at all. Let me

state up front that I have a close personal relationship with R. Levine, whom I hold to be

* Origingally posted Sunday, October 12, 2008, http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/10/judaism-and-financial-crisis.html 4 http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1849231,00.html



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a master of Torah knowledge and ideals, so he knows that this is just me expressing my

opinions on everything:

1. I don’t believe that tranched securities were intended to obscure the riskiness of

loans. Quite the opposite, they were intended to isolate and emphasize risk,

allowing investors to purchase bonds at their risk comfort level. The problem was

that, despite all of the disclosures in the Prospectus Supplements, the risks of

those tranches was underestimated and they were rated too highly by the rating

agencies.

2. I’m not sure what complex financial instruments are being referenced but I’ll

assume that they are CDOs. If so, I don’t think that the real problem was that

people were using them to mask risk. Everyone knew that they were full of junk.

The problem was that people underestimated the correlation between the different

pieces of junk. They had all of the information but analyzed it incorrectly, and

that includes the rating agencies. That last point is significant. Investors accepted

the rating agencies’ ratings of super-triple-A (not just triple-A but above that) to

be a guarantee of quality. That turned out to be a big mistake.

3. I agree that credit default swaps need to be regulated but I don’t think that they

are inherently bad (although I don’t think R. Levine is saying that either). When

used properly, they serve a legitimate purpose of managing corporate risk.

However, it is clear that these derivatives were being used for what is essentially

gambling.

4. I don’t think that the idea that real estate prices will eventually come down was

willfully ignored. People knew that they could and would come down but did not

expect them to come down as much as they have and in all places at once. They

underestimated the severity and the geographic correlation.

5. Somewhat unrelated, but I don’t think that the answer is necessarily more

regulation but better regulation. Banks and insurance companies are already

among the most highly regulated industries. Go to any bank and you will find

dozens of regulators stationed there on a permanent basis. The problem is that the

regulations are outdated and don’t accurately reflect the risks and needs of the

industry(ies).



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6. All that said, I agree with R. Levine that the roots of this crisis are in “moral

failure”. Everyone thought they could repackage the immoral junk and spread it

and restructure it so that it wouldn’t hurt them, and they were wrong. It was so

bad that it ended up hurting just about everyone.

Just one man’s opinions. I look forward to reading R. Levine’s article when it is

published.

I contacted R. Levine before posting this and he pointed out that I am not looking

at this from the perspective of Jewish law, in the sense of what sellers are obligated to tell

buyers about the product. I’ll have to read his article to learn more about that aspect. He

also mentioned that he raised a legal/regulatory issue that he thinks underlies the entire

dilemma that, to his (and my) knowledge, has not been raised elsewhere: Securitizers of

loans were exempted from claims of predatory lending. This allowed them to look the

other way to the immoral business practices that were rampant.

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torah musings on the economic downturn

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