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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Jacob ben Bechora
The great temptations that lie in attempting to earn a great deal of money are recorded for us throughout the Shulchan Aruch and the Talmud. The Torah does not grant room for fraudulent practices in the world of commerce. Noble goals such as having wealth to distribute to charity never justify false and unethical means in obtaining that wealth. We are all tempted by all wealth and by means of obtaining unrealistic returns on our investments. One should always be wary of those who promise great returns with minimum risks. In the real world these fantasies really never exist. It is amazing to me how wise and successful business people and so-called financial experts themselves fall prey to such pie in the sky schemes and propositions. It is only the drive for having "more" at all costs that drives us to be blinded by greed and lose our sense of wisdom and proportion in these matters. Almost all rabbis that I know, and I humbly include myself in this group, can testify that out of the many halachic issues that people present before them very few of them concern business practices or monetary matters. It is almost a given that that section of halacha is not really pertinent to our behavior and times. It takes a great financial crisis such as the one we are currently experiencing to bring home to us how really exacting and pertinent these values and laws of monetary halacha really are to us. If one does not keep these Torah values in mind at all times, the temptations of "more" will always overwhelm us.
I make no moral judgments about other people, especially when they have now been publicly humiliated and brought low. I remember very well the temptations thrust upon a seemingly successful investor or developer when people who wanted "more" literally came and thrust large sums of money at such a person asking for an unreasonable return on their money. It is hard to turn down money that is being thrown at you, especially when it is other people’s money that one is putting at risk. Only a strong sense of morality and honesty can withstand such pressures. The Talmud teaches us that it is not the mouse that steals but rather the hole in the wall that allows the mouse to enter the premises that is the true robber. Those who throw their money at others in order to always obtain the maximum "more" are complicit in the fraud and in the eventual disaster that emanates from such practices. The downturn in the world’s economy will at least flush out a great deal of the fraud existing therein – at least until the cycle turns again and the greed for "more" will fuel the next series of frauds.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
