The Jewish Ethic of a Redeemed Economy in the Land of Israel, Part 1
Bein Adam
Le-chavero: Ethics of Interpersonal Conduct
By
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In memory of our parents, Jack Stone zl
and Helen and Benjamin Pearlman zl
and in honor of my mother, Esther Stone, Yibadel Lchayim Tovim
by Gary and Ilene Stone
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Shiur #17: The Jewish Ethic of a Redeemed
Economy
in the Land of Israel, Part 1
The Two Economic Models of the Desert
In last weeks lesson we
saw Moshe Rabbeinu instruct the Jewish people to remember their sojourn in the
desert when settling in the Land of Israel. Once there, he urged, they must not
mimic the sort of economy they had known in the desert, which previously had
brought destruction to Sodom. That city, characterized in the Torah by its
similarity to the Garden of Eden and Egypt, was at first economically
successful. Yet due to its residents abominable interpersonal behavior, it was
obliterated
The journey through the
desert and even the period of servitude to Egypt served to teach the need to
build up the Land in a way that would not reek of the acquisitiveness of a
Kayin, an Egypt, or a Sodom. Settlement of the Land of Israel would be
characterized by farming, but it would not follow the lines of Egyptian
agriculture, which was completely antithetical to the Jewish economic ethic. The
Jews would have to make a decision not to be captivated by the Egyptian culture
they had long known, and which years earlier had caused Avraham and Lot to part
ways after exposure to it.
How is it, though, that
the Land of Israel can give rise to an economy so different from that of Egypt?
To answer this question, we shall look at two models of sustenance from the
sojourn in the desert, based on which we can understand the Jewish economic
ethic of a redeemed economy. Against this backdrop, we will see how the Land of
Israel, and not Egypt, facilitates the construction of a redeemed economy.
Sustenance in the Desert: Manna and Quail
In a little-known 1943
essay (Hapardes, vol. 11, pp. 32ff.), Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik
identifies two different economic models that the people experienced in the
desert: that of the manna and that of the quail. The manna, as described by the
Torah, epitomizes an economic idyll in which everyone receives what he needs and
easily recognizes Gods hand in the process:
Gather of it, every man
according to his consumption an omer per person, for the number of
souls for whom you are responsible: let every man take for those in his tent.
The children of Israel
did so and gathered, some more and some less. When they measured with an omer,
he who had gathered most had no more and he who had gathered least had no less:
each had gathered according to his consumption. (Shemot 16:1618)
Here there obviously was no need for cutthroat
capitalism, as greater efforts failed to gather more manna. It is complemented
by Shabbat, which is first presented in this passage. Together they represent an
economy that sees Gods hand in its sustenance and can allow for a holy day,
dedicated to spiritual pursuits, to sanctify all the physical efforts of the
week.
In order to perpetuate
this mindset in the Land of Israel, the Jewish people are commanded to remember
the period when they ate divine manna and their clothes miraculously never wore
out (Devarim 8:24). Indeed, many Jews recite the passage from Shemot
every morning because it so succinctly encapsulates the Jewish economic ethic.[1]
In view of its underlying significance, we can well understand the Gemaras
statement (Berakhot 48b) that Moshe composed the first blessing of
Birkat Ha-mazon when the manna first fell.
Rav Soloveitchik,
remarking on the development of the Jews economic ethics, describes the period
in the desert as
a transcendental
revelational experience, with the exception of a few alienating events. The
Israelites in the wilderness were free from daily cares and worries. They ate
their bread, not by the seat of their brow, but in the knowledge that God was
with them. There was no need to till, plant, watch, and reap. The curse imposed
upon Adam was suspended. (Festival of Freedom, p. 165)
On the other hand, when
the people protested about the manna (Bemidbar 11), God brought them
quail. Overcome by desire, they gathered as much as they could and were struck
by a plague. Hoarding, with the false security it offers, is clearly rejected by
the Torah:
The people arose all that
day and all that night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail. He who
[gathered] least gathered ten stacks. (Bemidbar 11:32)
Rav Soloveitchik
comments:
These verses beautifully
describe the greed that manifested itself in a craze for hoarding and
accumulating the quails .
this portrayal is typical not only of the Israelite
tribes in the Sinai desert, but also of modern man, who overemphasizes his
ability to safeguard himself, resulting in a form of self-idealization. (Festival
of Freedom, p. 11)
The greedy gathering of
the quail, says the Rav, is the gathering of an economy that plays by the rules
of the sea: the big swallow the little, all is permitted in the name of
acquisition. This destructive economic ethic is antithetical to the Jewish
ethic.
The Jewish Ethic of a Redeemed Economy
In a number of essays in
Festival of Freedom, the Rav develops this discussion of economic ethics
with reference to the exodus from Egypt. He notes that the Jewish economy must
be based on the principle that man is permitted to search for economic security,
but must not be maddened by it:
Man is commended for his
preoccupation with his economic needs and his endeavors to develop the means for
their satisfaction. Yet he must never ascribe unlimited worth to economic goods
and absolutize their significance for the enhancement of human happiness and
welfare
Human economic behavior
fluctuates between two poles: economic activism (which the Bible sanctions) and
trust in God. The latter is an important motif which should guide the homo
economicus in his actions. There are two central themes in the prophets.
First, God feeds and sustains all living creatures. Second, feeding is an act of
grace on the part of God .
We all eat out of Gods hand. Eating means receiving
alms-bread from the Almighty: You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing
with favor (Tehillim 145:16)
God, in His infinite
mercy, allows man to work for his sustenance and to devise means of increasing
the yield of his labors. He also permits him to strive for material comfort and
riches. Yet man must never entertain the illusion that the bread he eats is his.
This would result in the profanation of the bread and in mans
self-absolutization and self-deification. Man must know that he is not a creator
in either the metaphysical or the economic sense. He cannot create matter, life,
or economic goods. His world of material wealth was given to him gratuitously by
the Creator of the universe. (pp. 910)
In the absence of this knowledge, man, driven
by the search for wealth, knows no boundaries:
Economic man is
determined to succeed at any price. If necessary, he is ready to destroy his
competitor. The Darwinian struggle for survival is related mainly to economic
survival. In economic life, the fittest and strongest survive; the weak perish.
Marxism introduced the concept of the class struggle as shaping historical
events. In a word, economy and sanctity, or economy and spirituality, are two
mutually exclusive concepts
Judaism disagrees with
this entire philosophy .
Another economy can be organized, however, in which a
spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding prevails. (ibid., p.
168169)
This ideal is reflected
by the sacrifice of one omer of barley flour in the Beit Ha-mikdash
on the second day of Pesach the same amount as the manna allotted to every
individual in the desert. The peoples needs were met, their desires were
fulfilled, but they were not devoured by them.
What Judaism wants to
achieve is that the economic urge be bounded, that man not turn into an economic
demon, his acquisitiveness into an infinite drive. As long as the economic urge
is associating with a limiting and controlling conscience, Judaism favors mans
aggressiveness and boldness. However, when the controlling factor is abandoned
and homo economicus reaches out for the endless, Judaism begins to see
danger. (ibid., p. 169)
The first principle of a redeemed economy is
that the human urge for acquisition is controlled by the intellect, is given
boundaries. The peoples failure in the episode of the quail was a failure to
implement this principle: their limitless greed drew the wrath of the Almighty
and destroyed them, much as had occurred in Sodom.
Shabbat: A Higher Purpose
The second mark of a
redeemed economy is subordination to a higher purpose, so that acquisition is
not a goal in and of itself, but is hallowed by a higher purpose, symbolized by
Shabbat.
Both when the manna
begins to fall and in the mitzva to bring the Omer offering on the day
following the Sabbath (Vayikra 23:11),[2] the Torah implies
that Shabbat is an essential component of the Jewish economic perspective:
Moshe said, Eat it
today, for today is Gods Sabbath. Today you will not find it in the field. (Shemot
16:25)
Shabbat does not make economic sense, as a day
off logically means working a day less than ones competitors. However, it
brings holiness to a persons economic activity, so that the six days of
creative activity are sanctified with their culmination, expressing the higher
purpose of mans endeavors. Through this sanctity, divine blessing comes to the
activities of those who refrain from labor on Shabbat.
Finally, the third
characteristic of a redeemed economy is generosity:
If man looks upon himself
as the sole possessor, as the only proprietor of economic goods, then his
economy is an ugly affair, then there is exploitation and unfair competition.
However, if man is ready to surrender at any time the call comes through, to
return whatever I possess to the rightful owner, to give up whenever the demand
for return is made, then holiness is possible. (Festival of Feedom, p.
171)
The Economy of the Land of Israel
If these are the pillars
of a redeemed economy, then they must be apparent in the Jewish peoples model
economy in the Land of Israel. However, the economy in the Land is to be
characterized not only by these three positive elements, but by others as well.
The Land of Israel
features three complementary avenues of developing a redeemed economy, ensuring
that, even while reaping the fruits of his work in the field, man retains a
humbling connection with God and uses his wealth to further justice and
righteousness.
The first avenue is the
knowledge that physical building is a fulfillment of the mitzva of settling the
Land of Israel, and therefore actually a spiritual pursuit (as explained in
Shiur #15).
This idea is vividly expressed by the Chatam Sofer, whose writings evince great
love of the Land, even though he was not a political Zionist.
In discussing the absence
of secular studies from the European Jewish educational curriculum, he is
bothered by a dispute cited by the Gemara (Berakhot 35a) regarding
whether one ideally should spend all his time studying Torah and rely on
external sources of sustenance, as is the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, or
should also be involved in planting and gathering crops, as Rabbi Yishmael
argues. The Gemaras conclusion appears to be in accordance with the view of
Rabbi Yishmael. The Chatam Sofer, then, wonders why the chadarim of his
day did not provide their students with occupational training. His answer is
fascinating:
It seems to me that even
Rabbi Yishmael stated his opinion that one should gather ones grain only
with regard to the Land of Israel, when a majority of Jews are settled there, as
then the work of the field is a mitzva in its own right, viz. that of settling
the Land of Israel and bringing forth its holy fruit. It is regarding this that
the Torah said, You shall gather your grain
[and] it would be comparable to
saying, I will not wear tefillin because I am involved in other
mitzvot, if one were to say, I will not gather my grain because I am
studying Torah. It is possible that the same holds true for any other
occupation that has a role in settling the Land of Israel, as any such thing is
included in the mitzva
(Chatam Sofer on Sukka 36a, s.v. domeh)
The Chatam Sofer concludes that the
chadarim focus only on teaching their students Torah because ones work in
Europe has no spiritual aspect.
The Lands Topography
In discussing the
agricultural gifts that a field owner must give to the poor (commentary to
Vayikra 19:9), Alsheikh notes that agricultural growth, more than success in
other occupations, is clearly indicative of Gods role in the process. Not only
are crops susceptible to natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornados,
which can wash away an office building, but even abnormal winds, insufficient
rainfall, and heat waves can completely destroy crops. It follows that God is
entitled to all of the produce. With this, Alsheikh seems to indicate that the
agricultural gifts are Gods way of taking a percentage: God loves the poor, and
therefor gives to them instead of taking for Himself.
While this is true of
agricultural work everywhere, the Land of Israel is ideally built for this
dynamic, as Moshe points out:
For the land to which you
are coming to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which
you came out, where you sowed your seeds and watered with your foot, like a
vegetable garden. The land to which you are passing over to inherit it is a land
of mountains and valleys; it drinks water from the rain of heaven. It is a land
for which the Lord, your God, cares: the eyes of the Lord, your God, are always
upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. (Devarim
11:812)
Moshe distinguishes
between the two lands based upon means of irrigation: The Nile, barring severe
drought, supplies all of Egypt with water. The Land of Israel, on the other
hand, has no comparable source of river water and must rely on the rain of
heaven.
At first glance, it might
appear that Egypt surpasses the Land of Israel in this regard. However, Moshe
tells the people, this is not true. First, while Egypt may have a source of
water, transporting that water to the furthest reaches of Egypt entails a great
amount of work. In the Land of Israel, when it does rain, man can simply sit
back and watch the heavenly rainfall give life to all vegetation. The water
supply is not constant, but when deserved, it allows man to reap its benefits
with a minimum of work, as expressed in the Midrash:
In the Land of Egypt, if
one does not work with spade and shovel, giving up his sleep for water, then he
has nothing, but in the Land of Israel it is different: they sleep in their
beds, and God makes the rain fall. (Yalkut Shimoni, Eikev 857)
Thus the special terrain
of the Land also encourages the development of a redeemed economy within it.
God Shall Give You: A Constant Gift from God
Still, the most important difference between
the two lands is in the personal relationship with God facilitated by the food
that the Land of Israel brings forth.
We recall that the snake was cursed to eat
dust all the days of your life (Bereishit 3:14): though food would be
readily available, the snake would never ask God for food or maintain a
relationship with Him. The Egyptians too were given a Godless economy. Man
worked hard to irrigate the fields, building an economy without thinking of the
heavens.
In the Land of Israel, though, the Jews
enjoyed the blessing given to Yaakov: God shall give you of the dew of heaven
(Bereishit 27:28) an active gift from God, who continues to give
it so long as the people are worthy.
We will conclude this
theme in next weeks lesson, discussing at greater length how the terrain of the
Land of Israel can be transformed into the foundation of an interpersonal
redeemed economy.
[1] The passage appears in most siddurim following Shacharit (morning
prayers).
[2] The Torah sometimes refers to the holidays as Sabbaths (Shabbatot).
Here, the words on the day following the Sabbath (mi-machorat ha-Shabbat)
are used to require that the Omer be sacrificed on the second day of
Pesach. The choice of this term serves to associate the symbolism of the Omer
with that of Shabbat.
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