Ethics Then - Ethics Now

Ethics Then Ethics Now
by Gerald Rothman

Some interesting dilemmas have recently been raised within the philosophy of Jewish Business Ethics. Firstly, are the principles laid down in Torah, Talmud and Responsa still relevant in this modern day and age? Secondly, what validity or superiority can be claimed for principles which often seem to be more honoured in the breach than the observance?

Judaism seeks to encourage us to test our assumptions, opinions and learning and to think about potential ethical problems with which we may have to deal, before we actually confront them. After all, we train soldiers and fire fighters so that they know how to deal with dangerous situations. Training ourselves to behave ethically is no less important and is the purpose of the code of Jewish ethics.

Although much of our tradition is based on writings from as far back as 2,000 years ago and seem archaic, the fundamental business issues underlying them have hardly changed at all. Greed, temptation to cut corners in order to achieve objectives and the drive to pursue a goal at any cost. These emotions have not changed and are every bit as important today as they were then, if not more so.

Take just two examples. When selling a slave, the Talmud forbids dyeing his beard to make him look younger. The underlying rationale is just as applicable nowadays to someone who might touch up their car in order to hide rust, or paint the walls of a room so that rising damp in a house being sold, is no longer visible. It can also apply to a company which window dresses its year-end accounts to make the balance sheet seem healthier and more cash rich than it really is.

Furthermore the Torah relates that upon freeing this slave, the master must not send him away empty-handed. Long before European law covered issues of redundancy payments or pensions, the Rabbis had extrapolated this mitzvah into an obligation to make provision for an employee when leaving.

"If a Jew fails to behave ethically, in business or otherwise, it may well amount to a chillul hashem but it doesn't invalidate the principles of Jewish business ethics."

Ethical rules, by their very nature, deal with grey areas; situations where rights and responsibilities conflict. Jewish business ethics does not suggest that there is anything wrong with, for example, a take-over bid. This often confers significant benefits on shareholders, employees and customers. In this context, "Covet" should not be confused with "wishing to purchase". There might be circumstances where a take-over bid is driven by the envy or greed of "covetous" businessmen. But observing the injunction against coveting does not unduly impede takeovers, or any other legitimate business for that matter. At the heart of Jewish business ethics is the belief that there is nothing inherently wrong with wealth or money. But the way we earn wealth and what we do with it, determines who we are and the communities we live in. If we resolve ethical conflicts by remembering to "love thy neighbour as thyself", we will not go very wrong.

Yet, what value is there in a system of ethics which, seemingly, is widely ignored? To believe this is to propose that laws against burglary are out of date and should be abolished because there are many burglars in our midst. If a Jew fails to behave ethically, in business or otherwise, it may well amount to a chillul hashem but it doesn't invalidate the principles of Jewish business ethics.

But I challenge the basis of this allegation that breaches of principles of Jewish business ethics are either widespread or often deliberate. When the issues are discussed, such as in seminars held by JABE, the inherent dilemmas are readily identified and most people want to do the "right thing". . Having heard the issues, they appreciate the impropriety of certain practices, and refrain from behaviour about which previously they had not thought twice. That's far closer to the norm, in my experience, than unprincipled businessmen who are knowingly prepared to ignore ethical rules in their pursuit of wealth.

"...the way we earn wealth and what we do with it, determines who we are and the communities we live in."

Jewish Ethics claims no monopoly on wisdom. Guidance may be found in the insight of others, including the insights afforded by civil law. As Chief Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sachs has pointed out, Judaism is concerned with how we behave honestly and decently within the economic system in which we live rather than with the principles on which that economic system should be based.

Ethics has been described as 'obedience to the unenforceable'. Jewish business ethics rests ultimately on the commandment to be holy because G-d is holy and on Hillel's famous dictum "If I am not for myself, who will be?" The very fact that ethics is not law and unenforceable emphasises the need for constant debate and the sense of awareness that comes from it.