Category Archives: Hebrew Testament

What The Torah & Talmud Teach About Moral Hazard (Bailouts)

Free Markets, Hebrew Testament, Judaism & Jews, Justice

In “Jews Against Judaism,” I highlighted The Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies’ efforts to educate about Judaism’s philosophical affinity with the free market.

Now JIMS, with which I am affiliated, has inaugurated the Center for the Study of Judaism and Economics.

Delivering the inaugural lecture was Nobel laureate economist Professor Robert (Yisrael) Aumann. Professor Aumann addressed the role ascribed to economic incentives in the Torah and Talmud—for example, “unfettered price competition” and the imprimatur to collect on loans.

Professor Aumann also talked about the many discussions of the moral hazard problem in the Torah and Talmud, and how moral hazard is currently at the heart of the faulty proposals currently being offered to solve the current financial crisis. The term moral hazard is used by economists to describe the fact that when an individual, a firm or an institution is “insured”, there is an incentive to act less carefully and take harmful risks.

This should not surprise anyone who appreciates the centrality of justice in the Jewish tradition. What are economic laws if not natural laws? And what is the natural law if not immutable and just? It follows from this that to adhere to the economic laws of nature is to be faithful to truth and justice.

“Justice, justice shall you pursue.” (Devarim 16:20)

Justice And The Question Of Jewish-Christian Continuity

Christianity, Hebrew Testament, Judaism & Jews, Justice, Religion

In response to an exchange in the Comments Section on Christian forgiveness between Rob Murphy and Jess Strong: A growing number of Christians—Replacement Theology proponents, perhaps—pretend Jesus was not Jewish and was not steeped in the Hebrew (“Old”) Testament’s ethics. It’s as though he were an alien from Deep Space. Jesus was certainly a radical, very much in the mold of the classical prophets, some of whom had to sleep in the fields to escape the people’s wrath. Deuteronomy, an early book—the fifth of 39—showcases an advanced concept of Jewish social justice, and is replete with instructions to protect the poor, the weak, the defenseless, the widows, the orphans, the aliens, etc.

This ethical monotheism, developed centuries before classical Greek philosophy, is echoed throughout the Hebrew Bible (Exodus), and expounded upon by the classical prophets, who railed against power and cultural corruption so magnificently:

“There is blood on you hands; wash yourself and be clean. Put away the evil of your deeds, away out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do right, pursue justice and champion the oppressed; give the orphan his rights, plead the widow’s cause.”—Isaiah 1:11-17

The claim, made by the dazzling Catholic controversialist Clare Boothe Luce, that “New Testament universalism superseded Old Testament particularism” can be dispatched with a reminder that the Ten Commandments preceded the Epistle of St. John.

Knowledge and wisdom don’t arise in a vacuum; like so many greats, Jesus stood on the shoulders of giants. As for retributive justice in the Hebrew Bible, it would be hard to rival the Book of Revelation–it is pitiless about those “cast into outer darkness.” Jesus, moreover, returns not as a Prince of Peace but as a warrior who “rule[s] the nations with a rod of iron.” If Revelation is not about violent retributive justice I don’t know what is. In fact, some contend that based on the allusions to Armageddon in Blair’s speeches and the apocalyptic themes in Bush’s, both are inspired by Revelation. All in all, history best attests to the propensity of the three major religions to inspire brutality in their followers. The Jews, a dispersed people until very recently, have been most likely to turn the other cheek.

The Torah And The TLS

Critique, English, Hebrew Testament, Ilana Mercer, Judaism & Jews, Literature

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Here’s a Letter-to-the-Editor of the British Times Literary Supplement. They wanted to publish it; I knew they would; Britons like a pedant. But they want private information about me, which I’m unwilling to disclose. What is it about so many private organizations these days that they act like government? On making a purchase, salesclerks will routinely ask for one’s address. Are they nuts? And most people comply. My husband takes cover whenever a salesperson dares to so pry.

Dear Editor,

In his review of Robert Alter’s The Five Books of Moses (TLS, June 24, 2005), John Barton praises the author’s translation of the Torah for “brilliantly imitating the Hebrew without sacrificing intelligibility.”
As someone who greatly admires the biblical narrator, I certainly agree that “welter and waste” does justice to “tohu vavohu” (Genesis 1:1), which Barton or the author transliterated to read “tohu wabohu.” Whence does that bowdlerization come? There’s no “wabohu” in Genesis 1:1—there’s no “wabohu” in the Hebrew language!
The first letter in vavohu is a “vav,” which is never a “w,” and here it’s pronounced “va.” The next Barton or Alter-bungled letter is an unpunctuated “Bet” (B), pronounced “v” too. Its enunciation here is “vo.” Hence, “vavohu.” I’m not sure how better to denote an unpunctuated “Bet” in English, but it’s certainly not a “b.”
So many scholarly writers, who profess to know Hebrew, habitually muck up the English transliteration of Hebrew words. Why?