The rules have never changed.
1.I have a great deal of interest in economics and in finance. And, a great deal of interest in the Bible. I just came upon a book by venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, “The Tree of Life and Prosperity: 21st Century Business Principles from the Book of Genesis,” and immediately found a view I held in common with the author, and a complete opposite to the claim of the Left, their ability to alter human nature. He, and I, believe that their ability to alter human nature is simply one of their greatest lies.
2. “ Things have not changed fundamentally in thousands of years since the Torah was written.”
Our biblical patriarchs and matriarchs were great people, and the Torah provides eternal truths, but we can only learn them if we are willing to say they are applicable. That people are people. That Abraham had family issues and dealt with wealth and economic hardship. That Isaac had family strife and had to reinvent his business and shift his livelihood from livestock to farming. That Jacob had tension with his wives and children and hence in his family business, and that Joseph’s rags-to-riches story shows that you can create policy responses to economic crises, but you cannot predict their outcomes.
At the same time that we strive for Torah-inspired moral clarity and greatness, we must apply its relevant lessons and examples to everyday challenges. Woven into the stories it tells is timeless wisdom about ethics and values. These lessons permeate the text and are an integral part of the narrative.
3. …shared values and a culture of ethics, excellence, and innovation mattered a lot. This was not an investment in the stock market or an Exchange Traded Fund. It was an investment in people you had to believe in. It was almost a marriage. One particularly nettlesome investment involved the digital imaging space. I understood the company, and we even had good people. When the tech bubble burst in 2001, its board decided not to pay severance to employees in the United States and instead focused on an Asian market. This was too much for me to accept. Together with the CEO, I objected, was outvoted, and resigned from the board immediately. As the Torah says, “Do not keep with you the wages of your laborers until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13).
…troubling was that when the chips were down, there was an ethical failing. Reflecting on that caused me to double down and search for greater guidance from the Torah.
4. …the Torah verse, “do what is upright and good” (Deuteronomy 6:18)… Law is a structured framework, and as such, it is unable to capture the full complexity of the human condition. Laws are crafted and administered by the state, religions, or other bodies in an attempt to order societies. Ethics and morals fill in many gray areas. It is these normative, universal, and religious dictates that requires adherence.
Principles, ethics, and morals are not merely questions of lifestyle that parallel the laws of economics; they must also be part of its foundations.
5. My claim is that principles affect worth—values improve value— especially in the modern, digital age. Capitalism is a fundamental engine of change and growth. It is, perhaps, the greatest driver of human potential, innovation, and improvement in human history. Innovation and freedom are the fuel that drives it. However, without timeless ethics and morals, both the system and individual businesses can become runaway trains than can run over others—or… subvert humanity itself.”
Eisenberg
Wisdom of the ages.
It never gets old.
1.I have a great deal of interest in economics and in finance. And, a great deal of interest in the Bible. I just came upon a book by venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, “The Tree of Life and Prosperity: 21st Century Business Principles from the Book of Genesis,” and immediately found a view I held in common with the author, and a complete opposite to the claim of the Left, their ability to alter human nature. He, and I, believe that their ability to alter human nature is simply one of their greatest lies.
2. “ Things have not changed fundamentally in thousands of years since the Torah was written.”
Our biblical patriarchs and matriarchs were great people, and the Torah provides eternal truths, but we can only learn them if we are willing to say they are applicable. That people are people. That Abraham had family issues and dealt with wealth and economic hardship. That Isaac had family strife and had to reinvent his business and shift his livelihood from livestock to farming. That Jacob had tension with his wives and children and hence in his family business, and that Joseph’s rags-to-riches story shows that you can create policy responses to economic crises, but you cannot predict their outcomes.
At the same time that we strive for Torah-inspired moral clarity and greatness, we must apply its relevant lessons and examples to everyday challenges. Woven into the stories it tells is timeless wisdom about ethics and values. These lessons permeate the text and are an integral part of the narrative.
3. …shared values and a culture of ethics, excellence, and innovation mattered a lot. This was not an investment in the stock market or an Exchange Traded Fund. It was an investment in people you had to believe in. It was almost a marriage. One particularly nettlesome investment involved the digital imaging space. I understood the company, and we even had good people. When the tech bubble burst in 2001, its board decided not to pay severance to employees in the United States and instead focused on an Asian market. This was too much for me to accept. Together with the CEO, I objected, was outvoted, and resigned from the board immediately. As the Torah says, “Do not keep with you the wages of your laborers until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13).
…troubling was that when the chips were down, there was an ethical failing. Reflecting on that caused me to double down and search for greater guidance from the Torah.
4. …the Torah verse, “do what is upright and good” (Deuteronomy 6:18)… Law is a structured framework, and as such, it is unable to capture the full complexity of the human condition. Laws are crafted and administered by the state, religions, or other bodies in an attempt to order societies. Ethics and morals fill in many gray areas. It is these normative, universal, and religious dictates that requires adherence.
Principles, ethics, and morals are not merely questions of lifestyle that parallel the laws of economics; they must also be part of its foundations.
5. My claim is that principles affect worth—values improve value— especially in the modern, digital age. Capitalism is a fundamental engine of change and growth. It is, perhaps, the greatest driver of human potential, innovation, and improvement in human history. Innovation and freedom are the fuel that drives it. However, without timeless ethics and morals, both the system and individual businesses can become runaway trains than can run over others—or… subvert humanity itself.”
Eisenberg
Wisdom of the ages.
It never gets old.
