Vayeishev: Madoff And Holtzberg

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Choose Light or Choose Darkness

A case study in contrast.

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. Bernard L. Madoff.

Gavriel and Rivka brought light into people’s lives, and created a global Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying G-d’s name) when they were brutally butchered by agents of darkness simply for being Jewish. They personified the Jewish virtues of charity and kindness, illuminating everyone they could reach. In the wake of their murders, which touched a deep chord, a wave of good deeds reverberated around the world.

Bernard Madoff brought darkness into people’s lives, and created a global Chilul Hashem (desecrating G-d’s name) when he massacred the financial security – and trust – of many individuals and organizations, killing in one fell swoop various charities and damaging many others, and destroying the trust in the future of all investments. He personifies greed, selfishness and self-indulgence. In the wake of his contemptible behavior, in which he single handedly eroded the confidence necessary to keep markets alive, people are left stunned and distraught. We are wondering how far this will unravel, how many others will be implicated, and above all, what will be the resulting consequences – how will this affect the future of the entire nature of investments, hedge funds and trust in money managers?

We could not have found a starker example epitomizing the two diametric extremes on the spectrum of human behavior: the heights of ultimate nobility and self-sacrifice in Mumbai, being killed in the service of others; the depths of ignobility and self-interest in New York, hurting others in the service of oneself, cheating his own people, friends and colleagues, exploiting the trust of holocaust survivors and confidantes.

What makes some people choose a life of serving others, and others a self-serving life? Exactly that: choice. We each have the power to choose which way to be.

And make no mistake about it: Each of us must choose between these two paths every moment of our lives. Either we will serve others or we will serve ourselves.

Not to minimize Madoff’s crimes, or to suggest that every self-serving person will become a Madoff, but his behavior is a symptom, not a cause, of social forces that orbit around selfish, material gain. And, whenever you are self-absorbed, thinking about yourself exclusively – “me and nothing else” – you are one step away from pulling off a scheme like Madoff did. Perhaps not on the scale of $50 billion – not everyone has that opportunity – but who’s counting?

And indeed, this choice has become only more amplified in our modern times. The comforts and freedoms of prosperity have allowed for a climate of self-indulgence. When Bernie Madoff’s grandparents were running for their lives together with the grandparents of those he cheated, there wasn’t much time to develop schemes, buy yachts, jet-set and run from Park Avenue to the south of France to the Hamptons to Palm Beach chasing a dollar and spending two. There were greedy people then too, those with power and wealth abusing the rest of the population, but for Jews at least, fighting for their lives, retirement accounts and hedge funds were the last thing they were concerned with. They gave their lives so that their children would grow up good Jews, virtuous individuals, who would carry on the baton passed on from generation to generation beginning with Abraham – to transform human society, to fight for social justice, to help the poor and the oppressed and to respect every person’s innate human dignity.

How did we go off course? And what transpired to create a climate that breeds a Bernie Madoff, and who knows how many more like him? One caught, but how many got away?

Should we feel bad for the funds and fund managers who trusted Madoff with other people’s money? Should we empathize with the wealthy individuals who trusted him with their life fortunes? Should we be saddened by the fact that some charities today invest altogether, instead of giving the money to the needy? Regardless of Madoff’s appalling crimes, are his investors innocent? After all, when they were making money on other people’s backs, they didn’t complain.

If materialism rules your life, than you are bound by its laws. And its cardinal law is this: Born by the almighty dollar; die by the almighty dollar. If money is the source of your power and security, than money will also be your source of destruction and disgrace. Because after all, money is transient, and anything transient can never provide the firm foundation of security.

How much money was made “legally” by money managers – who are protected by the fine-print disclaimers – with the same driving greed? How many charged percentages just to pass on their investors money to Madoff’s accounts?

And this scandal just refocuses attention to our current economic meltdown and global recession. What role did greed and personal gain play in creating today’s overall financial crisis? Selfish interests and short-term gains at the expense of the masses have been identified as the primary culprit. Who will pay for this selfishness? The perpetrators or the victims? A government bailout is nothing more than the burden of a few individuals being carried by American taxpayers. But what other choice do we now have?

Obscene bonuses at financial firms dominated December headlines in the last few years. Now, this December, we know that these actual cash bonuses were paid on the backs of false and illusory returns. The billions of dollars in bonuses have been exposed as essentially a rip-off of the masses who invested that money and saw nothing in return. Do these managers have to return the money they essentially stole from the investors?

Mr. Madoff did disgraceful things, but he is part and parcel, and a product of a climate of greed, where self-interest drives the markets, not their inherent value. And now, the chickens have come home to roost, and we are all left reeling.

But, using the terms of the financial sectors, every scandal has a potential to serve as a “market correction.” Firstly, by exposing the abuses of the system we recognize its inherent flaws. Secondly, it allows us to recognize how far we have fallen and wandered away from our calling, and gives us the opportunity to realign ourselves and our priorities.

This is the only redeeming factor in today’s economic meltdown: It has revealed how greed kills. First others; than yourself. How the love of money and power has vanquished the power of love. How beyond all our technological advances we are no supermen. Far from it. Humans are humans and left to their own devices will be controlled by their selfishness and consumed by their greed, to the point that they will, without hesitation nor compunction, hurt the innocent and even their own families.

And right in middle of the great global economic crisis – rooted in human greed – two servants of society (among many other innocent souls) are massacred in Mumbai – shining a glaring light, for a moment at least, demonstrating that we all have a choice: Here are the Holtzberg’s who dedicated their lives not their own needs and bank accounts, but to serve others.

If ever there were a spotlight on our inadequacies, here we have it. Why Gabi and Rivka had to suffer, we will never know. But in their deaths, as in their lives, they have taught us a critical lesson. The least we can do to honor them is to learn from them. Maybe the Holtzberg’s will give Mr. Madoff something to think about in prison.

What is their lesson?

The ultimate antidote to the greed and corruption inherent in self-indulgence is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

I once heard a Chassid explain why Jews shine brightly when they are spread around the world and stand alone amongst their neighbors. Yet, when they live together and build self-contained, insulated ghettos, they become petty, divisive and stoop to disgraceful behavior. He explained: It’s like manure. Gathered in one location it gives off an unbearable stench. Only when you spread it out in the fields does it fertilize the ground and make things grow…

Jews are natural leaders. A light unto nations. From the time of Abraham they have the quality of challenging the status quo and bringing positive change to their environments. When they become self-contained, focused on self-interest, instead of serving others, they can deteriorate, and ultimately turn on each other. Powerful people who do not serve society, left on their own, can and will turn into appalling creatures, as we have now witnessed with Mr. Madoff.

Our only immunity to such behavior is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

What can this teach us about the future of our economy?

We are at a crossroads. We now have seen capitalism at its worst, where greed has dominated and eliminated the fair play – which is held together by intense, objective regulation – necessary for a free market system to survive.

As the indulgences of capitalism are bringing down the house, and trust has been shattered, I would like to believe that we now stand at the rare threshold of a new paradigm shift: When the house burns down will we build the same house in its place, or will we be wise, learn from the past and build a new type of economy, one which fundamentally balances and integrates personal gain and virtue.

Listening to most people talk today, you hear the weak voice of a victim, saying that this turndown will soon be over, the markets will jump back into place – isn’t that what we have been taught: Wall Street always prevails over the long term; value always rises – and we’ll go on as if nothing happened.

Or will we learn from our experiences and actually create a new climate of true trust, based on giving and charity, and absolute zero tolerance for greed. Will we insist on new economic leaders, who do not make choices based on rewarding themselves?

Will we learn? Will we ever learn?

I guess some people will learn their lessons. Some who have been burned will choose to move away from and insulate themselves from Wall Street’s lions den, and just life an austere life, giving up hope that selfish people will ever change.

But what we want to see is nothing less than an economic revolution: Not just an awakening about the vices of money and materialism left untamed, that money can destroy, but by a new way of looking at our financial systems, of recognizing that money is a means to a higher end.

Over a century ago, Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world of his time and the great philanthropist, wrote in a memo:

Man does not live by bread alone. I have known millionaires starving for lack of the nutriment which alone can sustain all that is human in man, and I know workmen, and many so-called poor men, who revel in luxuries beyond the power of those millionaires to reach. It is the mind that makes the body rich. There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else. Money can only be the useful drudge of things immeasurably higher than itself. Exalted beyond this, as it sometimes is, it remains Caliban still and still plays the beast. My aspirations take a higher flight. Mine be it to have contributed to the enlightenment and the joys of the mind, to the things of the spirit, to all that tends to bring into the lives of the toilers of Pittsburgh sweetness and light. I hold this the noblest possible use of wealth.”

Carnegie later wrote an essay called “The Gospel of Wealth,” which strongly influenced the philanthropic philosophy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (the two wealthiest men in our times), who collectively are giving away over 50 billion dollars. Buffet alone made a noble pledge two years ago of over $37 billion at the time (what it amounts to today I do not know) – an unprecedented act of charity and one that will go down in history.

In his essay, Carnegie lays out his approach to countering the greed inherent to wealth and selfish gain that is the incentive of capitalism:

There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes; but in this we have the true antidote for the temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the reconciliation of the rich and the poor—a reign of harmony—another ideal, differing, indeed, from that of the Communist in requiring only the further evolution of existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our civilization. It is founded upon the present most intense individualism, and the race is projected to put it in practice by degree whenever it pleases. Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves…

“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”

I submit, that with today’s global economic meltdown, we actually stand at the threshold of a new economic paradigm. And based in part on Carnegie’s formula we can create a blueprint how to implement this new paradigm.

In good economic times, with gains blinding us all, it would be quite difficult to suggest any new changes. But with the current breakdown, an opportunity opens up.

As we witness the carnage left by the abuse of money and self-interest, we are faced with three options: One option would be to just escape from this dirty world of finance. Another would be to wait it out and then go back tight into the fray right where we left off, until the next scandal breaks.

However there is a third option: To entirely remake our financial systems and introduce a new economy of the future; the final frontier of the history of money and wealth: To see the acquisition of wealth as a means for giving and fuel for spiritual growth.

Wealth, in short, will finally realize its true value: soul energy, elevating and transforming all of existence. One can say that the futuristic economy will be an elegant synthesis of a free economy choosing to behave in some way like a socialist one, with the key distinction being, that the collective sharing will come from within, self initiated rather than imposed. Recognizing the true nature of wealth will drive men to create systems that will honor and express the inner purpose of our wealth: creating a home for G-d. We will begin to see the acquisition of wealth as a means for spiritual growth, for understanding ourselves and G-d, for filling the world with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea.

Finance and economy is a place where self-interest can meet selflessness – but only when the driving engine is a higher cause. We are not asked to annihilate our individuality and unique personality. We are asked to direct it.

In this life we are always presented with two choices: either we will be driven by self-interest or by serving others.

The Holtzberg’s chose the path of others, and paid the price. Mr. Madoff chose the path of self, and also ultimately paid the price, but in his case, so did many others.

The greatest tribute to the Holtzberg’s would be to use their illuminating example of light to emulate their ways. To serve as leaders whose primary drive and focus is: Serving others. Illuminating and warming the world around them, and not just themselves.

The challenge is greatest when it comes to wealth: Will it feed our selfishness or will we see it for the gift it was meant to be: to help others and build a world of higher consciousness.

Will we learn our lessons from the current financial meltdown or will we hold on to old habits and routines?

As we enter Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, which will you choose: darkness or light?

Free Chanukah Guide

The Kabbalah of Chanukah

Your free guide to a meaningful Chanukah with insights from Rabbi Simon Jacobson, author of the best-seller Toward a Meaningful Life, and Rabbi Yanki Tauber, author of Inside Time.

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Michael Golding
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi Jacobson, I think this essay is well written, but would probably have had a stronger effect had it been

half the length. Nevertheless, you writing as always is excellent and thought provoking. I wish you and your family a happy Chanuka and may your own light continue to spread.

Kind regards, Michael Golding

Gavriela
15 years ago

Great essay, but you missed one important point:

Jews belong in Eretz Yisrael, not America. Perhaps this is a wake up call, not to reform the economic system, but a wake up call to leave the comforts of chutz l’aretz. This won’t be the last event. You are right in saying that it is a symptom, but the symptom is one of comfort in galut, forgetting where one’s home is. The “shining light” will always be dimmed in chutz l’aretz. I say this as a Jew who recently made aliyah from America and left all of my comforts, family, friends, and everything I owned behind.

As a former lobbyist, I would also say that there are always scandals, in every arena, and there are always cries for reform in the aftermath. Everyone always says, “well, now we see the weaknesses in the system, what needs to be done to prevent another…” but nothing ever changes. New regulations come into place, but people always will find a way around the new regulations. The process continues unabated.

Perhaps this is just an opportunity to see that the time of America, which represents the largest manifestation of Edom’s power over the world, is coming to an end. I pray for all of my family, friends, and extended family that they see what is soon to come and pack up and leave, while they still can.

B’vracha v’shalom,

Gavriela Dvorah Rut Weidner

anonymous
15 years ago

Nobody burned this money, it is in the hands of somone one, even more greedy than Bernie!!

Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui
15 years ago

Gevaldik!! Thanks..

Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui

Michael Moritz
15 years ago

Excellent article, except the quotes from Andrew Carnegie. This is a Jewish
site, I would like to be inspired by great Jewish personalities. As a
Pittsburgher I know Andrew Carnegie to be the epitome of greed and all that
is wrong in America today. He made his wealth by exploiting people and
destroying the environment. The Johnstown flood happened because greedy
people like Andrew Carnegie would not spend a few pennies to fix a damn and
thousands died. He hired the Pinkerton Brigade, a band of thugs, to halt a
strike at his plant and there was a shootout and many people were killed.
Andrew Carnegie is no saint. He is no Moses Montefiore or Mayer Anshel
Rothschild. I am not sure why you hold Carnegie as a paradigm of virtue.
Its easy to talk virtuous once you are the richest man in the world and on
your death bed and you are giving your money away and putting your name on
it because you literarily can not take it with you and you want to
immortalize yourself in your donations. Everything is Pittsburgh is name
Carnegie. I think Lev Leviav and the Rohr family is more of the model of
wealthy individuals that we should model ourselves after.

Michael L. Moritz, M.D.
Pittsburgh, PA

Robert Golden
15 years ago

Rabbi–

Amen! These are brilliant, wise words. My prayers go with you toward the end you have described. We have an opportunity to create a sustainable world on many fronts. I am passing your email on to some of my good friends…….

Have a good Shabbos.

Robert Golden

Shifra Chana
15 years ago

Simon, this is an AMAZING article. One of your best ever. It made me cry. You have hit the nail exactly on the head. I think it needs to be shortened and somehow disseminated in a much broader way. People need to hear it. Theres such a vacuum out there. Its the right time to push new ideas and paradigms into the world. And more people giving tzedaka right now wouldnt hurt either.

Have you addressed this in any of your online classes?

Good Shabbos and a freilachen Chanukah.

Shifra Chana

chanie
15 years ago

wow! what an article. I want to see the responses to that piece!!!
-chanie

anonymous
15 years ago

This is for sure one of your very best… so incredibly brilliant.

I am writing to encourage you to send it to a media outlet… op ed or whatever. It is really stunning and necessary.

More than that, IYH, it will change lives as well.

RC

Tzvi Jacobs
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi Jacobson,
Although I understand your point and I guess youre closer to the Madoffs in NYC to the extent of Madoffs harm to others, and know of him better (I never heard of him being in mine own little world and burdened by own financial struggles)…

But I am surprised that the opposite of the mesirus nefesh of the Holtzbergs is not the so-called mesirus nefesh of the Islamic extremists who murdered them, may they be judged by G-d, and who only bring darkness and pain to the world. May the prophecies of the Rebbe be fully fulfilled now.
A freilichin Chanukah with Moshiach watching the menorah being lit in the Beis HaMikdosh,
Tzvi Jacobs

Nancy Cohen
15 years ago

Very nice piece..as a bottom feeder for all my years in NYC, I find it slightly encouraging!

Samuel Bahn
15 years ago

Yasher koach
Samuel Bahn

Lauren
15 years ago

Hi Rabbi, nice article – in your next article -why dont you outline a plan for the government how to rebuild the economy based on these principals – what steps – so they have a model -and then send it to Obama?

Miryam Swerdlov
15 years ago

great!
thanks
miryam

Marilyn Stein
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi,

I thank HaShem for bestowing upon you the blessing of your being so generous to share with others your special writings/insights (i only get to read/ not hear you speak) which are just overwhelming inspirational…prophetic and i cant even find all the words to tell you how much your articles mean to me..THIS ONE..THIS ONE…you really out did yourself…you have touched upon issues that are piercing just everyones mind and heart with great pain…

thank you for clearing the way for me and i am sure for many others to walk thru all this..thank you so so much for being here always when I so need direction…understanding and hope that Moshiach will come soon….thank you very much.

Shabbat Shalom

Marilyn Stein
Montgomery Village, Md.

Moshe
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi Jacobson:

Why speak so badly about a fellow Jew? I don’t know Mr. Madoff. But no matter what he did, he doesn’t deserve to have his name smoldered by his own people. In this country, it’s innocent until proven guilty. It’s enough, he is being attacked in the media by the goyim. I realize we must distance ourselves from his behavior, but at HIS cost? To speak so badly about him? It’s lashon hara to say, among other things, that “he personifies greed, selfishness and self-indulgence.” That’s not fact, that’s your own opinion.

Moshe

Jeff
15 years ago

Hi Rabbi Jacobson,

Great column, as usual, but please forgive me for pointing out one troubling statement you made:

Should we be saddened by the fact that some charities today invest altogether, instead of giving the money to the needy?

Surely you understand charities have foundations that invest money so that the investment returns can be distributed to the needy. If they didnt invest the money, the principal would eventually disappear. You, I think inadvertently, called into question the very nature of endowments.

There is nothing sad about endowments and foundations. On the contrary, it would be very sad if we didnt have them to sustain our community.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jeff

Allen
15 years ago

Rabbi S. Jacobson,

Your scholarly genius is world renowned. It’s a pleasure to receive your email and read your writings. There is so much evil and so much good in the world. There are bad people and that murder and torture and great people that are willing to sacrifice their very life.

Madoff is a Jew that has done so much damage to the Jewish people. I never heard of him even two weeks ago. But how dare you belittle him publically. Maybe Jonathan Pollard has done more harm to the Jewish name worldwide. Do you belittle Jonathan Pollard publically? Madoff is bad, but you compare him to the antithesis of the holy Rabbi killed in India?

You owe no one an apology, But please don’t ever speak of him again.

Thank you

Allen Gochnour

Eli
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi Jacobson,

While I understand and agree with your message and its underlying intent, there is one thing here that seems to be overlooked. Whatever you and I may think of Mr. Madoff and his crimes, it seems to me that he is still a Jew, and accordingly your article seems to contain a considerable amount of loshon hara about him. The secular press has already done enough to villify him, and will continue to do so, and Im not saying its not been deserved, but I dont believe it is up to us to spread more negative speech about him. It is my sincere hope that Mr. Madoffs teshuva is accepted, and that the rest of us can refrain from heaping additional amounts of pain on him or discredit to his reputation. Both have already suffered enough, and I dont see what we gain by jumping on the bandwagon. Besides, isnt it hashgacha protis that the individuals and so-called charities who invested through Maddoff lost their money, and dont we believe that if he hadnt lost it for them, then al pi hashgacha protis, they would have lost it anyway through other means?

Let the State prosecute Mr. Maddoff. We Jews have better places to invest our energies. I think you could have made the same point, and delivered the same message, without dragging Madoffs name through the mud.

Kol Tuv and a Freilichen Chanukah.

Eli Eisenberg

Herbert
15 years ago

I get your email every week and I feel this was written in anger and as a Rabbi having the amount of people you are sending this article to, this is not right. You have destroyed this person and I believe that with not having the all the facts you have no right .Torah teaches us not to judge another man until you have been in his shoes.Also I believe this is pure loshen Hora and you do not have the right to destroy this man the way you have . I am an ordinary orthodox jew living in South Africa and I feel that you owe this man an apology.
I also believe that he must have also done a lot of good as well and now that things have gone wrong we must now destroy him??? I think Jews should be more sympathetic .We have no idea how much good he did and I believe when you start to look you will find out and be amazed . I have no idea as I said who he is. I hope you will take this to mind.
thanking you

Herbert Hack
Cape Town South Africa

JJ
15 years ago

Dear Simon,

The piece is beautifully written and spot on.

Three comments:

1. We have to start educating people to the difference between philanthropy and tzedakah. The former is a means of aggrandizing the giver while the latter is a means of redressing social imbalances and doing what is right. Society lionizes moguls for their philanthropy, when in most cases such philanthropy is self-serving. Tzedakah, if given at all, is a negligible part of their giving portfolio. Ordinary people, by contrast, give tzedakah for which they neither receive nor expect to be celebrated. And it is a culture of tzedakah that should be nurtured.

2. As we often say, most Muslims and not terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim. Well it is equally true that mot Jews are not Wall Street robbers, but most Wall Street robbers are Jew. The Muslim street is complicit in terror becasue it never cries out in protest when terror is perpetrated. Likewise, we Jews are complciit in the financial terrorism because our so-called leaders and hoi polloi dont seem particularly bothered by the prominence and prevailance of these globo-leaches. Indeed these menaces are the very philanthropists whom our gedolim suck up to

3. The real problem with Wall Street is that it operates in a bubble, totally disconnected from any genuine product or service. It does not exist to nurture creativity, heal the sick, feed, clothe or in any other way produce a justifiable end product. Indeed, every single M&A initiated by Wall Street has only one purpose, namely to mass-exterminate jobs in order to generate short-term huge windfalls for the investment bankers and a few insiders. This is the ultimate parasitism of the so-called masters of the universe. And sadly many if not most are our people. We must openly disassociate ourselves from such nefarious activity and educate our young to pursue careers that, at least tangentially, produce something other than havoc and devastation for the sake of unfiltered greed. It is time we started discouraging our kids from becoming corproate lawyers and investment banker, the vermin of society and the breeders of anti-Semitisim.

Good Shabbos
jj.

Elisheva
15 years ago

Hello, I often read your weekly divrei torah and appreciate your strong yet sensitive stance concerning major issues with society. However, I have one problem with this weeks post; “some charities today invest altogether, instead of giving the money to the needy?”. I feel this is an unnecessary derogatory blanket statement that doesn’t encourage people to continue supporting charities. I work at a non-profit organization amongst many dedicated altruistic people. There are very few people who go into the non-profit organization field who don’t actually have kind intentions. In order for our organization as well as many others to provide the services and charity we supply there needs to be funds. If the financial advisors say investing will enable us to give more and have the security that we wont have to turn away any person who comes to our door that is what we will do, in order to continue our avoda as the middlemen to help those in need.

All the best,

Elisheva

Shoshanna Silcove
15 years ago

Dear Rabbi Jacobson,

Your depiction of Madoff is too harsh.
How can you sit in judgement? You cannot say that you know for a fact that Madoff was motivated by pure sefishness. Very presumptous of you to assert that! Madoff gave heaps of tzedakah and he also has a yetzer tov and while he did wrong, you should know better and you should be giving him the benefit of the doubt.I am a Lubavitcher and I mourn over the loss of the Holtzbergs and frankly shocked that you write with such arrogance and sinas chinam about Madoff, our fellow Jew too!

Janis
15 years ago

Hi,
Shavua Tov!
I always love to read your words of wisdom but somehow it bothers me that you draw a comparison in any way to the Holtzbergs.To even write about Madoff together with people who illuminated the world is very sad to me.

I almost see writing about Madoff as Loshon Hara in a weird way.If you were to say that the monsters that killed the Holtzbergs in cold blood are the polar opposite ,that I understand.The terrorists are the most evil incarnate.But to draw a parallel between people who lost material things and people who lost their lives and their light in this world is not what I expected to read from you.
Even if you were to write about Madoff separately to teach about values and priorities, but to link the two in the same sentence I do not understand.
For some reason I wanted to share this thought with you.

Have a beautiful week.
With Respect,
Janis Altman

Julia
15 years ago

OK

But let me just remark that there is no bigger Ponzi scheme than socialism. Madoff is nothing to it. We will get past Madoff.

John W McGinley
15 years ago

Rabbi Jacobson: I am glad that you spoke out of these matters. I also read the link on Money and Spirituality. Your reference to Amos 8:11 was right on the money, so so speak. ((And these most pregnant words from Amos speak forcefully to a Jewish matter other than materialistic greed but which, arguably is the root of such materialistic greed. I will not speak of it here.)) I also appreciate your willingness to cite Gentile wisdom on this matter.

Let me suggest that this culture of greed and the accumulation of wealth sometimes wraps itself up with the shell of good deeds, helping the poor, and advancing good and noble Jewish intersts.
Sometimes such is genuine and great good results. Sometimes such is just a veneer for raw greed and self-interst; other times it is a sorry mixture of both motivations. In any case there is always a slippery slope involved when the accumulation of wealth and money is involved. In the last twenty years I have seen good people and charitable organizations — some Jewish — severely corrupted precisely in this manner. Money is certainly not the root of all evil, adage notwithstanding. But it can easily and subtlely become the facilitator to the root of all evil.

There is also this matter. For more then a millennium Christian Gentiles ((and I suspect Muslim Gentiles as well)) have viciously slandered Jews on this matter concerning greed and the accumulation of money. And of course such slander was permeated with hypocracy. The pursuit of an unhealthy degree of wealth was just as prominent ((– arguably even greater –)) in Christian Gentile circles. And, in this regard, something else was at work, for Jews, as well.

It is sadly true that the vicissitudes of history have forced Jews more than most people to depend on money. Both the overt and endemic dimensions of Christian Anti-Semitism have forced Jews — especially from the High Middle Ages onward — to resort to the accumulation of money as a survival mechanism. ((e.g., the paying of brides to Christian officials to keep innocent Jews from being tortured and killed since Jews were not allowed any legal recourse; and this is ONLY an e.g.)) So this sobering factor has to be kept in mind as I make my other point.

Has there not been — say over the past sixty years or so and especially in America — a kind of reaction formation against the above hypocritical slandering which has taken the form of in your face. A kind of: YEAH!! WE ARE DAMN GOOD IN THIS MONEY BUSINESS. ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE BETTER THAN YOU GUYS. AND WE ARE NOT HYPOCRITCAL ON THIS AS YOU GUYS ARE. But such payback can itself corrupt the ones doing the payback.

Well, these two points can function as food for thought. Truth be told I have seen some features of both of my points even in my limited brush-ups with Chabad organizations. I would rather say it to you than to risk slandering by sharing this thought with non-Jews and risk an unintentional slander.

Again, your article was very thoughtful, honest, and right on the money. I am lucky. the vicissitudes of my own personal life have kept far, far away from the accumulatin of wealth. Frankly, I do not think I have the character to have accumulated wealth and not abuse such. John plans and God laughs, MUCH TO THE BENEFIT of John. Be well.
John W McGinley

anonymous
15 years ago

Hello Rabbi,

A wonderful column full of insight. I always learn from your teachings. I must comment one one small yet destructive comment you surprisingly included.

Regardless of Madoff’s appalling crimes, are his investors innocent? After all, when they were making money on other people’s backs, they didn’t complain.

I have been so upset to see how many comments there have been on blogs about the greedy investors. Its upsetting because it is not greedy to invest money in a (seemingly) smart, safe, and honest fund. Madoff had a stellar reputation. For crying out loud, he was on the board of YU. So it is that much more surprising to hear these statements coming from you. What do you mean by, making money on other peoples backs? Are you insinuating that the investors knew that they were involved in a scam? That something illegal or unethical was occurring? Thats obviously ridiculous. The stock market on average over time offers returns of 10%. Madoff offered returns of approximately 10%. It was nothing more than a seemingly stable and seemingly trustworthy fund, the same as many others out there. It would have been foolish to not invest in the fund, if one knew about it. Thats precisely why so many did. And why so many put SO much in. Because it seemed safe, honest and trustworthy.

People seem to maintain much shadenfreude. My goodness! Rabbi, this is a time when we need to stand united as a people. To support each other. I was an investor with Madoff. So was my entire extended family. We work very hard, and have given much money to tzedaka. My family started a business from nothing and has given livelihood to many employees who depend on them. We have lost a devastating amount of money that will change lives for generations. I can assure you that we never could have imagined that we were making money on other peoples backs.

With Respect.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson
15 years ago

Thank you for your kind words. I also appreciate your straightforward and candid remarks.

Before I reply, allow me to say that my heart goes out to you and your family, and all the innocent people that invested and lost money with Mr. Madoff. I apologize for suggesting that you and other innocent investors made money on other peoples backs. I should have written (and I will correct this online) Regardless of Madoff’s appalling crimes, are all his investors innocent? I commend you for your tzedakah work and all your efforts in helping others. You did not deserve to be hurt in this way, and I am sure that G-d will in some way compensate you and your family and all those that were innocently hurt by this sad and criminal act. Tzedakah is always rewarded, and you will always be blessed for it.

That being said, my point in adding that line was:

1) The NY Times and others reported that quite a few of the investors, especially the investment firms, were quite aware that Madoffs returns were unnaturally consistent. Yet they thought that Madoff had found his own insider ways to manipulate the market, with some even suspicious of illegal behavior, yet looking the other way since the returns were coming consistently (not to mention the allure created around Madoff), and other were being ripped off, not themselves. (A good question to ask everyone is this: If you knew or suspected that your investment firm was illegally making money for you on the backs of others, would you look the other way or would you pull your investments?). Some even suggest that there were investors, or the ones advising investors, that will be implicated in the crimes — but that we shall leave for actual evidence. We will see what emerges as the investigation continues and things unravel.

2) Some investors/investment firms have already been accused and being sued for negligence and betraying their commitments (names are published daily in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal), demonstrating their complicity, not necessarily in Madoffs crimes, but in their own greed.

3) Above all: The primary theme of the article was the materialistic greed that has overtaken the market, which has created the breeding ground for Madoff and others like him in the first place. Not to suggest that every investor is criminal; as long as the rules of our land allow for investments and they are done by the law, then they are part of the system. But the bigger question is this: Is the system working and is it inherently flawed? With trust — and scrupulous regulation — the argument can be made that the Wall Street model can work. But without those two crucial elements the system is prone to corruption, as has been evidenced now and in the past. The argument can even be made — and I am thinking of writing a follow-up article on this — that the entire Wall Street model is unhealthy, being that it creates the climate for abuse that cannot be controlled; capitalism at its worst. Once upon a time you invested in a venture (whether it be a product or a service) whose benefits and value were evident. For example: You invested $1m in a farm that produced tomatoes and other vegetables, which were then sold for a profit – a legitimate transaction that has its own natural checks and balances. In todays investment climate you invest in firms and people who you trust are investing in ventures that have a benefit and value. But what value or benefit does Wall Street serve on its own — besides for the money it generates? Such a model is set up for abuse and corruption.

In this context, the entire Wall Street investment scene, including Madoff and all his investors (many unwittingly) are part of the problem. Albeit, many just played by the rules and did everything legal; when things are flowing, most people in general do not usually question the systems in place established by our authorities. Until trouble brews, and then the finger pointing begins. My article was suggesting that we have to ultimately point the fingers at ourselves, not because each of us individually may have done something specifically wrong, but because we fed (and bought) into a system that may be unhealthy in the first place.

Regardless of our pure intentions, now we are all becoming wiser.

anonymous
15 years ago

Hello Rabbi,

Thank you for taking the time for such a lengthy and thoughtful response. I understand where you are coming from. The major distinction is in the individual investor, from the institutional investor. An individual investor pays a professional (which Madoff presumably was) to manage their money for them. So the individual investors are not to blame. However, I absolutely agree that the institutional investor, one who manages millions or even billions of dollars belonging to others – one who has been trusted to responsibly invest; it is this professional investor who should have known better and executed due diligence.

It doesnt matter if a Jewish person lives in Israel or the US, is wealthy or poor, is observant or unaffiliated. These events will impact the lives of every one of us. Billions of dollars have evaporated from our community and we will all feel that – directly or indirectly. The potential anti-semitism to ensue will also impact all of us. This is the time when we must show kindness, help each other, and support each other. Through our actions as well as our words. Hashem is watching and taking notes.

Thanks!

NewOrleansPuma
15 years ago

The Truth is the Truth no matter to whom it applies.

Never have I seen written such a clearer explication of the nature of choice regarding the material and spiritual world.

Choice and what that means and requires are the subjects of this article.
Each of us Jew and Gentile is called to constantly make choices which serve to create us, yes, continue to create us inside and form us as to who we wish to become before G-d.
Rabbi, this article clearly delineates the nature of choice.
Your two examples used are excellent examples because they do represent examples of choice in different directions.
Mr. Madoff has left a legacy of shame to his sons…Is that a good thing?
No. The Holtzbergs have left a legacy of love to their child. Is that a good thing? Yes.
What legacy do we wish to leave to our children and this world?
What shall we bring before G-d when we are no longer here?
Choice..that is the essence of being human and whether one is Jew or Gentile, it shall ever be that which makes us before G-d and man either a bearer of light or light diminished by our very own selves.

Thank you for these fine thoughts.
NewOrleansPuma

Raquel Schraub
15 years ago

Brilliant analysis by brilliant Rabbi writer and philosopher

The Meaningful Life Center