Three
seemingly disparate questions: If you are engaged in business, is bluffing,
lying, cheating, and offering bribes in secret wrong, or simply the tools of a
skilled deal maker? How do sacrifices brought to the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and
later to the Temple, relate to what people do in secret? If you cannot
constrain yourself from doing what is wrong, does it dishonor God more or less
to do it in secret? The answers to all three questions come together in
consideration of this week’s parashah, Vayikra.
We open
the Torah this week to the Book of Leviticus—a priestly pocket manual on
the myriad details of the sacrificial cult. It’s not to everyone’s liking; for
some, it will feel like a slow slog for the next two months. The exciting,
challenging, and inspiring narratives of Genesis and Exodus are
behind us. Israel has escaped Egypt, received Torah, constructed the Mishkan,
and is settling in to a routine of life in the wilderness: learn God’s ways,
offer sacrifices, move forward, and mark time until the nation can enter the
Land of Israel. While Leviticus offers us only two narrative stories,
taken together with insightful commentaries, it feeds our souls and enriches
our lives with a wealth of wisdom concerning human nature.
Parshat
Vayikra lays out the major
categories of sacrifices, the circumstances under which offerings are to be
brought, the content of the offerings, the rituals for offering them, and the
disposition of the sacrifices once made. We read about the olah (burnt
offering), the minchah (meal offering),
the shelamim (sacrifice of well-being), chatat (sin
offering), and asham (guilt offering). We learn the distinction between
violations committed intentionally and unintentionally. We even learn that a
person who cannot afford to bring the prescribed offering may substitute a less
costly sacrifice.
Many of
the sacrifices catalogued in Vayikra are to atone for sin. Torah
stipulates mechanisms for dealing with wrongs committed by one person against
another, including the consequences and fines, but ultimately sacrifices are
required because wronging another person is de facto sinning
against God.
While
Torah deals with the rules and standards of behavior that are deemed violations
of the covenant, as well as the ritual mechanisms for obtaining forgiveness,
Talmud delves deeper into the nature of sin and the human psyche. In tractate Chagigah,
we find a mishnah that enumerates four subjects one should not speculate about
(at least, not in public) because of the danger of inadvertently enticing
others into apostasy.[1] The mishnah concludes with this comment:
…ONE WHO GIVES NO THOUGHT TO THE HONOR OF THEIR CREATOR, IT
WERE BETTER HAD THEY NOT COME INTO THE WORLD. (M Chagigah 2:1 / 11b)
Perhaps
you’re wondering how the Mishnah justifies making such a drastic and dramatic
claim? Gemara explains on BT Chagigah 16a.
What does this mean? R. Abba said: It
refers to one who looks at a rainbow. R. Yosef said: “It refers to one who
commits a sin in secret.” “One who looks at a rainbow,” as it is written: Like
the appearance of a rainbow that shines in the cloud on a day of rain, such was
the appearance of the surrounding radiance. That was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of Adonai (Ezekiel 1:28[2]). R. Yosef said, “This refers to one
who commits a sin in secret,” which accords with what R. Yitzhak said, for R.
Yitzhak said, “Whoever commits a sin in secret, it is as though he pushed away
the feet of the Shekhinah, for it is said, כֹּה
אָמַר יְהוָה, הַשָּׁמַיִם כִּסְאִי, וְהָאָרֶץ הֲדֹם
רַגְלָי Thus said Adonai: The heaven is My throne and the earth
is My footstool (Isaiah 66:1).” But is this so? But R. Illa the Elder said, “If
a person sees that the [evil] inclination is overpowering him, he should go to
a place where no one recognizes him, don black clothing and wrap himself in
black, and do what his heart desires, but he should not desecrate God’s Name publicly!”
There is no difficulty (i.e., contradiction). This [R. Yosef’s opinion] concerns
one who is able to overcome their inclination; this [R. Yitzhak’s opinion] concerns
one who is not able to overcome their inclination.
R.
Abba offers an example of behavior that fails to honor God: looking at a rainbow.
No doubt you’re wondering how on earth gazing at a rainbow can be construed as
failure to honor God, especially since there is a berakhah to say when
one sees a rainbow.[3] However, as beautiful and aesthetically
uncomplicated as a rainbow is for most of us, it is theologically complicated
for the Rabbis. The first rainbow appeared after the Flood that destroyed
virtually all of humanity and the animal kingdom, save the remnant preserved in
the ark. It is a sign of God’s promise never again to flood the earth, but at
the same time a sign of God’s disapproval of humanity’s behavior. But there is more, as R. Abba’s use of the
verse from Ezekiel makes clear. Describing God’s glory, Ezekiel likens it to
the radiance of the rainbow. It would seem that R. Abba is concerned lest
people gaze upon a rainbow and think they are seeing God.
The
bulk of the passage, however, focuses on R. Yosef’s example: a person who sins
in secret. The one who sins in secret does so out of the sight of other people,
believing either that God does not exist or does not matter. The Gemara
supports R. Yosef’s contention by citing R. Yitzhak’s more graphic teaching
that sinning in secret not only sidelines God, but actively disrespects God (“pushing
away the feet of the Shekhinah”). His proof text, Isaiah 66:1, uses the term rag’lai
(“my feet”), to say that one who sins in secret is, effectively, pushing
God’s authority, meaning, and presence, out of this world.
No
sooner have R. Yosef and R. Yitzhak made what appear to be solid and thoughtful
arguments then Gemara challenges them: Really? Are you so sure that sinning in
secret is the epitome of dishonoring God? Perhaps it is the opposite!
R.
Illa the Elder presents the novel and controversial idea: Sinning in secret, he
holds, can be preferable to sinning in public. He asserts that someone who is
overwhelmed by the compulsion to sin should disguises himself and go off to a
place where he is unknown to do what he must. At least he will not be
recognized by people who know him, conveying open and public disrespect for God’s
laws.
The
question of whether or not one should engage in improper behavior in secret
took an interesting philosophical twist when, in 1968, Albert Z. Carr published
an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled, “Is Business Bluffing
Ethical?”[4] Few articles have generated as much discussion and
controversy, which is ongoing now nearly fifty years later. Carr argued that
the world of business is special realm in which the tactics for success permit
a different standard of behavior. As business ethics specialists Robert E
McNulty and W. Michael Hoffman noted:
Albert Carr, claimed quite brazenly that businesses
were perfectly justified in lying, cheating, and bribing, all in the name of
achieving business objectives. According to Carr, the ethics of ordinary life
were inapplicable to business because the latter was governed by its own “gaming”
morality that required the businessman to leave at home the Golden Rule and his
commitment to principles such as honesty and fairness. To make his point, Carr quotes a Midwestern
executive who had “given a good deal of thought to the question.” According to
this person, “If the law as written gives a man a wide-open chance to make a
killing, he’d be a fool not to take advantage of it. If he doesn’t someone else
will. There is no obligation on him to stop and consider who is going to get
hurt. If the law says he can do it, that’s all the justification he needs.
There’s nothing unethical about that. It’s just plain business sense.”
In the same article, Carr goes on to assert the
legitimacy of lying on one’s résumé,
engaging in industrial espionage, and deceptively adulterating the contents of
consumer goods in order to increase profits.[5]
For
Carr, one has no obligation to go beyond the letter of the law—and certainly no
obligation to adhere to standards of decency in the context of business. Carr’s
argument led many to believe “business ethics” was a oxymoron. Whether his
views reflected the state of business practices or inspired them, business
ethics became a field of study in the mid-70s. Today, most corporations have
promulgated a code of ethics and established
an officer responsible to oversee compliance.
Carr’s
style of business is roundly condemned as immoral by Jewish ethical standards,
which are spelled out in the Torah and elaborated upon at length in the Talmud
and later law codes.[6] In fact, there is a rabbinic tradition that when
one dies and stands before God for judgment, the first question God will ask
is, “Did you conduct your business with integrity?” (BT Shabbat 31a) Often, in
discussions of Jewish business ethics, the principle of livnei iveir lo
titein michshol / “do not place a stumbling block before the blind” is
invoked; it speaks directly to Carr’s tactics.
I’m
sure it has occurred to many familiar with Albert Carr’s controversial claims
and the discussion surrounding them that the President Trump and his close
advisors appear to be a card-carrying subscribers to Carr’s philosophy. He has
imported into the White House the sense that his brand of business dealings,
which entails distortions, disinformation, and outright lies, is simply
employing the tools of the trade, that in the “game” of politics one is
required to win at any cost.
We
would do well to recall R. Yosef and R. Yitzhak’s discussion. “Pushing away the
feet of the Shekhinah,” shoving morality to the curb and engaging in secretive
dishonesty, is socially caustic and spiritually corrosive whenever and wherever
it occurs.
© Rabbi Amy
Scheinerman
[1] Those familiar with tractate Chagigah will
recognize this as the mishnah that leads to rabbinic discussions of mysticism
and tells the story of Elisha b. Abuyah, also known derogatorily as Acher.
[2] The verse continues: when I beheld it, I
flung myself down on my face. And I heard the voice of someone speaking.
[3] Talmud itself provides the blessing: ברוך
אתה ה' אלהינו
מלך העולם זוכר
הברית וְנֶאֱמָן בִּבְרִיתוֹ
וְקַיָם בְּמַאֲמָר Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of the
universe, Who remembers the covenant and is faithful to his covenant and keeps
his promise. (BT Berakhot 59a)
[4] Albert Z. Carr, “Is Business Bluffing Ethical?,”
Harvard Business Review 46, no. 1 (1968): 146. Available at:
https://hbr.org/1968/01/is-business-bluffing-ethical.
[5]
http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/a-look-back-in-history-learning-the-lessons-of-business-ethics/#_ftn1.
[6] Suggested sources include: Elliot N. Dorff and
Jonathan K. Crane, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality; http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/resources-ideas/source-sheets/tol-parashot/hukkat.pdf; Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz, “Jewish Business
Ethics: An Introductory Perspective” http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/JewBusEthI.html;
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/loving-god-and-doing-business/.
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