Money'm Jewish Thought

STEPHEN D. FRANKLIN

J,

EWS have often been accused of coveting and

displaying wealth. Anti-semites on the popular level
have often criticized and indeed condemned Jews for
the accumulation of wealth and the display of riches.
On the scholarly level the lack of a fixed ascetic
tradition in mainstream Judaism has been used as
"proof by some 19th century European academics
that Judaism is somehow inferior to Christianity.
These mean-spirited attitudes towards Jewish wealth
are, like most prejudices, rooted in ignorance, in
half-truths, in stereotyping and in a triumphalism of
one group's values over those of another group.
Historical facts are often ignored by bigots. It
should be noted that Jews from the Middle Ages to
the beginning of the Twentieth Century often restricted
ostentation through their own "sumptuary laws" which
went so far as to regulate how many guests could be
invited to a party and to restrict the wearing of
expensive clothes.
The accumulation of wealth was deemed evil by
rabbinic authorities if it did not include a propor
tional measure of charity and a likewise propor
tional paying for the support of communal institut
ions. It should be remembered that Christians who
practice tithing of 10% of wealth are following a
command of the Hebrew Scriptures, which was
enlarged by rabbinic Judaism's teaching that charity

should be given to the point of, not beyond, pain.

In fact, that potpourri of rabbinic wisdom, "The
Sayings (Chapters) of the Fathers," declares that the
purpose of the tithes is to keep riches from accumulat
ing to excess. (A both 3:14).
Competing values must be judged on a consider
ation of merit, not by loyalty to one's own theological
system. To impoverish oneself by giving wealth away
- giving beyond the point of pain - was considered
by Jewish teachers to be both wrong and foolish. The
same teaching in "The Sayings of the Fathers,"
attributed to Rabbi Akiba, which sees the restriction
on riches as a crucial curb, also deems extreme
abstinence as a tendency which must be curbed.
The very learning of God's Word is seen to be
difficult, if not impossible, in the midst of poverty.
Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, a contemporary of the
Apostle Paul - whose words are often used to justify
Christian asceticism - is quoted in "The Wisdom of
the Fathers" as saying, "If there is no flour, there is
no learning of Torah." The word "flour," like the
word "bread" in today's slang parlance, clearly means
"money." Money is not bad: it has the power to
perform much goodness if used wisely.
Stephen D. Franklin is rabbi ofRiverdale Temple,
Riverdale, . Y.

Sin City
(continued from page 16)
The play, Inherit the Wind, is making a comeback
on Broadway. One of the characters in the drama
tells that when he was a little boy he saw a rocking
horse in a store window. It was the most beautiful
rocking horse he had ever seen. It was gold and
silver with large purple spots. He wanted that rock
ing horse for Christmas. But his parents were poor
and he knew it was never to be. But on Christmas
morning - Santa had brought him the rocking horse
in the window. His parents had sacrificed to get their
boy his dream horse. The boy jumped on the horse
and began to rock.

A terrible thing happened the rocking horse

broke. The horse broke half in two. Looking back, he
says, whenever you see something bright-shining, all
gold with purple spots, look behind the paint. And if
it's a lie, show it up for what it is.
Once upon a time my father tried to ride such a
horse and it broke and broke his heart as well. I want
more for our citizens than a horse that will bring only
pain and disappointment to their lives.
Roger Lovette is pastor of the Baptist Church
of the Covenant, Birmingham, Ala.
THE LIVING PULPIT #17

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