Sermon by Rabbi Denise L. Eger, July 15, 2005

Shabbat Shalom,
On the top of a mountain in the wilderness, generations ago, our people heard the call of God. Through Moses, God gave our people ten rules for living. Simple rules that built the basis of Jewish civilization and became the foundation for Western society. Judaism expanded upon those ten simple rules for living—that we call the Ten Commandments. And our Torah and received tradition of laws and precepts and commandments or mitzvot formed a world view and way of being that called upon the Jew to act in the highest ethical manner in everything we do.

As Rabbi Asher Meir writes in his book the Jewish Ethicist, (Ktav, 2005) “Despite the unbelievable degree of physical dislocation experienced over the millennia by the Jewish people, our legal tradition displays and astonishing degree of continuity and coherence.” (Jewish Ethicist, xi)
These ethics as embodied in Jewish law provide a pathway for behavior and action that guard our relationships with our fellow human beings. Jewish ethics keep our world woven together with a common thread of justice and dignity with God at the center.
The ethics of Torah and the Talmud provide more than a framework, but a high standard for our conduct in business as well as daily life. Judaism unlike some religious traditions acknowledges the importance of the marketplace and of commerce. We do not condemn business or as Meir says, “consider it religiously irrelevant.” (Jewish Ethicist, p. xi) Instead our tradition like it always does, tries to elevate the level of holiness of the profane. This includes bringing the realm of the holy within the marketplace. In other words, yes, you can find God at Bloomingdales!
Thus Jewish tradition looks for ways to take business transactions and ensure that they are achieved in the highest ethical and holy manner. Even in business God is your partner!
The ethical maxims and instructive examples of the Talmud and Midrash in addition to the Torah and Tanach provide us with mandates and principles for ethical living. They are our roadmap to those awkward moments when the temptation is to get one over on another, or when we might inadvertently take advantage of a situation. In today’s world this takes on an even greater importance. The ethics that we practice and live by measure not just our integrity and our character but our society’s health and well-being. Thus when the Governor can have a conflict of interest as large as he does now—you know that our society is at risk.
Schwarzenegger’s contract with various body building magazines for a cut of the ad revenue, (which some say is worth 8 million dollars) that primarily comes from the food supplement industry, is just one of the myriad examples of severe ethical lapses. It becomes an ethical problem and conflict of interest when he vetoes legislation regulating the food supplement industry. Thereby enriching himself at the risk of harming the public. The Governor has an ethical problem on his hands and this doesn’t speak well for him or for our State.
It is an ethical problem when Congressman Duke Cunningham, of the San Diego area, member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, sells his home to the chairman of MZM, Inc., a defense contractor, for over 1.675 million dollars and then Mitchell Wade, chairman of MZM, turns around and sells it for a $700,000 loss. In the months following that business transaction, the company, MZM, INC reported that its revenues from Defense Department Contracts had tripled. In 2002 the same company received a no bid contract for up to $250 million dollars. In addition Rep. Cunningham now under federal investigation, stayed on Wade’s 42-foot yacht rent free for over a year, paying only $13,000 in dock fees. Cunningham lining his pockets speaks to the illness that pervades our culture. His actions rot our way of life and cause our American people to turn away from civic engagement. This is a threat to our very liberty.
And what of the president’s advisor, Karl Rove? This week he is at center of growing storm. While New York Times reporter Judith Miller sits in prison, trying to uphold the dignity of the press and her sources, Mr. Rove is involved in the Plame affair which named a covert CIA operative in the press, seemingly to get back at her husband who disagreed with the policy of the Bush administration and their justification for going to war in Iraq. As the Grand Jury meets and Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald who has for two years been investigating the leak that named Valerie Plame, Karl Rove has now been named as the source. Again, ethical questions arise.
Why? First and foremost because laws have been violated. It is against the law to name covert agents. Secondly, because Rove has denied being the source and the White House, particularly the press secretary has denied his involvement these past two years. Now that he has acknowledged his being involved, but denying that he ever stated her name, Rove tries to parse and wiggle his way out of responsibility. Further the co-mingling of his security hats and political operative hats blurs the lines of just action and just behavior.
This is wrong. Plain and simple. And once again, if ethical behavior had been followed – if integrity had been the motto, Mr. Rove wouldn’t find himself in this predicament. Integrity? Hardly.
These three ethical lapses are problems in and of themselves. But each also speaks to the cynicism of our time. For when so called leaders engage commonly in unethical practices, it infects our whole society. It causes us to turn away from our civic duties and responsibilities. It eats away at the common culture that binds us as a society. Ethical breaches such as they degrade not only the people involved but all of us.
So whether in Politics or business when the books are cooked, like at Enron or WorldComm, we tear open a gaping wound in the well being of our world. It goes as deep as any terrorist attack on a London Subway—and perhaps the violation of our communal soul is just as deep an injury. When ethics are thrown out the window, we live in a morally contaminated environment.
As former Czech President and playwrite Vaclev Havel wrote:

We are living at a time when humankind can
face whatever threatens it only if we, by which
I mean each of us, manage to revive, with new
energy and a new ethos, a sense of responsibility
for the rest of the world.

As Jews our sense of responsibility to the world must reach to the moral and ethical way of life our tradition teaches.
Whether in business dealings or in relationship with our partners, family and friends we must set the highest standards of behavior. For God is a part of our equation. God is and must be at the center of how we act.
Our haftarah lesson this week is from the book of Micah—it contains perhaps my favorite verse of the entire Bible. In its few words, are the kernal, the essence of our task here on earth. Its flowing language sums up our ethical concerns and goes right to the core of the message.
God has told you what is good. And what does God require of you? Only to do justice, to love compassion and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
Justice and compassion with God by our side. This evokes for us a clear path to the road of ethics and values. Jewish ethics and values—which are a high standard for right behavior and living. If we all followed this advice—our world would be a better place.
So even as there are some who infect our society, who by their actions and reactions, destroy the ethical fabric of our time, who eat away at the sacred relationships human beings are to have with one another, let us delve deeper into our spiritual lives to live with integrity, honesty and dignity making ethical decisions in all we do. Let us walk humbly with our God and strive to bring justice to all the decisions we make. That is our challenge, our quest and yes, the Jew’s job #1.

Ken yehi Ratzon

Posted by Lee at July 18, 2005 10:51 AM