”Were you honest in business?”
Legend in Jewish Tradition teaches that when we die and ascend to the Throne of Glory, we will be interrogated regarding the probity of our lives, including this question:”Were you honest in business?”
It is interesting that such should be the concern of the heavenly court. We would expect to be tested on our kindness, compassion, charitableness, or piety. But, on our business ethics? In truth, business and financial integrity represent a significant mainstay of Torah concern. It appears in this week’s Torah portion, addressing how Moses maintained the accounts of precious metals used in constructing the desert tabernacle and its implements.
“These are the accounts of the tabernacle…All the gold used in the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels…” [Ex. 38:21, 24]
Regarding these verses, there is an interesting commentary that asks, why does the Torah indicate “All the gold used,” rather than express, “All the gold was used.” The implication of the former could be that not all of the gold was used in the construction; some of it was used elsewhere, or, heaven forbid, diverted wrongly. The commentary, though, indicates that the word, “all,” comes to comfort the reader that all that was collected and consigned to the artisans was properly accounted for. Thus, the commentary and the verse attest to the integrity of the craftsmen and Moses, who were trusted with the valuables of the people. They would stand the heavenly test.
Would we?
Rarely are we in the position of a Moses or his craftsmen. Rarely are we entrusted with great sums of other people’s property. Yet, even if we are assigned a modest measure of goods, or are trusted with private information, we then operate on a sacred scale of judgment. Just as the Torah, for all of perpetuity, recorded the amounts and the usage of the gold and silver, rendering eternally transparent the deeds of Moses and the craftsmen, so too we live in a world where business and communal trust demand no less integrity or transparency. We do not have to be a Moses, to handle the material or matters of others; we need only be a rabbi, or a teacher, or a businessperson. Of us all, such trust ought be expected.
”Were you honest in business?”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Legend in Jewish Tradition teaches that when we die and ascend to the Throne of Glory, we will be interrogated regarding the probity of our lives, including this question:”Were you honest in business?”
It is interesting that such should be the concern of the heavenly court. We would expect to be tested on our kindness, compassion, charitableness, or piety. But, on our business ethics? In truth, business and financial integrity represent a significant mainstay of Torah concern. It appears in this week’s Torah portion, addressing how Moses maintained the accounts of precious metals used in constructing the desert tabernacle and its implements.
“These are the accounts of the tabernacle…All the gold used in the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels…” [Ex. 38:21, 24]
Regarding these verses, there is an interesting commentary that asks, why does the Torah indicate “All the gold used,” rather than express, “All the gold was used.” The implication of the former could be that not all of the gold was used in the construction; some of it was used elsewhere, or, heaven forbid, diverted wrongly. The commentary, though, indicates that the word, “all,” comes to comfort the reader that all that was collected and consigned to the artisans was properly accounted for. Thus, the commentary and the verse attest to the integrity of the craftsmen and Moses, who were trusted with the valuables of the people. They would stand the heavenly test.
Would we?
Rarely are we in the position of a Moses or his craftsmen. Rarely are we entrusted with great sums of other people’s property. Yet, even if we are assigned a modest measure of goods, or are trusted with private information, we then operate on a sacred scale of judgment. Just as the Torah, for all of perpetuity, recorded the amounts and the usage of the gold and silver, rendering eternally transparent the deeds of Moses and the craftsmen, so too we live in a world where business and communal trust demand no less integrity or transparency. We do not have to be a Moses, to handle the material or matters of others; we need only be a rabbi, or a teacher, or a businessperson. Of us all, such trust ought be expected.
”Were you honest in business?”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
