For The Love of Money

“Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil.” (Henry Fielding, 1707 - 1754)

Money is something I have never ‘grasped’ conceptually. Sure, I know it’s a medium of exchange and its value is based on a particular economic formula, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. This is about what it does to otherwise rational human beings.

My zeyde o’h used to say that “Blood may be thicker than water, but it’s never thicker than gold.” Oh, how right he was. I am no longer surprised the lengths that people will go to catch a dollar, or the morals and ethic they leave in the dust alongside the road on the way. Every time I pick up a Federal Reserve note, I wonder just how many people were screwed over along the way during its travels from pocket to pocket. I realize that there is someone, somewhere willing to shed his humanity, his common sense, and even murder another to obtain this prize. That someone looks just like you and I.

There is a story about a dream the Ba’al Shem Tov had. It’s well known that if one has a question about life, intellectual quandaries, or a spiritual problem, that one should pose the question right before going to sleep. Amazingly enough, the answers seem to be come in the morning by themselves. (I solved many Talmudic and halachic questions that way, sometimes without ever leaving the Beis Medrash!) The BeShT must have thinking about something right before bedtime.

The BeShT had been wondering why it was that people, in ancient times were so taken up with Avodah Zara (idol worship), that it seems no amount of Divine punishment or prophetic exhortation could stop the Jews from succumbing to its Muse. A Tana (sage of the Mishna) appeared to the BeShT and said “In our time, even you, as great and holy as you imagine yourself, would have run so fast to do Avodah Zara that you’d leave your pants behind in your frenzy to get there first.” The BeShT then asked “Where is this Avodah Zara today?” The Tana answered with tears in his eyes “It’s money.” The BeShT awoke then and remarked to himself, “ I don’t know which is worse!”

I understand it when people in desperate circumstances find it necessary to ‘stretch’ their truths or cut ethical corners to survive. In the face of biological demise, the morals and ethics that come easily under the influence of a full stomach tend to wane a bit when pushed to the limits of hunger and cold. I understand when large families with rising costs of living seek assistance from government programs, though they could, even without those subsidies, probably get by. Certain acts are understandable and even forgivable. Not that the ‘ends justify the means’ by any account, but when weighing biology and survival versus ethics, I think for most, biology wins out. It's more or less an issue of Pikuach Nefesh.

What really bothers me are the corporate crooks. If we add up all car theft, drug trade, traffic in stolen goods, burglary, and the damage caused by vandalism, it remains a drop in the bucket when compared to the billions of dollars stolen by white collar criminals, be they CEOs, CFOs, or extortionists masquerading as politicians. The question to ask is “Why do already wealthy people feel the need to steal?” It’s certainly not about survival as we understand survival. It’s about ‘corporate survival’ which manifests itself as power in the boardroom and at the ceiling of the corporate ‘good ole boys’ club. It is a mindset of addiction to power and admiration of others in power. They are addicted to money in the same way that a crackhead is addicted to ‘rock’. It’s not the drug one desires. It’s the ‘high’. This attitude creates sociopathic behavior, and like the crackheads, the criminal CEOs and politicians band together to get ‘high’.

When the poor man steals to feed himself, he does it because he is hungry. When the rich man steals he does it because ‘that’s how the game is played.’ The poor man doesn’t have a sophisticated economic theory (capitalism) or a major newspaper (Wall Street Journal) to justify his behavior and make him appear acceptable to society. The poor man doesn’t get to hobnob with politicians. The poor man goes to jail, and the wealthy criminal chimes the bell at the NYST. No one ever envies the poor man, and thus he remains what society fears most, when in fact, it should be the very opposite. The poor man reminds us of our own biological vulnerabilities and where we should focus our efforts, while the real criminal, in his Italian suit and leather briefcase, speaks only in terms of luxuries and externalities that most of us could only dream of.

A comedienne one said that if she is walking through the ‘projects’ and is accosted by a mugger, she doesn’t worry too much. The mugger is only going to take what she has with her right now. Corporate criminals, on the other hand, are preparing to take her future. Now, when she sees a white guy in a pinstripe suit with a briefcase and Wall Street Journal tucked under his arm, she crosses the street!

We justify wealth by all the good that can be done with it, without at first considering that the evils we are required to fix in this world might very well have come about because of it. I haven’t worked out all the details of Avodah Zara and what exactly was it’s persuasive power, but I can with absolute certainty echo the sentiments of the BeShT in saying “I don’t know which is worse!”

“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” (Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790)