The greatest investment
FIVE YEARS ago when my wife Shira and I were working in Hale, South Manchester, we assembled a business ethics panel for an event for teenagers. The theme was ‘Being Incredible & Credible: Can the way to the top be paved with kindness?’ We invited a former BBC Apprentice candidate who we discovered was living in Altrincham, and had been ‘fired’ a few weeks previously. Alongside her, we invited a charismatic and knowledgeable rabbi who knew his way around the topics and could share his wisdom with the youth in an accessible way. Our third guest was the chairman of Beaverbrooks, Mark Adlestone. Beaverbrooks is an award-winning British jeweller, which features consistently in the Sunday Times annual rankings of the 100 best companies to work for and was ranked first in 2021.
Asked about their attitudes to giving charity, Adlestone revealed his company has a policy of donating ten per cent of its net income to charity each year, in addition to his personal philanthropy. It was a proud moment for these aspirational young men and women to see a successful businessman talking about the importance of giving a portion of the company’s hard-earned money to causes and people who needed it more. I was particularly intrigued by the next response — that of the Apprentice candidate. She remarked that, though she did give to charity, she did not have an established giving pattern, certainly not one tied to her income, nor, as far as she was aware, did any of her friends. It was the first time she had encountered the concept of dutiful giving which, as we know, is modelled on the mitzvah of giving maaser — ten per cent of our posttax income.
At this point I realised that the Jewish attitude to charity and to giving is not universally shared. It is not just a good deed, but rather it is built into the way we look at the world. Just take a look at the Jewish community’s response to the many online charity campaigns for UK causes during the pandemic. Over £100 million has been raised just by clicking a few buttons. Or, more recently, the widespread response our community in Bushey, under the leadership of Rabbi Feldman, generated when we spearheaded a collection for the Afghan refugees relocated to local hotels. When we see a cause, we dig deep.
In a deviation from the norm, the Tur (the 13th century halachic code compiled by Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher) introduces the section of laws of tzedakah with several talmudic quotations that highlight the importance of this mitzvah (chapter 247). Tzedakah is the hallmark of a Jewish society, and we are given a divine guarantee that we will not lose out if we give. In fact, God encourages us to test Him specifically in this area. For Jews there is no greater and wiser business investment. That which we think we are losing is guaranteed to be returned to us in due course, and more besides.
The mitzvah of tzedakah encourages us to train ourselves to understand we are merely the custodians of God’s money. Though we work hard for many hours, weeks, months and years, the money we earn is ultimately determined by the One Above. We become partners with God by becoming givers.
I am often asked why God “allows” so many problems to exist in the world — disease, hunger, poverty... This question has never really troubled me. God does not “allow” these problems to exist. He just expects humanity to work together to fix them. There is enough money in circulation to combat and even eradicate these issues. With approximately 2,755 billionaires and a total net worth of over $13 trillion, according to Forbes, we could ‘easily’ rid the world of deadly diseases like malaria, polio and rabies, end global hunger, supply clean water to the 844 million people who go without, and the 2.3 billion people who lack toilets, lift billions of people out of poverty and move away from reliance on fossil fuels.
As a global society, we may still have a long way to go. However, we are all blessed in our own ways to identify appropriate causes to share our financial excess, without burdening ourselves and those around us. I bless us all that we should rise to the opportunity of partnering in this divine mission and may we all have a happy, healthy, prosperous and meaningful year ahead. Shana tova.
We become partners with God by becoming givers’