Part of the CCAR Press Challenge and Change series, this anthology creates a rich and varied discussion about the ethics of money. Our use of and relationship with money must reflect our religious values--this book aims to start a comprehensive conversation about how Judaism can guide us in this multi-faceted relationship.
Acknowledgments Foreword, Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson Introduction Small Change
Part One · Wealth: Wisdom from Our Texts 1. Wealth: Essential Teachings of Our Tradition Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, PhD 2. Blessing and Challenge: A Further Look at the Sources Alyssa M. Gray, JD, PhD 3. How Much Is Enough? Rabbi Amy Scheinerman 4. Does Wealth Automatically Coarsen the Soul? Rabbi Neal Gold 5. The Economic Theology of the Ten Commandments Rabbi Max Chaiken Ethics in Focus: When Donors Behave Badly—Guiding Principles for Jewish Institutions Rabbi A. Brian Stoller Talking about Money: Financial Lessons from My Parents Elana Altzman, MD
Part Two · The Power of Money: Tzedakah and Tzedek 6. Economic Justice Is the Foundation of All Justice Rabbi Seth M. Limmer, DHL 7. Tzedakah: How We Choose Where We Give Rabbi Ruth Adar 8. Socially Responsible Investing Michael A. Kimmel and Rabbi Howard Shapiro 9. Guns: Leveraging the Power of Money for Justice Rabbi Joel M. Mosbacher 10. Structures of Jewish Giving: A Virtual Tzedakah Tour Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz 11. The Changing Face of Jewish Philanthropy Andrés Spokoiny 12. My Jewish Federation: Legacy and Change Dov Ben-Shimon Ethics in Focus: Giving Money to Panhandlers Rabbi Nicole Auerbach Talking about Money: In Praise of Beautiful, Bold Tzedakah Boxes Rabbi Zoë Klein Miles
Part Three · Israel 13. Tzedakah and Aliyah: How American Jews Helped Build Israel Rabbi Daniel R. Allen, z”l 14. Financing Zion: Looking Back to Shape Today Rabbi Joshua Weinberg 15. IRAC Builds Democracy through the Power of Money Rabbi Noa Sattath 16. Full Faith and Credit: Jewish Views on Debt and Bankruptcy Rabbi Edward Elkin Ethics in Focus: When You Hire a Rabbi in Israel Rabbi Ayala Ronen Samuels, PhD Talking about Money: Etrog Envy Rabbi Mary L. Zamore
Part Four · We Are All Employers 17. Employment, Partnership and Mutual Respect Rabbi Jill Jacobs 18. The Family as Employer Rabbi Mary L. Zamore 19. What Is Possible: Striving for Gender Pay Equity for Congregational Employees Rabbi Esther L. Lederman and Amy Asin 20. Bread and Roses: Jewish Women Transform the American Labor Movement Judith Rosenbaum, PhD 21. Jewish Values in the Marketplace Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, JD, CPA 22. Dreaming a New American Economy Rabbi Andy Kahn Ethics in Focus: Responsum on Equal Pay Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, PhD, on Behalf of the CCAR Responsa Committee Talking about Money: Mutual Benefits Rabbi Amy Schwartzman and Kevin Moss
Part Five · Religious Life and Money 23. The Value of Membership Rabbi Leah Lewis 24. The Cost of Dying Jewishly Stephanie Garry with Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg 25. Mazal Tov to Life-Cycle Parties Rabbi Douglas B. Sagal, DD 26. Money and Transaction in Jewish Liturgy and Rituals Rabbi Robert Scheinberg 27. Dividends of Meaning: Jewish Rituals for the Financial Life Cycle Rabbi Jennifer Gubitz 28. Gelt Rabbi Deborah Prinz Ethics in Focus: Copyright as a Jewish Ethical Issue Rabbi Hara E. Person and Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD Talking about Money: Be Fruitful and Multiply, and Go into Debt? Rabbi Idit Solomon
Part Six · Uncomfortable Conversations 29. Moneylending and Jews: Falsehoods, Stereotypes, and Shame Joshua Holo, PhD 30. Monetizing T’shuvah: Reparations and Returning Valuables Patty Gerstenblith and Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon 31. Embracing Dave Ramsey: A Financial Literacy Model for the Jewish Community Rabbi Amy B. Cohen and Rabbi Alan Freedman 32. Using Jewish Values to Teach Your Children about Money Deborah Niederman, RJE 33. Marriage, Money, and Musar Rabbi Barry H. Block 34. Saying Goodbye: Honoring Your Congregation’s Legacy Rabbi David Burstein Fine with Beth Burstein Fine, MSW Ethics in Focus: Ethical Estate Planning Rabbi Richard F. Address, DMin Talking about Money: A Time to Give, a Time to Refrain from Giving Marcie Zelikow
Editor and Contributors
Rabbi Mary L. Zamore is the editor of and a contributing author to two acclaimed CCAR Press Challenge and Change anthologies, The Sacred Exchange: Creating A Jewish Money Ethic (2019) and The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic (2011). The Sacred Table was designated a finalist by the National Jewish Book Awards. Rabbi Zamore served as consulting editor for Sharing the Journey: The Haggadah for the Contemporary Family (CCAR Press, 2012) and contributed toLights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions (CCAR Press, 2014), and The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate (CCAR Press, 2016), winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies. Rabbi Zamore was ordained by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1997 and serves as the Executive Director of the Women's Rabbinic Network, an affiliate of the CCAR. She is the co-leader of the Reform Pay Equity Initiative. Having visited numerous communities, Rabbi Zamore is available for lectures and scholar-in-residence programs. She will work with your community to customize any program. Her presentations explore topics like, but are not limited to: Tithing, Tzedaka and Other Ways of Creating a Just WorldJudaism's View of Wealth: Good or Bad?The Moral and Spiritual Challenge of WealthWe should and Can Talk about Money Three MoneyTexts Every Jew Should Know Your Sacred Table: Jewish Food EthicsCoveting vs. ContentmentLearn to Build a Mishkan, not a Golden Calf The Power of the Fork: Eating with EthicsLiberal Jews & Kashrut: Really!?Creating Communal Food PoliciesThe Bitter Side of Chocolate and Other Fair Trade IssuesWhat Chameitz, Matzah, & Manna Can Teach Us for TodayKosher Wine and Its Challenges – The Spirituality of FastingQueen Esther and Her Quest for Empowerment through Food Rabbi Zamore's presentations can include sermons, in-depth text study, wine or food tastings, as well as adult, religious school, or family programs. She can also help communities design yearlong study programs, multi-session classes, or multifaceted single events, modeled around the themes of The Sacred Table or The Sacred Exchange.
Our Jewish tradition asserts of Torah, "Turn it over and over again, for all is in it." In The Sacred Exchange: Creating a Jewish Money Ethic, Rabbi Mary Zamore and the authors she has gathered together demonstrate the truth of this adage. In sensitive, informative, practical, textured, and comprehensive ways, this book reveals what Judaism has to say about money. This volume provides knowledge and guidance on how money touches the deepest chords of who we are as individuals and as a community. This is a needed book on an intimate topic and we are all indebted to Rabbi Zamore and her collaborators for this volume! -- Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD, Chancellor Emeritus, Hebrew Union-College--Jewish Institute of Religion
An extraordinary collection of articles on every aspect of the too-often unmentionable subject of money, from interpretations of our sacred texts on wealth and poverty to questions of what we pay our synagogue employees and our household help. From a Jewish perspective, economic justice is at the foundation of all justice legally, morally and theologically. So as Jews we must concern ourselves with such issues as poverty, wages, structural inequality, tzedakah and the cost of simchas. This fantastic and honest book includes thoughtful analyses and prescriptions for action from wise Jewish leaders who lay out what more we could and should be doing in the pursuit of economic justice. -- Ruth Messinger, Global Ambassador, American Jewish World Service
This powerful and illuminating exploration breaks the "code of silence" which insidiously pervades the domain of the spiritual. The Sacred Exchange brilliantly and gratefully mandates the intersection of financial astuteness and Jewish ethics. -- Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein, Director of Jewish Community and Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, 92nd Street Y
The book has an important role to play in the future of fundraising in the Jewish world. It should be discussed by all fundraising professionals and lay committees, whether a standing committee or an ad hoc group created to raise funds for a particular project or program. The entire text or the chapters on Jewish text should be used to prepare people to solicit prospective donors; this material can help those doing the ask to understand the nature of cultivating Jewish donors who should be giving Jewishly. ... We need to go further and build a Jewish approach to solicitation that has strong roots in Jewish text, religion, and philosophy. Rabbi Zamore has provided us the tools to engage people in this educational process that will create a cadre of involved, educated, and committed professional and volunteer leaders who will not only raise needed resources but will also "raise" needed leaders to continue this holy work in the future. -- Stephen G. Donshik, eJewish Philanthropy