[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tta_accordion][vc_tta_section title=”Make Money Not War” tab_id=”1624958400101-912d6d41-0b37″][vc_column_text]Rabbi Shimon Silman
There are still wars being fought in the world, until the swords into plowshares (SIP) prophecy is completely fulfilled. But as we have pointed out in earlier articles, ideally countries fight only “just” wars–for self-defense or to uproot evil from the world, such as antiterrorist or police activity.
In the old days, military money would be spent on producing weapons and supplying them to a nation’s armed forces to make the war more destructive. However, military leaders now realize that money can be put to more effective uses than buying weapons. What we are now observing is the transformation of this military money into peaceful uses—within war itself!
The US Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual states that money can be used in place of ammunition, a statement that has been repeated by former US Military General David Petraeus who said, “Depending on the situation, money can be more important than ammunition.”
They are talking about using money as a “non-kinetic force” that can win the hearts and minds of the local population by stimulating the economy through infrastructure development, job creation, and business stimulation. This is a new approach to fighting the War on Terror—substituting economic aid for military action right in the middle of the war! This brings about a partial cancellation of the war by placating the local population, as opposed to fighting the war militarily in opposition to the local population.
Counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine, for example, sets out protocol for direct military spending across a wide array of development-style projects, including school-building, infrastructure development (roads, electricity, pipelines, etc.), and agricultural support.
While money is being used to target civilian life with investment, the other side of the coin is that it’s being used as an instrument of security and protection for the invading troops, saving lives. Indeed, money is described as a “force multiplier” that can reduce the number of deaths of the international forces in the War on Terror. A correlation was first observed with the monies that US troops distributed to the Iraqi people in the Persian Gulf War in the months after the invasion. These were the confiscated monies and assets from the government of Saddam Hussein, e.g. the bundles of money found hidden in the homes of officials that were “returned” to the population with the aim of providing emergency relief and reconstruction. Evidence at the time indicated that as these monies ran out, the deaths of soldiers rose steeply: in November 2003—when cash payments from Hussein’s funds stopped being made—the number of dead US soldiers rose to 81 (compared to 31 in September 2003, and 42 in October 2003).
In the past war was used as a means for territorial expansion and economic gain. Now economic gain is used as a replacement for weapons, as a means to reduce warfare—what the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita described as phasing out the state of warfare.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”An Economy of Dignity” tab_id=”1624958400107-e2a5b0c1-06e1″][vc_column_text]Written June 2020
In the wake of a global economic meltdown caused by the pandemic, we are still groping our way towards understanding what the recovery will look like. Is it possible that many of the lost jobs are never coming back? How will the millions left jobless and displaced provide for themselves and their families? What role should the government play in getting them back on their feet, if any?
The pandemic also throws in sharp relief the life-giving importance of many workers we never paid much attention to. The supermarket stockers. Agricultural workers. Home health aides. These are some of the lowest paid employees doing what, until now, had been considered lowly, menial labor. Now we realize that these workers are essential, performing vital services that not only keep our economy humming but protect our very lives. Yet has the pandemic caused us to rethink the way these workers are treated, and paid? We call them “heroes,” but they are still paid less than $15 an hour, often with no sick leave or healthcare benefits.
Economist Gene Sperling, in a recently released book entitled “Economic Dignity,” muses that too often, our economic debate focused on the wrong metrics: We measure economic success by looking at GDP rather than whether the economy is succeeding in lifting up the sense of meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and security of people. He recommends sweeping policy changes that provide paid sick leave, maternal and paternal leave and bereavement leave. We need to place workers’ abilities to care for their families and participate in life-cycle events above economic productivity. What’s the point of an economy bubbling along if millions of people are shut out of every activity that makes life meaningful?
Sperling proposes not only an increase in the minimum wage and expansion of benefits for workers, but also more government subsidies for jobs that he calls “double-dignity”–jobs that provide a stable career path in fields that directly help other people. Even when many jobs are rendered obsolete by mechanization, we will still need people to care for our sick and needy and to teach and nurture our children (particularly those with special needs). If we have a huge unemployed workforce, they can be retrained to provide support to people currently struggling with disability or mental illness.
Sperling’s thoughts on economic dignity call to mind the words of our prophets regarding the Messianic era, when each of us will dwell “one under his vine and one under his fig tree.” We will experience an outpouring of Divine blessing allowing us to live a life of leisure, and, in the words of Maimonides, “The sole occupation of the world will be to know G-d.” An economy built on dignity, on supporting one another with love and compassion, is a step towards that goal, as the prophet Isaiah (1:27) says, “Zion will be redeemed with justice and its captives with charity.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Monoculture” tab_id=”1624958572180-521177c2-a07a”][vc_column_text]In modern agricultural terms, monoculture is the emphasis on growing a single crop on the majority or whole of the land. This method of farming benefits farmers as it allows reduced costs, but when a single variety of species is grown it can also put the farm at risk of widespread crop failure.
In ancient times, it was common for farmers to plant many different crops on their land, wheat in one corner, barley in another, with fruit trees or vegetables interspersed between them. Nowadays most farming takes place on vast commercial farms, and it’s considered more economical to cultivate only one type of crop across thousands of acres.
The drawback is that when only one crop is grown on the land, the soil quickly becomes depleted of nutrients, which need to be artificially replenished. Also, a blight or disease that strikes a single species can cause widespread crop failure..An example of the devastation monocultural farming can cause is the corn blight of 1970 which ruined more than 15 percent of corn crops in North America. Growing a variety of plants on the same land allows for a richer soil as well as a larger range of insects, which ensures that one pest doesn’t damage too many crops.
On Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, we acknowledge the benefits of multiculture with the ritual of the four species. We bind together a palm frond, a myrtle and willow branch, and shake them together with a citron fruit. These four types are highly symbolic and represent four types of Jews. The palm, which produces fruit but has no fragrance, represents Jews who do good deeds but don’t study Torah. The myrtle branch, which is fragrant but has no fruit, represents those who study Torah but don’t do good deeds. The willow branch, which has neither taste nor smell, represents Jews who do neither. And the esrog, which has a delicious flavor and fragrance, represents Jews who do both.
G-d didn’t create the world with one type of person, just as he didn’t create the world with only one type of animal or vegetable. He created the world with many different types, and our goal is to unify them all into one harmonious coexistence.
During Sukkot we eat all our meals inside the sukkah, a temporary structure that evokes the clouds of glory that protected us in the desert. While the sukkah has a minimum size, there is no outer limit on how large a sukkah can be. Our sages say, “All of Israel can sit together in one sukkah.” Thus, the sukkah itself has become a symbol of Jewish unity.
During Grace After Meals on Sukkot, we add this prayer: “May G-d rebuild the fallen sukkah of Zion.” This refers to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed due to senseless hatred. Through our unity and selfless love, we will undo the conditions that led to exile and usher in the final Redemption.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”The Roots of Inequality” tab_id=”1624958600705-0314ba1f-cd48″][vc_column_text]We live in a time of rising inequality, where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Each year, the top 1% in the United States controls an ever-growing share of the overall economic output of this country. Many political scientists believe that inequality is at the root of all social unrest and conflict.
One shocking statistic is that during the pandemic, when many American workers lost their jobs and struggled to pay rent and put food on the table, net worth of billionaires jumped by $914 billion. The pandemic forced many of us to shift our shopping and personal interactions to virtual, and most of these billionaires have their wealth tied up in tech companies. So, while we grew poorer, they grew richer.
Over the course of history, there have been a number of theories proposed to redistribute wealth in more equitable ways. This article is not going to focus on economic or political theory, which are well outside its scope. But from a Jewish perspective, why does inequality exist? Why did G-d create the world so that there are rich and poor, with the poor dependent on the rich for survival? Why doesn’t G-d support the poor Himself?
This question was posed by the Roman emperor Turnus Rufus to Rabbi Akiva. He argued that if a king banishes his servant to a dungeon without food or water, anyone who feeds the servant is rebelling against the king. Rabbi Akiva answered that if the king banishes his own son to the dungeon, surely he would want his servants to take pity on him and bring him food.
G-d created the world with inequality precisely because He wanted charity and kindness to exist. Some people have a lack in order that other people can fill it. Neither are we stuck in the dependent position forever. We are all needy in some areas and advantaged in others. The children of today will one day be parents; the students of today will one day be the teachers. Sometimes your role is to be a follower, sometimes to be a leader. Nobody is a lifelong taker and nobody is a lifelong giver. Rather, we are all interdependent, with each of us having something that we can give and share with others.
Originally, when G-d created the world, the sun and moon were both equal in size and strength. The moon complained, “Two kings cannot wear the same crown,” so G-d told the moon to diminish itself. Afterwards G-d said, “Bring an offering for me to atone for making the moon small.” In other words, He introduced inequality to the world by diminishing the moon, but also asked us to atone for Him, because inequality is not the ideal state of existence. Indeed, in the time of Moshiach inequality will be abolished and the moon will shine like the sun.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row]