BUSINESS
Good Business Ethics Lead
To Prosperity And Heaven
AARON HALABE
Special to The Jewish News
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46
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
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T
he road to heaven may
be paved with gold,
but you may never get
there unless you conduct your
business affairs honestly and
ethically, says University of
Maryland law professor Rab-
bi Yitzchak Breitowitz.
Breitowitz, in a lecture last
week on Jewish business
ethics said that according to
the Gemorah, the first ques-
tion God asks new arrivals in
heaven is: "Did you conduct
your business affairs with
honesty and propriety?" Only
then, Breitowitz said, does
God ask if you spent enough
time in Torah study.
Jewish law imposes specific
and often complicated
business ethics rules. The
Torah, Halachic law, the
Gemorah and Rashi commen-
taries all suggest how
business people must deal
with customers, competitors,
employees, co-workers and
the government or legal
system.
Breitowitz says that
business people are guilty of
two sins — theft and lashon
hara — the making of deroga-
tory statements. Jewish law
broadly defines theft as acts
of fraud, misrepresentation,
embezzlement, common steal-
ing and other crimes.
"These sins are those that
many of us are guilty of every
day. We're told that the
generation of the flood were
corrupt in many respects;
they worshipped idols and the
like. But God brought the
flood only because they stole
from each other — they were
dishonest in their business
dealings:'
On Yom Kippur, Breitowitz
says, "we recite a long litany
of sins," but the final prayer
of the holiday cites only the
sin of theft. "We ask God to
keep us away from taking
that which is not ours. The
Jew who steals in business is
as bad as the Jew who doesn't
put on teffilin."
Generally, Jewish law views
competition as not inherent-
ly theft "as long as everybody
has the same opportunities."
The sin of theft, he says,
often conflicts with the
realities of business practices
in the competitive market-
place. If a large chain super-
market buys in bulk, and
because of economies of scale
can sell its merchandise at
less than market price, no sin
Rabbi Yitzchak Brietowitz
committed,
being
is
Breitowitz says.
Yet Jewish law is violated if
such pricing policies are used
to attract customers away
from smaller, independent
markets with the intent of
driving those stores out of
business, he said.
"If I am engaged in corn-
petition that you are able to
meet, I am committed to do
so," Brietowitz says. "But if I
am engaged in competition
that you cannot meet at all,
this is often referred to as cut-
ting into somebody's boun-
dary or livelihood, and under
those circumstances the
business practice should be
discontinued.
The halachic laws regar-
ding unfair competition app-
ly to all businesses except
Yeshiva schools. If a newly
opened yeshiva attracts the
best teachers and students
away from an exsiting
yeshiva, forcing it to close, the
new school cannot be pro-
hibited from operating.
"There's a concept that a
rivalry among students of
Torah will increase wisdom
. . . the teaching of Torah can
never be enjoined or curtail-
ed, even if the result is some
kind of economic depriva-
tion."
Jewish laws governing the
protection of individuals are
more specific. Halachic law
dictates that a seller must
disclose known product
defects, except those that can
be discovered during the nor-
mal course of a product in-
spection. Failure to do so en-
titles a customer to rescind a
transaction.
"The prohibitions against
misrepresentations and the
affirmative duty of disclosure
apply not only to Jewish
customers, but specifically to
non-Jewish customers as
well," he said.
Other laws prohibit mer-
chants from making claims to
encourage the sale of items a
customer does not need.
Breitowitz says many adver-
tisements violate these laws
because they are "creating
within us artificial desires for
things we really don't want or
need."
He cited the glamorous
advertising appeals used to
sell cigarettes. "Jewish law
states that we should not
place a stumbling block in
front of a blind person."
The use of disparaging pro-
duct comparisons in advertis-
ing violates the laws of lashon
hara, said Breitowitz. Lashon
hara prohibits a person from
making derogatory state-
ments about a competitor or
a competitor's product.
Jewish law forgives the sin
of lashon hara only when it is
committed to protect a person
from physical, mental, emo-
tional or even financial harm.
When Coca-Cola makes dis-
paraging remarks about Pep-
si, Breitowitz said, the sin of
lashon hara is committed
because they are not protec-
ting consumers from an in-
jury. They are simply making
"aesthetic" comparisons.
"But if Chrysler says that
they have the only cars with
airbags, that is a perfectly
legitimate instance where it
is not lashon hara. Because
they're advertising a feature
that is helpful to the physical
survival of another human
being."
As an employer, a business
person is advised by biblical
laws to be respectful to
employees nd co-worker.
Berating or disciplining
employees and co-workers
their peers is to be avoided,
Breitowitz said. "The Torah
recognizes that taking away a
person's dignity can be worse
than taking away a person's
life."
In relationships between in-
dividuals, some general rules
of business ethics apply. A
Jew is prohibited from charg-
ing interest to or accepting in-
terest from another Jew. But
it is allowable to collect in-
terest on a bank savings ac-
count if the bank is owned by
a non-Jew.
Observant Jews are bound
by secular and Judaic laws. It
is expected that observant
Jews adjudicate business
disputes in a Bais Din — a
tribunal of three rabbis. The