Staying Positive In Hard Times

One of the hardest things as we observe people losing their jobs, watch as the markets wipe out years of retirement savings, and see our vital institutions hamstrung by falling membership and contributions - is to see the positive despite the negatives.
How do I keep my spirits buoyed? First, it is observing all the willingness of people to help those in real need. There has been so much generosity in my Jewish community and in the larger community from those who care ... to those in trouble. I have not lost my faith that God acts through the hands and checkbooks of good people. Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, especially in hard times, is primarily achieved through regular people doing the right thing, kindness and justice - personally, communally and politically.
When I see what's happening in the larger community and certainly in the Jewish professionally community, with the terrifying loss of parnassah (income sustenance) - it's good to realize that personally it's not so bad. In fact, it really is good. I have my health (as it is). I have a wonderful job. All the members of my family are doing as well as they have in a pretty good while. In the scheme of things that really count - I'm lucky and feel a true sense of gratitude for all the blessings that I enjoy. That appreciation energizes me to help those who don't have all the things that fortunately I do.
If anything of what I've just said makes sense, then for me the last step is to be proactive, to take responsibility for what's happening, and choose as an act of will not to be despondent. To pararphrase the "Serenity Prayer," I may not have control over what happens to me, but I do have control over my response to my circumstance. I can wallow in self-pity and anxiety or I can find help and work with others to make things a little better. I can respond to the pain of others with help and hope. As a Jew I am eternally optimistic - that with God's help, which is experienced when we help - things will be OK. In the end I really do have bitachon, confidence in God's love and power. I know that everything is not always going to be OK, but ultimately I have sublime faith in God's goodness for me, my family, my community, and our world.

Usury and The Financial Crisis

While Judaism encourages hard work and wants people to be wealthy - Judaism places limits on the dangers of exorbitant wealth. The law in Bible mandated for landowners and tenants to tithe, to leaves dropping, corners and the forgotten produce, and to give second tithe to the poor directly twice every seven years. In Rabbinic and Medieval periods, a communal chest was almost universally established in communities with standards of contribution and distribution to protect the well-being of the poor. Additionally, subsistence loans according the Torah were prohibited from charging interest. Later Hillel's prosbul permitted the "legal fiction" of paying back commercial loans to the court, so the loaner could be repaid. It is still a practice in the Orthodox world than rather than give a loan to a fellow Jew, that a partnership with shared risk and reward is executed.
We've all been tightening our belts and prioritizing our finances. As we slowly, I pray, begin to recover from our economic crisis - it's crucial to pause and reflect upon the factors which lead to this painful reality for so many: not just lost of wealth and retirement investments, but loss of job and home and the ability of many to provide for their loves ones. There's nothing wrong with wanting more and working to get it. Greed though is excessive striving for acquisition of personal wealth. There's something perverse about our culture that idolizes athletes, entertainers and leaders of the business community to earn tens of millions annually, while those who educate our children and protect our communities in many towns can't afford to live in the community they work. The anticipated changes to our regulatory mechanism will hopefully do much more to prevent illegal financial dealings.
I've been upset also reading about the 'Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights' Legislation moving through the House to the Senate this week. It does some necessary and wonderful changes to protect card holders from exorbitant fees. Yet Judaism, Christianity and Islam all forbid usury. I remember when credit card rates were capped by States. Those requirements were undone by Federal legislation 25 years ago. I don't know what rate is usury - but when people are being charged 25% and 30% on their credit card balances - this is not about return on a loan - it's an immoral burden - pauperizing the least able and enriching a few. I haven't heard much about this issue in the public forum.
What should we do? Minimally we should shop around for credit cards that charge reasonable non-usurious rates and switch our balances if we can to them. Second, we need to put this issue in the public square - contacting our elected officials and reminding them that usury is wrong. This crisis is an opportunity for constructive and ethical changes - I pray that this will be one focus where change for the common good will occur.