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Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review August 18, 2008 / 17 Menachem-Av 5768

Business with Friends

By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Q: A friend suggested I join him in a business deal. When I suggested a contract, he explained that we're good friends and a hand-shake is enough. Should I be suspicious?


A: You don't have to be suspicious of your friend, but you should certainly be prudent.


It's true that our sages tell us, "Always consider others as bandits, yet respect the, as Rabban Gamliel did." A stranger once sought hospitality at the house of the leading sage Rabban Gamliel; Rabban Gamliel took him in and treated him with honor, but also took away the ladder to the guest's attic room to prevent him from burgling the house. But as the passage goes on to explain, this applies mainly to a stranger. (1) Regarding a friend, it is more appropriate to judge him favorably, as we learn from the verse, "Judge your fellow with righteousness." (Leviticus 19:15.) While the plain meaning is an admonition to the judge to adjudicate righteously, our sages also learned from this verse that we should judge others favorably. (2)


However, our everyday enemies of carelessness, forgetfulness, and misunderstanding are enemies at least as great as deliberate fraud, and perhaps greater. In a few months, you will remember that he intended one investment, and he will remember another. You will recall that you were to get fifty percent, but he will be sure he promised you only forty. If you take your case to court, or even if you decide to make it non-adversarial and go to an arbitrator or mediator, the person will have nothing to go on.


The insight that even honest people are in need of carefully documented agreements is emphasized in the following Talmudic passage:


Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Anyone who has spare money and lends it without witnesses, transgresses the prohibition "Don't put a stumbling block before the blind". Reish Lakish said, he brings misfortune on himself, as it is written (Psalms 31:18?) "Silence befall lips that speak untruth, who speak against the righteous". The rabbis said to Rav Ashi, "[The sage] Ravina fulfills all the rabbis commanded. [Rav Ashi] sent him a message just before Sabbath came in, "Send me ten zuz [a sum of money], for I just found an opportunity to buy a piece of land. [Ravina] sent back, bring witnesses and write a deed. He sent to him, even me?! He sent back, you above all, for one who is absorbed in study comes to forget and brings misfortune on himself.


Rashi explains that the "stumbling block before the blind" is that the borrower may be tempted to deny the loan; "misfortune on himself" is that people will suspect him, the lender, of making a false claim when he tries to recover the loan in court. (3)


Ravina certainly did not suspect Rav Ashi of trying to cheat him. Even so, he points out that even the most righteous people can sometimes be absent minded, and insisted that even among the most trustworthy friends, all agreements should be clearly elaborated and carefully documented.

SOURCES: (1) Kallah Rababi 7:1 (2) Babylonian Talmud, Shevuos 30a (3) Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 75b

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JWR contributor Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, formerly of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan administration, is Research Director of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem, Jerusalem College of Technology. To comment or pose a question, please click here.

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