Hazel was enjoying her night out with her girlfriends. “I have the most marvelous recipe for meat loaf,” she said with a small smile. “Oooh, tell us,” her friends asked.
“Well, all I have to do is mention it to my husband, and he says, ‘Let’s eat out.’”
So who runs the kitchen, husband or wife? There’s no debate there. But let me ask you, who runs the world?
In this week’s Torah portion, Yitro (Jethro), father-in-law of Moses, comes from Midian to join the Jewish people. One of the very first things he says is, Atah Yadati—“Now, I know” that God is greater than all the other deities in the whole wide world.
You see, before embracing the Jewish way of life, Yitro was a high priest of Midian. You might call him a professor of comparative religion; he had studied every religion in the world at that time. He had tasted all the rest, and now with Judaism, he tasted the best. And he saw the miracles of the Exodus—the splitting of the sea and the miraculous victory over Amalek, and thus declared for all to hear: Atah Yadati, “Now, I Know that Hashem, and Hashem alone, is the Master of the Universe.”
I think that today, if we look around the world at different nations, philosophies and religions, we can also see with our own eyes what’s right and what’s wrong. Like Yitro, we can utter Atah Yadati, “Now, I know.” I know who’s who and what’s what in the management and leadership of the world.
Look around at the world’s biggest religions. Some years ago, I was invited to deliver a lecture at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. I used the opportunity to tell them that my late father was the sole survivor of his family from Poland during the Holocaust.
And where exactly was the Catholic Church during World War II? A handful of righteous leaders took the initiative to do something. But for the most part, the Vatican was deathly silent. Today, we hear whispers of an apology. And today, there is some type of acknowledgment of the existence of the State of Israel. But then? Nothing.
As for Islam, the Arabs have 21 independent states in the Middle East, approximately 6 million square miles of land. And little Israel? Israel has a grand total of 8,000 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey.
Did we hear words of condemnation when our people were massacred and kidnapped on Oct. 7? Never mind the jihadists. Where were all the so-called “moderate Muslims?”
I’m afraid the great religions of the world have been found seriously wanting, if not morally bankrupt.
And the nations of the world? Do you think Hitler did it alone?! Daniel Goldhagen, in his book Hitler’s Willing Executioners, argues that the masses of “ordinary” Germans were not so innocent either. And, of course, we know about the enthusiastic assistance that the Nazis received from the Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians—Eastern Europeans who were only too happy to help kill Jews and loot their property.
What about the great economic systems of the world? Well, communism has proven bankrupt. As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
But the truth is that capitalism, too, has failed the world. Communism tried in theory to level the playing field. But it turned out to be a disaster and nothing less than evil.
While capitalism may work on an economic level, it gives us no reason to toil other than to make money. Capitalism has no value system. It has no conscience. It may be a more successful economic system, but it fails as a way of life.
Just the other day, the global charity Oxfam reported that the wealth of billionaires has risen sharply to a record high of $18.3 trillion, with the super-rich now seeking power “for their own gain.”
The charity has been releasing inequality reports to coincide with the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, every year since 2014.
“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is ... creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s executive director.
So much of the world is struggling to survive, and the privileged few are raking in trillions.
Perhaps you may remember a Mel Brooks film, “Silent Movie.” There’s a scene in a business boardroom where the directors are plotting how to destroy their competitors. Suddenly, their teeth turn into fangs, and their hands turn into claws. And they’re frothing at the mouth.
Then the camera pans to the plaque on the Board Room door, which has the name of their company. And the name is? “Engulf & Devour Pty Ltd!” Left unchecked, I’m afraid, that pretty much sums up capitalism.
Torah has a system of free enterprise, but it is capitalism with a conscience. Tzedakah at 10% is mandatory. Leaving the corners of the field for the poor is mandatory. Charging interest and becoming a loan shark are prohibited. Paying your workers on time is a biblical commandment. The list goes on.
So, if we look around at the world today and consider the options of a way of life to choose for ourselves and our families, we aren’t left with many choices. Religions, governments and economic systems; they’re all bankrupt and failing the world.
We, like Yitro, should be saying. Atah Yadati. “Now, I know.” I know that God is greater than all others, and that a Torah way of life is greater than all the other global systems and all the different philosophies of life.
Please God, we will live our lives as He would like us to, and may we be blessed for it.
