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Imitatio Dei and Jewish Business Ethics

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Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics

Abstract

Imitatio Dei (lit., imitation of God) is a behavioral ideal in Judaism to emulate God’s attributes of mercy in our interpersonal conduct. This chapter demonstrates that the legal and ethical rules Judaism prescribes for the marketplace find their philosophical basis in imitatio Dei. Illustrations of that proposition presented here are Jewish law’s approach to price fraud, monitoring employees’ personal e-mails in the workplace, and consumer product warranties.

In a society governed by Jewish law, imitatio Dei is a mandate for government as well as the individual. The government must therefore foster a moral climate that promotes imitatio Dei conduct and minimizes opportunities to engage in veiled misconduct. One application of this mandate is for the government to play a vigorous role in enforcing a ban on insider trading.

By establishing the appropriate legal and regulatory framework, the government can advance imitatio Dei initiatives more effectively than could an individual. In particular, the financial limitations Jewish law sets for fulfilling the imitatio Dei imperative will be less of a constraint for the government than the individual because the government can spread the cost of an imitatio Dei expenditure over a large number of taxpaying households. Examples of such expenditures presented here relate to whistle-blowing and performance appraisal in the workplace.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Berakhot 5a; Megillah 19b; Shemot Rabbah 47:1.

  2. 2.

    See R. Moses b. Jacob Cordovero (Ramak, Safed, ca. 1522–1570), Tomer Devorah, for a development of imitatio Dei based on Micah 7:18–20.

  3. 3.

    R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, Sifrei im Be'ur Emek ha-Netziv, Deuteronomy 10:12, piska 13 (Jerusalem: Solomon, 1961), p. 79.

  4. 4.

    R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Shiurim le-Zekher Abba Mori z”l, vol. 2 (Jerusalem, 1985), 170–71.

  5. 5.

    Leviticus 25:14; R. Joseph Caro (Safed, 1488–1575), Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 227:1–6.

  6. 6.

    Bava Metzia 61a.

  7. 7.

    Cf. Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 232:10.

  8. 8.

    Nahmanides to Leviticus 25:14.

  9. 9.

    See Tosafot to Rosh ha-Shanah 17b; R. Abraham b. Meir ibn Ezra (Spain, 1089–1164), Ibn Ezra to Exodus 34:6.

  10. 10.

    R. Israel Jacob b. Samuel Hagiz, She’elot u-Teshuvot Halakhot Ketanot 1:276.

  11. 11.

    R. Meir Judah Leibush b. Jehiel Michel Weiser (Malbim, Russia, 1809–1879), quoted in R. Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Iturei Torah, vol. 3 (Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1970), 181, s.v. “ve-khi yiftah ish bor” (Exodus 21:33).

  12. 12.

    Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Matanot Aniyyim 10:7.

  13. 13.

    Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Gezeilah va-Aveidah 1:4.

  14. 14.

    Rav Yosef, Bava Metzia 110b.

  15. 15.

    U.C.C. § 2–314(2)(a), (c).

  16. 16.

    See Shaffer v. Victoria Station, Inc., 588 P.2d 233, 234–35 (Wash. 1978).

  17. 17.

    U.C.C. § 2–315.

  18. 18.

    Rashi to Exodus 34:6.

  19. 19.

    Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Teshuvah 5:1–5.

  20. 20.

    Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Teshuvah 8:7–8.

  21. 21.

    Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Teshuvah 9:1. The exception to this rule is that the person who is called “God’s enemy” is given a reward for his good deeds in this world. See Deuteronomy 7:10, and Rashi, ad loc.

  22. 22.

    Yoma 75a.

  23. 23.

    Mekhilta to Exodus 15:2.

  24. 24.

    Shemot Rabbah 21:7; R. Samuel Jaffe b. Isaac Ashkenazi (Constantinople, 16th cent.), Yefeh To’ar, ad loc.

  25. 25.

    Yoma 38b.

  26. 26.

    Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah 5:2.

  27. 27.

    Sanhendrin 107a.

  28. 28.

    Berakhot 60b.

  29. 29.

    R. Menahem b. Solomon Meiri, Beit ha-Behirah, Sanhedrin 43b.

  30. 30.

    Rashi to Bava Metzia 75b.

  31. 31.

    R. Joel Sirkes, Bah to R. Jacob b. Asher (Tur, Germany, ca. 1270–1343), Tur, Hoshen Mishpat 70, n. 1; R. Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen Falk, Perishah to Tur, Hoshen Mishpat 70, n. 1.

  32. 32.

    R. Abraham b. Moses de Boton, Lehem Mishneh to Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Malveh ve-Loveh 2:7; R. Jacob Moses Lorberbaum, Netivot ha-Mishpat 70, n. 1.

  33. 33.

    Lehem Mishneh to Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Malveh ve-Loveh 2:7.

  34. 34.

    Rashi to Leviticus 19:14.

  35. 35.

    Leviticus 19:32; Kiddushin 32b.

  36. 36.

    Kiddushin 32b–33a.

  37. 37.

    R. Isaac b. Jacob Alfasi ha-Kohen (Rif, Algeria, 1013–1103), Bava Metzia 34b; Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Sekhirut 1:6; R. Asher b. Jehiel (Rosh, Germany, 1250–1327), Bava Metzia 3:5; Tur, Hoshen Mishpat 307; Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 307:5; R. Jehiel Michel Epstein (Belarus, 1829–1908), Arukh ha-Shulhan, Hoshen Mishpat 307:5.

  38. 38.

    15 U.S.C. § 78u–1(a) (2006).

  39. 39.

    15 U.S.C. § 78u–1(e) (2006) (repealed 2010).

  40. 40.

    Pub. L. No. 111-203, § 922, 124 Stat. 1376, 1841–49 (2010) (to be codified at 15 U.S.C. § 78u–6).

  41. 41.

    R. Moses Isserles, Rema to Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 656:1.

  42. 42.

    R. Moses Sofer, Teshuvot Hatam Sofer, Hoshen Mishpat 177; Hatam Sofer to Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 656:1.

  43. 43.

    Leviticus 25:35; Deuteronomy 15:7–8, 10.

  44. 44.

    Palestinian Talmud, Pe’ah 2a; R. Obadiah b. Abraham of Bertinoro (Italy, ca. 1456–ca. 1516), Bartenura to Mishnah, Pe’ah 1:1; R. Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg (Israel, contemp.), “Be-Hiyyuvei Gemilut Hesed,” in Yad Re’em: Kovetz le-Zekher Eliezer Meir Lipschitz Hy”d (Jerusalem: Daf-Hein, 1975): 97–111.

  45. 45.

    R. Judah in the name of Rav, Bava Metzia 33a; R. Joseph Hayyim b. Elijah al-Hakam (Baghdad, ca. 1834–1909), Ben Yehoyada, Bava Metzia 33a.

  46. 46.

    See Internal Revenue Service, Publication No. 1304, Individual Income Tax Returns 2009, p. 33, Tbl. 1.1, col. (6).

  47. 47.

    Mishnah, Bava Metzia 4:10.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA

    Prof. Aaron Levine (Samson and Halina Bitensky Professor of Economics)

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Peter Löscher-Stiftungslehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsethik, Technische Universität München, München, Germany

    Christoph Luetge

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Levine, A. (2013). Imitatio Dei and Jewish Business Ethics. In: Luetge, C. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_51

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