The Challenge of Great Wealth

Lech Lecha

Gen. 12:1 -17:27

 

Précis: This parasha, “get you up” or “go yourself” (lech lecha) begins with “the call” of Abram to leave his home and depart for a new land. At God’s command, Abram and Sarai journey to Canaan. When famine strikes, they travel to Egypt, where Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s harem after Abram calls her his “sister,” but she escapes without harm. To avoid family squabbles, Abram separates himself from his nephew Lot (who moves to Sodom). Because Sarai is barren, she offers Abram her servant (Hagar), and Hagar gives birth to a son, Ishmael. Abram is then promised a son through Sarai, to be his true heir. Abram’s name is changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah, in recognition of the new Covenant with God, which is then symbolized by Abraham’s circumcision.

 

Gen. 13:1-2 “From Egypt, Abram went up into the Negeb, with his wife and all that he possessed together with Lot. Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver and gold.”

            The Hebrew word we translate as “rich” is “kaved” which literally has the meaning of “heavy” or “burdened.” Etz Hayyim reminds us that the Rabbis opined that great wealth can be a heavy burden, because the wealthy individual is challenged to use wealth wisely and responsibly.

            At a time when wealth is increasingly (and almost incredibly) concentrated in fewer and fewer individuals, we see the rise of an “oligarchy” unmatched since the end of the 19^th century’s so-called “Golden Age.” According to a Federal Reserve report in 2026, the top 1% of U.S. households hold between 32% and 35% of total national wealth. More significantly, the top 0.1% of US households hold 13.9% of America's wealth. Are they using it “wisely and responsibly?"

            Some of these super-rich have engaged in praiseworthy philanthropic actions, helping to bring healthcare to millions, endowing research universities with unprecedented gifts, and supporting cultural institutions. Others, however, have spent vast sums on gigantic homesteads, conspicuous displays of self-aggrandizement, and perhaps worst of all, have attempted to extend their financial power into the political arena through acquisition of media outlets and limitless donations to candidates.

            Abram demonstrated that great wealth can lead to the kind of moral integrity making the individual a “dugmah” (praiseworthy example). Ask yourself whether Bezos or Musk can make such a claim. Ask how oligarchs who support authoritarians like Putin can make a plausible claim that their actions are “wise” or “responsible.”

The meaning of lawlessness

Noach

Gen 6:9-11:32

Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals. It rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved, and afterward leave the Ark, build an altar, and make sacrifices. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, and becomes drunk. An odd incident with sexual overtones takes place with his sons. The story of the Tower of Babel is included in this parasha, and it ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, concluding with Abram. 

Gen. 6:11 “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness.”

 

As is noted in Etz Hayyim, the Jerusalem Talmud understands the word translated as “lawlessness” (hamas) to mean that people cheated each other for such small sums that the courts could not prosecute them (JTBM 4:2).  [Aside: I've discussed the ironic meaning of this particular Hebrew word previously.]

The inability of the courts to deal with minor judicial matters, the Talmud relates, caused people to lose faith in the power of government to provide them with a fair and livable world, and society began to slip into anarchy.

It does not require a society to engage in seriously egregious behaviors to become “lawless” as the phrase is used here, although serious divergence from the ethical mandates of Torah inevitably result in hamas. We learned several decades ago that limiting graffiti (itself a relatively minor matter) can have the effect of reducing more serious crimes. When small crimes become common (and accepted) the road towards hamas has been paved.

If, as the Sages opine, lawlessness increases when crimes are too small to be justiciable, how much greater is lawlessness when the judicial system itself is undermined and perverted? How great does hamas become when the ruler's whim becomes the defining measure of judicial behavior? 

The rule of law begins an uninterrupted decline towards hamas (also defined as chaos) when the system of justice is undermined by the ruling classes.