What is the connection between interest and brotherhood? Interest is what my money does while I'm sleeping soundly in my bed, or walking along the beach. Brotherhood is the strong black coffee that reserve soldiers drink together or the cigarettes that they share. Why does this economic phenomenon, that seems so far removed from human relations, influence my relations with my neighbor, my army commander and the stranger in the street?
From among the entire gamut of social interaction, Jewish tradition identified an economic weak spot - interest - as a highly potent menace to national brotherhood. What lies behind Judaism's interest prohibition?
We can find a clue in the Torah. In Deuteronomy 23:20-21, the Torah says: You shall not lend upon interest to your brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of any thing that is lent upon interest. Unto a foreigner you may lend upon interest; but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest; so that G-d, your G-d may bless you in all the pursuits of your hand, in the Land to which you are going to possess it.
A strong sense of racism and separatism emanates from these verses. If interest is not moral, why is it permissible to take interest from a non-Jew?
The conclusion is that it is not immoral to take interest. It is a natural economic measure that is completely in line with the way the free market works. The prohibition on interest, then, is based on a different principle: Brotherhood. It is forbidden to charge your brother - specifically - interest. Interest is detrimental to the brotherhood that exists between one Jew and the next. The brotherhood clause is not relevant to the non-Jew (whom we must treat graciously, but not as a brother). The interest prohibition is the DNA of Jewish brotherhood. It is the basic social code that preserves the feeling of true kinship.
Why is the interest-prohibition the key to a society that boasts true brotherhood?
We can find the answer to this question in Leviticus 25. This entire Torah section depicts the process of individual economic deterioration in ancient society. First a person loses his possessions and is forced to sell his field. (This is parallel in our times to losing one's job). After that, he loses his home. When his situation worsens, he is forced to rent a place to live and to work for someone else until the ultimate downfall, when he is forced to sell himself into slavery.
At every stage of a person's financial downfall, the Torah commands his relatives to "redeem" his possessions, or the person, himself, to prevent his downhill slide. This responsibility is not couched in justice or pity. It is an expression of brotherhood and loyalty to which the brothers and relatives of the hard-on-his-luck individual are committed.
At the heart of this section, the Torah describes the case of a man who had to sell his possessions. He is not a slave, but he does have to depend on the kindness of others. The 'others' described here are not his blood relatives, but rather those people who feel kindred and fraternity toward him by virtue of the fact that they are all Jews:
And if your brother becomes poor, and his means fail with you; then you shall uphold him: as a stranger and a settler shall he live with you. Take no interest from him or increase; but fear your G-d; so that your brother may live with you. You shall not give him your money with interest, nor give him your victuals for increase. (Leviticus 25:35-37)
Interest-carrying loans are so undesirable because they make competitive and creative capitalism cold and cruel - engendering a social climate that propels the decline of the weak. This ultimately creates a situation in which the rich get richer - not because they are producing anything but simply because they already have money - while the poor become incrementally poorer. The social gaps widen and the weak are aggressively subdued. This social climate creates basic estrangement from the needs of the other. The individual feels that he is living among strangers - not among brothers. Nobody will catch him if he falls and it is even possible that somebody is lurking in the shadows, just waiting to push him into the abyss.
Brotherhood makes a person feel at home. He senses that the people who surround him are his brothers; that he is there for them as they are there for him. Interest is the "dog eat dog" aspect of capitalism. It creates a sub-current of hostility in society, turning a "brother" into "another." A society that does not charge interest will ease the aggressiveness of the free market. This may very well be the key to the new spirit of brotherhood that we seek.
No comments:
Post a Comment