The death of my father last April caused me to reflect anew on where we agreed and where we disagreed. When I was a college student, we would debate capitalism and socialism. Over the years I came to realize that people would be much better off under the capitalist system he envisioned than under any of the capitalist or socialist realities today. Our generation has seen the atrocities that capitalism, socialism, and every other existing “ism” can lead to.
As a rabbinic student (and later as a young rabbi), I would comb Jewish sources for the ultimate texts affirming my Jewish commitment to social justice. I still enjoy discovering a text. However, I eventually realized that what we most need to know can be found in the first verses of the Book of Genesis: First, God created the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1). As important as we humans...
