Jewish Ethics in a Post-Madoff World

MOSES PAVAAlVIN Einbender Professorial Chair in Business Ethics at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, USA.

"At a time when the Jewish world is reeling from a series of scandalous swindles, violations of human dignity and animal rights, rabbinic criminal activities, etc., Moses Pava has stepped forward to give us new hope for a relevant, powerful Jewish ethic. This book combines fresh thinking, playful and profound imagination, wide reading, and unusually sophisticated analysis. It gives us not a cut-and-dried set of rules and laws but a creative, life-embracing,courageous method of living ethically while dealing with moral challenges as they come. There are no easy answers in this book; instead,there are complex cases that stretch us and make us grow. While this book will touch modern Orthodox Jews most deeply, it will enrich anyone who who wants to live more ethically." - Rabbi YitzGreenberg "Ethical issues today are serious and the temptation is to find a simple answer to them.Paradoxically, one way to address them is through some playfulness and through a commitment to ongoing, complex discussion.Pava's approach elucidates some basic ways to deal with a complex world that is deeply satisfying." - Timothy Fort, The Lindner-Gambal Professor of Business Ethics, School of Business, George Washington University "This fresh and courageous book confronts failures in business ethics both within and beyond the Jewish community.Itexplores an unusually broadarray of traditional Jewish texts, faces contemporary social issues, and suggests innovative approaches in a way that urges the reader into dialogue.This is a valuable,accessible, and engaging contribution to Jewish ethics." - Rabbi David Teutsch, The Louis and Myra Wiener Professor of Contemporary Jewish Civilization; Chair, Department of Contemporary Jewish Civilization; and Director, Levin-Lieber Program in Jewish Ethics, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

• PART I: OVERVIEW Jewish Ethics in a New Key Temptations of Tradition Sacred Compromise Renewing Jewish Ethics PART II: ON THE GROUND Learning to Speak about the Elephant in the Room The Art of Moral Criticism Deal Breaker and the Money Laundering Rabbis Loving the Stranger and the Fall of the Agriprocessors The Problem with Income and Wealth Inequalities PART III: FRONTIERS 'The Exaltation of the Possible' - Ethics and Play An Optimistic Case for the Future of Jewish Ethics In a Post-Madoff World