Aaron Levine – författare

At once it must be recognized that religious law by its very nature regulates and restricts the conduct of its adherents. One of the major foci of The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics is therefore to describe the impact economic regulation in Jewish law has on the integration of Jews into the economic fabric of societies governed by different legal systems. Factors that impede integration, as well as those that facilitate it, are identified. More globally, a number of the papers in this volume discuss the positive contribution of Jewish business ethics to the morality of the marketplace, as well as Jewish legal perspectives on economic public policy. In the discipline of economics, advances in theory provide the grist for debate regarding the appropriate role for government. Accordingly, this volume presents papers dealing with economic theory in the Bible and Talmud, as well as comparative law studies that relate to economics. Also included are studies of the influence of religious economic law on the economic sphere of life in societies of the past.Finally, this work investigates how successfully Jews, as a people, have integrated into American economic life, and the related question of how economic forces have played a role in causing the American Jew to assimilate, shedding religious practice and commitment.

The interaction of Judaism and economics encompasses many different dimensions. Much of this interaction can be explored through the way in which Jewish law accommodates and even enhances commercial practice today and in past societies. From this context, The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics explores how Judaism as a religion and Jews as a people relate to the economic sphere of life in modern society as well as in the past. Bringing together an astonishingly strong group of top scholars, the volume approaches the subject from a variety of angles, providing one of the most comprehensive, well-rounded, and authoritative accounts of the intersections of Judaism and economics yet produced. Aaron Levine first offers a brief overview of the nature and development of Jewish law as a legal system, then presents essays from a variety of angles and areas of expertise. The book offers contributions on economic theory in the bible and in the Talmud; on the interaction between Jewish law, ethics, modern society, and public policy; then presents illuminating explorations of Judaism throughout economic history and the ways in which economics has influenced Jewish history. The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics at last offers an extensive and welcome resource by leading scholars and economists on the vast and delightfully complex relationship between economics and Judaism.

Economic Morality and Jewish Law compares the way in which welfare economics and Jewish law determine the propriety of an economic action, whether by a private citizen or the government. Espousing what philosophers would call a consequentialist ethical system, welfare economics evaluates the worthiness of an economic action based on whether the action would increase the wealth of society in the long run. In sharp contrast, Jewish law espouses a deontological system of ethics. Within this ethical system, the determination of the propriety of an action is entirely a matter of discovering the applicable rule in Judaism's code of ethics.This volume explores a variety of issues implicating morality for both individual commercial activity and economic public policy. Issues examined include price controls, the living wage, the lemons problem, short selling, and Ronald Coase's seminal theories on negative externalities. To provide an analytic framework for the study of these issues, the work first delineates the normative theories behind the concept of economic morality for welfare economics and Jewish law, and presents a case study illustrating the deontological nature of Jewish law. The book introduces what for many readers will be a new perspective on familiar economic issues. Despite the very different approaches of welfare economics and Jewish law in evaluating the worthiness of an economic action, the author reveals a remarkable symmetry between the two systems in their ultimate prescriptions for certain economic issues.

The interaction of Judaism and economics encompasses many different dimensions. Much of this interaction can be explored through the way in which Jewish law accommodates and even enhances commercial practice today and in past societies. From this context, The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics explores how Judaism as a religion and Jews as a people relate to the economic sphere of life in modern society as well as in the past. Bringing together an astonishingly strong group of top scholars, the volume approaches the subject from a variety of angles, providing one of the most comprehensive, well-rounded, and authoritative accounts of the intersections of Judaism and economics yet produced. Aaron Levine first offers a brief overview of the nature and development of Jewish law as a legal system, then presents essays from a variety of angles and areas of expertise. The book offers contributions on economic theory in the bible and in the Talmud; on the interaction between Jewish law, ethics, modern society, and public policy; then presents illuminating explorations of Judaism throughout economic history and the ways in which economics has influenced Jewish history. The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics at last offers an extensive and welcome resource by leading scholars and economists on the vast and delightfully complex relationship between economics and Judaism.

To Comfort the Bereaved is a halachic guide that contains all the traditions, customs, and prayers pertaining to the mitzvah of nichum aveilim, comforting mourners. The author clearly demonstrates how Jewish laws and customs address themselves to the various steps and stages of the mourning process. Rabbi Aaron Levine, who has established himself as a scholar and expert in the field of nichum aveilim, has assembled a highly practical guide that covers all aspects of appropriate behavior by a visitor to the shivah, the house of mourning. It guides the visitor through the traditions pertaining to the shivah home, explains what should or should not be said to the mourners, and records experiences and reactions of the mourners to the visitors. To Comfort the Bereaved takes the fear out of the prospect of visiting the shivah home and offers much encouragement in the performance of this great act of kindness. Rabbi Levine has amassed and distilled a wealth of stories, parables, anecdotes, and experiences of great sages, garnered from the wisdom of the Talmud, Midrash, and other relevant Jewish literature. He synthesizes scholarly research and personal experience, enabling him to write with rabbinic authority and wisdom in a compassionate, sensitive, and empathetic manner.