In a fruitless attempt to feel more spiritual and escape the close quarters in which I live, I spent Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem. I figured heavy exposure to Judaism’s holiest sites on one of its holiest holidays would increase my spirituality via osmosis. (Shortly after beginning this trip, I realized the futility of that desire, as spirituality isn’t photosynthesis.) After spending the better part of the second day wandering through the Old City, I came to the following conclusions:
- The Old City has serious tourist trap overtones. I am still undecided whether or not it’s sacreligious to have money changers immediately inside the walls. I do not understand why we spend so much time murdering one another over it. Yes the Old City contains many holy sites, but religions preach tolerance and there must be some way to ensure access to everyone.
- There are a lot of small family shops in the Old City. It made me feel quite at home, with people constantly yelling at their brother/son/sister/mother/cousin to do this or that assorted task. I felt very comfortable; though I assume they charged a tourists price.
- Perhaps my most important conclusion was about religion itself. A path to God has been presenting itself to us since trade began between bands of Neolithic hunter-gatherers: capitalism. Christian, Muslim, Jew, Athiest, Hindu, etc., virtually everyone needs and wants money (or in the case of a lucky few, is being supported by wealthy parents to the point of not needing or desiring it). For example, in the Old City, one can see t-shirts proclaiming “Free Palestine!” sold next to t-shirts proclaiming “IDF” and talits being sold side-by-side with kaffiyehs. At the street level, political animosities are unimportant in the face of money.
No matter the color, green, purple, yellow, gold, red, etc., it can all be used as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account. I’ve met many different kinds of people in my short but varied life, and have known anyone to deny another a service because their money wasn’t valuable enough.
Capitalism with a healthy dose of social equality actively discourages war. Businesses are built and sustained by customers consuming goods or services. It is bad practice to kill or mistreat them. By being a decent business owners, through wages and working conditions, one derives greater employee loyalty and better quality work. Both of these enable business to grow and the cycle to repeat.
Finally, if everyone does business with everyone else, regardless of religion, race, gender, etc., we create a more tolerant society in which people don’t mistreat one another. Don’t all religions preach tolerance and kindness towards our fellow man? Capitalism with social equality in mind is one way to achieve that end and stop the madness that is rapidly destroying our planet.
Shana Tova, I wish you all a sweet new year of life, peace, love, and happiness.
Alan Borenstein is a Ma’ase Olam Israel Teaching Fellow, one of Masa Israel’s 200 programs.
