Will Money be Relevant in an Era of Abundance?
Prominent technology leaders predict that within the next decade, artificial intelligence and robotics will make money far less important, and perhaps irrelevant. Their vision is one of unprecedented abundance: machines producing more goods and services than humanity could ever consume. Retirement savings may become unnecessary. Work may become optional. The greatest challenge, they argue, will no longer be survival, but finding meaning and purpose.
The Greatest Return on Investment (ROI)
Investors often evaluate the efficiency of an investment by measuring the Return on Investment (ROI). In a broader sense, we make decisions all the time to ascertain where we should invest our time and resources to produce the greatest profit with the least amount of risk. Often, greater opportunities for profit are associated with higher levels of risk as well.
However, there is one type of investment that produces a guaranteed high return with no risk. That is the investment in Tzedaka. I use the Hebrew word Tzedaka, and not charity, because it more accurately portrays the true essence of its definition. Charity connotes performing a nice and generous act, going beyond the call of duty. Tzedaka, however, is derived from the word Tzedek, which means “righteousness”, or doing the right thing. When we give Tzedaka, we are fulfilling our responsibility to G-d who entrusted us with allocating the wealth in the proper manner.
Rights or Responsibilities
At the turn of the 18th Century, there were many new philosophies and movements that were gaining popularity and capturing the minds and hearts of millions of people across the globe. They challenged the autocratic system of governance and power which was prevalent at that time and introduced new ideas that sought to bring an end to inequality, poverty, and suffering.
The Power of Giving: How to Create Wealth
John D. Rockefeller, born in 1839 into a poor family in upstate New York, began working at age 16 as a clerk in Cleveland to support his family. His first wages were just a few dollars a week, yet from that very first paycheck, he set aside 10% for charity, following the Biblical practice of tithing.
Rockefeller later reflected:
“I tithed from my first dollar, and I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I made if I had not tithed my first salary of $1.50 per week.”
The Multiplier Effect
In the weeks after the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7, 2023, Mary Jarada sat in her New York office searching for something meaningful she could do for the Jewish people. Leading a financial firm, she landed on an unexpected idea: when calling male clients to close deals, she would ask whether they had remembered to wrap their tefillin that morning.
The Goal of Education
What is the ultimate goal of education?
A child or young adult may attend school or a place of higher education to receive valuable knowledge or attain a skill in a specific field. That information may then be used to advance a career and provide them with a future livelihood.
However, there is another aspect to education which far outweighs the above mentioned objective. The ultimate goal of education is to instill in our youth good morals, faith, values, fine character and purpose. This type of education is not only provided by academic institutions but rather something which begins from the moment a child is conceived and continues on for the rest of their lives.
The True Meaning of Higher Education
During the congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on December 5th, 2023, multiple Ivy League university presidents were asked a simple question: "Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate the university's code of conduct?" Their responses were shockingly ambiguous: "It depends on context."
The Secret To Our Survival
Recently, I came across a beautiful article published in the Wall Street Journal. The article was titled “The Shul That Rose From the Ashes” in which the author, Josh Nass, describes his grandfather's childhood in Malakhovka, a suburb of Moscow, and eventual emigration to America in 1972 after surviving the horrible persecutions of pogroms, the Holocaust, and the communist government's attempt to stifle Jewish observance.
From Harvard to Claremont: A Powerful Display of Jewish Pride
As a freshman at Harvard, Sarah Silverman was stunned to discover that her newly affixed mezuzah was missing from her dorm room doorpost.
“I noticed something was gone,” she recalled. “In the place where my mezuzah had been so tightly secured, only a bit of sticky adhesive remained.”
Her heart sank. After she and her roommate swept the entire dorm floor in search of it, the morning’s excitement turned to an awful anxiety. The mezuzah was nowhere to be found.
A Boy Who Galvanized a Nation
This morning, after more than 24 agonizing hours, four-year-old Yuval Kogan, who had disappeared near Hofit Beach in Ashkelon, Israel, was miraclously found alive.
His disappearance sparked an extraordinary nationwide search. Hundreds of police officers, Border Police personnel, rescue volunteers, civilians, and even Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) teams joined the effort.
A Call to Arms: The Six Day War to Today
In the tense weeks before the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel seemed to stand on the edge of destruction. On May 22, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran, cutting off Israel’s southern shipping route—an act internationally recognized as a declaration of war. Within days, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan signed military pacts, amassing nearly half a million soldiers, thousands of tanks, and hundreds of warplanes along Israel’s borders. The Soviet Union supplied them with advanced weaponry. France, Israel’s main arms supplier, abruptly imposed an arms embargo. The United States announced it would remain neutral.
The Ultimate Security
There is a fascinating story recounted in the Jerusalem Talmud: “The last Parthian king Artavan once sent a gift of a very precious pearl to Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, asking to be sent something of equal value in return. Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi sent a mezuzah in return. When the king received the mezuzah he was dumbfounded that Rabbi Yehudah could consider this little piece of parchment as an equivalent to the precious pearl. He expressed his sentiments in no uncertain terms. Thereupon Rabbi Yehudah explained to the king that they had different sets of values, hence the king’s amazement. He went on to say that whereas the king’s gift was something that he, Rabbi Yehudah, would constantly have to guard against theft, etc., his own gift to the king was something that would guard over the king and protect him.”
A Mezuzah in Cuba
About 10 years ago, as a Rabbinical student, I was assigned to travel along with a friend to Cuba in order to assist the small Jewish community there with their High Holiday needs.
Our responsibilities included leading services, hosting Kosher meals, and providing much needed basic necessities for the impoverished local community there. In addition, we were to assist local Jewish tourists and visiting business people with celebrating the holidays.
Feel at Home
Have you ever wondered what is the most important part of a home? Is it the roof and exterior walls which provide shelter from outside elements? Or is it the interior design and aesthetics which impact the function and ambiance of the home? Perhaps it's the furniture and appliances which enable us to make use of the home itself?
While all those aspects serve an important purpose, they do not define the ultimate nature of a home. For one can find shelter or even enjoy quality hospitality and luxurious amenities while staying at a hotel as well, but, of course it's still not quite the same as one's home.
You Can Change the World
Throughout history, the people who changed the world were not always those with the greatest resources or the most advanced technology. They were those with the greatest vision.
A visionary sees what others overlook. They recognize possibilities hidden within the ordinary and find ways to make extraordinary ideas accessible to everyone.
Think about the innovators who have transformed our lives.
Effective Communication
A couple days ago, I was speaking with an acquaintance who shared the following challenge he was facing:
After overseeing a merger with another law firm, he was encountering some resistance from a few of his attorneys. Although they were receiving a raise, better working conditions, and job security, they were still unhappy with the new arrangements.
There may be many facets to the quandary, but perhaps one way to address the issue is through effective communication.
Make it Relevant
I recently heard a young entrepreneur share his experiences and struggles which he faced while launching his startup.
He had invested a significant amount of seed money to create a great product, but, for some reason, he had failed to attract enough interest from potential customers to remain sustainable.
A Visionary Mindset
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers revolutionized the modern world with the first successful airplane flight, embodying the power of visionary thinking. While most were focused on improving the speed and efficiency of existing modes of transportation, the Wright brothers, like other visionaries, saw beyond the limits of their time, imagining a future where humans could fly.
AI & Visionary Thinking
In the 1980s and 1990s, most of the AI world had moved on from neural networks. These systems—designed to mimic the brain's structure—were dismissed as inefficient, shallow, and impractical. The dominant trend was symbolic AI: logic-based systems engineered to follow programmed rules. It was neat, controllable, and explainable—but it couldn't learn or adapt.
Geoffrey Hinton thought differently. He believed that the brain-like structure of neural networks held the key to true intelligence. While others abandoned them, he quietly refined his ideas, waiting for computing power and data to catch up. In 2012, that moment arrived.
Yiddish Humor
In the early 20th century, the Borscht Belt in the Catskills was a popular summer vacation destination for Jewish immigrants looking to escape the stress and density of city life.
Many famous Jewish comedians and entertainers got started with their careers performing at hotels and resorts in the area delighting their audiences with Yiddish humor especially highlighting stereotypical Jewish traits.
There is something about the Yiddish language that captures and expresses so much of our Jewish history, culture, and Weltanschauung.