Book Review - Thou Shalt Prosper by Rabbi Daniel Lapin

What if a Rabbi offered to give you  the 10 commandments to making wealth- would you be interested. In Thou Shalt Prosper, Rabbi Lapin lays out timeless truths that have guided him and his community to holiness and wealth for millennia. Through his discourse on each, he shares a worldview where financial success is the expected outcome to sacrificial service. Whether those two can truly live in harmony is what we will explore. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

This is Connecting the Dots, and I'm your host, Dr. Jason Lanker. Have you ever asked the question of what do wealth and spirituality have to do with each other? If you've heard Jesus' words, you may think nothing, because the love of all money is the root of all evil. But today's book is going to bring a different perspective. It's from a Jewish rabbi who worked in Southern California with his congregation to understand that wealth and holiness go hand in hand. If you've never heard that concept before and can't imagine how it would work together, then you need to listen to this overview of Thou Shalt Prosper by Rabbi Daniel Lapin. So what if you had a rabbi say he would share with you the Ten Commandments of Making Wealth? He's an Orthodox Jewish rabbi who led the revitalization of the Pacific Jewish Center in Venice Beach, California, and really saw it take a turn for the benefit of the Jewish population and even beyond that. As he writes this book, he shares with us his insights into the making and sustaining of wealth and talks about it repeatedly from his Jewish tradition. What's interesting about him is that he chose to forego a salary from the synagogue. He wanted to emulate some of the ancient Jewish tradition, and so he instead worked for Merrill Lynch and even formed his own real estate finance company eventually. Those experiences helped to provide an interesting connection between both religious faith and the business world. Something that we're very passionate about here at Archon and something that we want to unpack and engage with in his writing. The first insight, the first commandment that he provides for his readers is uh believe in the dignity and morality of business. The point that uh Rabbi Laban is going to make is that at its core, business is exactly what God wants because he's made us like himself. Jesus said this when he showed up. He said, I did not come to be served, but to serve, to give my life as a ransom for many. Now we're not going to give our lives as a ransom for many, but but we do need to sacrifice ourselves, our time, our effort, our resources in order to meet the needs of other people. And so as we give ourselves in this process, if we say, hey, I want to make money, at our core, what we're being forced to, the the end goal of wanting to make more money is that you want to provide more services for the people around you. When we can understand that, accept it, believe that would be the point that Rabbi Laban wants to push us towards is that money isn't bad. Money is just the way that we're rewarded for our self-sacrifice. And if we're going to continue in self-sacrifice, there needs to be some kickback in the system. And so that's where he puts the weight. In fact, he puts it there so much that he really calls into question a lot of companies that make a lot of money. He calls out Starbucks, for example, and says, hey, here's this Jewish guy who says, Hey, we got Starbucks, we're making millions and billions of dollars. But I want to tell you, we're not a bad business. We're a good business. And the reason why? We give back to society. We're a philanthropic organization. We we care for the poor, we care for the needy. And Lapin pulls out quite a few businesses that have this as a regular statement that they make about their company, that somehow intrinsically, deep down inside, they feel like, man, we're bad. We're just making money off people. And so we need to say, no, we're good. And he says, and I just think it's really insightful. He goes, What? So you're not good in producing the product that you produced? You found a way, Starbucks, to get a coffee that the world says, this is the way I want to start my day. This is the way I want to make it through my afternoon. That this is the environment I want to sit down in and be able to study or write an important email. You have done something for us. And we're telling you in mass, thank you. Here's my money. Thank you. You have provided a product and a service that is invaluable to us as a society, as a people. That is the ultimate good. It isn't just generous pointing back. Yes, that's good. Yes, that's needed. But the ultimate driver, the bigger good, I guess, is the point he's trying to drive us to is that business providing a product, a good product for people, the more money you make, the more it tells you you're doing good. You're doing good for and by God's people. And as he unpacks that, he comes, I think, naturally to the second commandment, which is extend the network of your connected to as many people as possible. In essence, you cannot do the business that you want to do and that you need to do all by yourself. This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter one. When God makes Adam and Eve, he comes to them and he says, Hey, it's not good that this man is by himself. He needs a helper suitable for him. And that word helper is not like, hey, you're my energy, whatever I need, you're there to help me in this process. It's an ally. It's it's I give to you, you give to me, you have something beneficial, I have something beneficial. So in this first home-based business of taking and caring for God's garden in his new creation, this man and this woman bring something unique to that partnership. And that partnership sets the foundation for all business for all time. It is in working together, it's in using each other's gifts, it's in having a common goal, sacrificing for and with each other that we reach and meet more of the needs that are in our society. In fact, he encourages us to consider moving more into the city because there's more people there, more opportunity to make more connections, and in those connections, more people whose needs can be met. It's a legitimate point because when we follow the story of Scripture, what Lapin's saying is it it starts in a garden. It starts with just two people out in the sticks away from everybody. They can take care of themselves. But ultimately, our our call as kingdom people isn't to take care of ourselves, it's to take care of God's creation and all that's created in it. And so we need to step out and find ourselves into where revelation ends. It doesn't end in a renewed garden, it re-ends in a renewed city, a place where people have been brought together, where they know how to work with each other, to receive from each other, and to give from each other. And I think that's a very valid point that Lapin pushes us to think about and to engage. The third commandment comes from it. You need to get to know yourself. It great, you have other people who are resources and helps for you. They're they're beneficial, they're super, super gifted. But you have gifts until you can look in the mirror and be able to go, wow, I am a gift from God filled with opportunity, filled with experiences, filled with insights and a background that nobody else has ever had, and nobody else ever will. I have something to offer, I have something to provide for people in this world, and I need to find the business structure that allows that to come out most fully and completely. That would be an incredible benefit to all of God's people, whether they accept Him and follow Him or not. That if people would say, Hey, I am here to love, I'm here to give, I am here to follow in Christ's footsteps and to give my unique personhood in benefit to you, what difference would that make in the world? It would be a radically different world. And that's where he's taking us in this. The the fourth commandment is do not pursue perfection. I mean, pretty quickly in this story, we fall, it becomes a broken place, and yet many of us, myself included, we are pushing to only work when it's perfect. By definition, the world is not perfect, nor will it ever be before Christ's second coming. It is not going to ever, in any situation with anyone, ever be perfect. It will not be full and complete. There will always be more. This is why the Amish, whenever they make their products, they always put just a little dent in it, a little something that reminds them of this truth of do the best you can. But if I didn't do it in my actual work, at the end, I'm going to imprint on this clock that it isn't perfect and that I'm waiting for that day of perfection. So I will be faithful and doing the best I can in this moment. Man, how that could set so many of us free if we didn't wait to do things to the nth degree, that we were just faithful with the little things. He might even consider giving us more because we just did the best with that. At the fifth commandment, he he takes a turn and he says, Okay, so you've found your relationships, you've you've found your your people, you've found your gifts, you're not pursuing perfection. Lead the way. Lead the way. Okay, so what class do I need to get into? What program do I need to enroll in? And his basic advice is this simply just lead. Get out in front. That's what his definition of leadership is. Get out there and share your vision. Attempt to lead. Even if you feel like you aren't somebody that should ultimately be a leader, that you don't have it all together, just do it. Just do it. And people will follow if where you're taking them is something of benefit. If not, refine your vision, refine the direction, build off of what the fourth commandment was. It doesn't need to be perfect. You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be light years ahead of everyone else. In fact, one of my favorite theorists says that all you have to be in order to teach somebody how to take the next step is one step ahead. And those people who are one step ahead of the people they're trying to lead actually do a better job than the people who are 50 steps ahead. It's because you were right there. You just had those thoughts, you just had those experiences, and you know how to be able to transmit that in a way that people really get it. It it's it's your being, it's it's not just become something you're disconnected from that's sitting up in your head years in the past. You're right in the middle of it, and that's where people need to be led. This is why Jesus came and lived with us because he needed to be in the flesh, in and amongst us. He needed to move into the neighborhood. And as he did, he calls us the same thing. Just step in, step into your passion, step into your vision, give it the best that you can, do it with others, and trust that it won't come together, and you'll get to the places that you would want to get to and that other people would get to simply because of your willingness to have faith that God's calling you in this process. Sixth commandment constantly change the changeable while steadfastly clinging to the unchangeable. This this was the commandment that I probably had the hardest time trying to wrap my head around. But basically, what he was saying by using the Star of David and other examples is that we have things that are eternal. At the core of the eternal is God Himself. Knowing what we need to be, what He's made us to be, we're gonna have to hold on to that. We can't give up on it within our business structures. Just because there is a need over there that we can make more money with, in the end, you won't make the most money from changing who he's made you to be. Stay committed to that. Find out how you can use that in ways to possibly engage other people and expand your influence. But stay true to who he is and who he's called you to be. At the same time, just because you found a way of doing something in the past doesn't mean that's the way that it has to be going in the future. Enjoy, in fact, he says, appreciate technology. He points to Jewish culture and just how much they embrace change. And he says, that's something that's unique to our culture. We enjoy taking the benefits and the the progressions that we find in the societies around us, and that has helped us to not just to succeed, but to thrive in whatever place we've moved. You're not gonna stay living in the same town your whole life. Uh you're not gonna have all of the same relationships that you've already had. People are gonna pass away, people are gonna move away, businesses are gonna fail, that things are gonna change. And if you just stay stuck to, well, this is the way that I did it, and man, we had a great success five years ago when we did this. It's not five years ago. It's today. And you need to be willing to take and learn from the world around you about how you can use the technological advances to be able to enhance your business model and to be able to reach and care for more people. As you do, it brings you to the seventh commandment, which is you have to learn to foretell the future. If you're always waiting for things to fall apart and that's where you change, then you're always on the backside of the curve. You gotta get on the front side of that curve. And the front side says, okay, change is normal, seasons change, people change, everything changes. So business, if it comes from people and it's impacted by the seasons and the years, it has to change. If that's the direction it's headed, get ahead of it. Do something about it. Pay attention to how tomorrow's consequences are going to come from today's events. Where does today lead you? What do your choices produce? How do those relationships have a long-term impact? How does basing your business from this location accomplish this or have a detriment to that? If you're not looking forward from your choices, then you're already behind. And you need to do it without emotion. His advice just the logical facts, you do this, this happens. A very kind of mathematical formula for forecasting. I would kind of push back on that and say, hey, you know what? Emotions are something that God's given to us. They're part of our mind. It isn't just thinking about stuff, it's also that emotions are the sensor for the environment in which we live. And they're a full-bodied sensor. They measure humidity as much as they measure air pressure, as much as they measure temperature, as much as they went wind speed. They measure everything and they give feedback to us about the environment and the world that we live in. So instead of taking emotion out, maybe a better way of talking about his foretelling of the future is learning how to use our emotions to sense the world around us, the things that are in between the lines to help give feedback to our minds to be able to say, I'm getting a lot of anxiety over here. I need to pay attention. I'm getting a lot of excitement about this possibility. And now we move into commandment number eight. I think it's at the core of what Laban has to say about Thou Shalt Prosper. Uh, it's know your money. What where he comes to, and it's a I think a controversial claim, and we're gonna have to unpack it. I'm not sure I understand it completely. But he says that your money ultimately is you. It's it's a description of who you are. Why? Because money in and of itself is nothing, but within our world structure, it's a quantifiable means to show who you are. What money you receive comes from what good you have done in the world around you. And then what money you use shows your value, shows the things that you're interested in sacrificing and giving your money to. And so it serves as this sort of mirror for our lives that help us to see who we really are. Uh it's hard to be able to describe your gifts, your traits, your being. And money helps to quantify that in some way. It does raise a question for me, then is everything of who we are supposed to be reduced to what is simply quantifiable? I have aspects of my being that are immaterial, that are things that characterize me and describe me and are part of my experience that have greatly enhanced my relationship with my wife, with my children, with my businesses that I've been a part of. And I can't go back and look at some monetary formula or something inside of my bank that says, well, that tells you who you are at that point. And that's something that I think we'll need to come back to and try to understand more and engage. But what Lapin wants to say is that the Jewish perception of money is that it's so foundational to our lives because it's foundational to life. It shows you what life is about and what is important. Uh, in saying that, though, I don't think he's going to the extreme of saying, hey, we need to love money with everything that we have. He's not going down the road that Jesus is encouraging us not to go down, that we can't serve God and serve money, that we can't love God and love money. What Lapin's trying to say is that money is essential to living regular, everyday life. And as we use it, we find out what our values are. And those values, where he comes to, he just naturally leads into the ninth commandment, and that's to act rich. And by acting rich, he says it's giving away 10% of your after-tax income, is how he describes it. What he comes to is that charity, even though it is not rational, is ultimately beneficial on multiple levels. One, because charity gives to people in need. They can use what you have passed on in that process. The other way that money is beneficial is that money often comes back to you. What you pour into your church, what you pour into that hospital ward, are the things that when those organizations use them well, you're ultimately blessed by the ministry of that congregation. You're ultimately, at some point 20 years down the road, blessed by what you gave for that dinner to build a new wing at the hospital. You don't see it now, but it pays dividends in the long run to give to your community and to pass on that wealth. It also, and this was an interesting insight, he sees donating as in vet, it's like he sees donating like investing. Except he says most people, when they begin to really make wealth, they actually shut down their investing. They don't know how to take risks with what they've received. What charity and regular giving of charity does is that it trains the heart to give away. For potential good. If it doesn't produce any good, great. You gave it away, it was gone long before that point. But if it does come back, then you say, Hey, you know what? I gave to that charity. This is the good thing that came out of it. You do that over and over in a regular basis, and your heart becomes disabused. It becomes disconnected from money being essential to making life, that you don't have to hold on to it. It's not your security. He doesn't say this explicitly, but with his understanding of who God is and his love for his creation, he seems to be saying, no, God takes care of you. He orders the world and he takes care of his people. And if ultimately all the money you received came from him, then you can trust him by passing it on for the good of those around you and trust that he is going to provide more, that he's going to take care of you in that time. And it allows you to be free from the love of money and more connected to the love of a God who cares for us and to use those resources, money being one of them, to be able to do good in our worlds. And ultimately, what Lapin comes to is that that good is for our benefit. We don't want to be, but we are often very selfish people. And he says, hey, when you do give away, it has personal benefit. It really focuses you in a way that says, I'm a virtuous person. I'm a good person. I can admire that I'm not self-centered and have to hold on to everything. I'm not a miserly soul. And I'm living in accordance to the way that God's designed life to be. That is a completely different take of money than what most people have. And that is what Lapin says truly leads to wealth. The last commandment that he ends with is never retire. Never ever retire. Don't go from 60 to zero. Yes, you will slow down. Yes, you won't be able to do as much. But at that point of your life, you have spent so much time and effort, if you've done it well, developing your gifts, finding your strengths, using your uniqueness to be able to accomplish good for others. If you just come out of the market right then, how how selfish is that? You've destroyed, in essence, the whole point of money. It isn't to make money so you can hold on to it, so you can get to the end. It's so that you can use those resources to be able to work with the other people around you so that it can flow in and out. And now at this age, at this gray-haired age that the Jewish people so treasure, you have a distilled understanding of yourself. You have a distilled understanding of others, you understand the benefit of money and what it tells you about your unique strengths and your unique weaknesses. You've learned how to be able to work without perfection, but still not give up the hope of working towards perfection. And and you have so much to give. And the place that we give in a profound way that just it it means something to us is is when you when you charge. When something costs, that's when we know the value of it. And so in your later years, find ways to continue to provide services for the people and the community around you. Maybe at that time you move to a second seat or a third seat within a business structure where the younger guys, younger ladies, they get to really drive that thing, but you're helping provide the wisdom and the insight and the knowledge to forecast and all the things that you've perfected over your years to help them get further. Somebody, in essence, that you wished you would have had in those years of building and expanding a business, you could be that for others. So consider not leaving that on the table. He gives an example of his uncle at the very end in his epilogue and says, you know what? In the end, I really believe this is what it comes down to. Life is business, and business is life. If so, when does business become more than life? Does it ever? Or does life ever become more than business? Are we just locked into that? My wife doesn't charge me for making a dinner. But that's a part of my life, right? And if if I can't find value outside of my business, am I possibly going to become a workaholic? Because that's the only place that I can find value and meaning. And although Lapin brings it up repeatedly in his book, the the necessity to understand the difference between spirit and body, of flesh, of something tangible and something intangible. In the end, I I wonder how much he pushes to understand money so deeply and and the the reflective uh value that it provides for us as people to see who we are and what strengths we have and what we don't, that money becomes potentially the end-all be all. Where does God get to speak directly by his spirit to speak truth into our lives? When do friends, when we haven't ever provided them with a financial service, can say, Hey, you know what? This is what you mean to me. This is how you bring me value. And I'm afraid that if business becomes all of life, that unless we can quantify or monetize everything that we do, that we may begin to devalue those relationships and those people and those places that God says, you know what, I I care. I I care about the outcast, I I care about all people, places, times, and things. So obviously, there's a lot here. I mean, you have a 350-page book on business, not the norm. Rabbi Lapin has something to say, and I think we need to listen. First, I really think what stands out to me in reviewing the book is that business is foundational to the life that God has for us. Why? Because business at its core is about meeting the needs of others. And that, from a Christian perspective, is the basis of all life. It's to care for others, it's to serve others. Business is simply the means by which we do this in a focus and directed way. I really like his point that money is a feedback loop as well to help us see how well we're doing and how well we're not. I think I would push back a bit and say that there are times when there's more money made than service provided and vice versa. And so it's not a direct one-to-one, but I do think it provides some insight and some guidance into whether we are providing a product that is truly serving the population that we're trying to reach or not. And that's something that I think needs to be in the back of every Christian businessman's head is that they're asking the question, hey, is this something that is really providing a profit? A profit for me and a profit for the people who use what I am providing. When we can ask that question, I think it will lead us to better business and business that truly is more kingdom focused. The last one I think that's super important is not focusing on perfection of yourself, but focusing on the growth in a team. I think if there are businesswomen out there that can really take the lead of saying, hey, we're not here just to get this goal, but we're here to bring teams together. We're here to bring businesses together, we're here to make a better product for everyone. This truly becomes a win-win-win when we are able to extend our services by seeing the gaps that we don't fill, and by being able, on this, on the other hand, to say this is what we do focus on, and this is what we do exceptionally well. When we try to be all things to all men, we've missed what God set it up for in the very beginning by saying we need allies who have opposite strengths than what we have, and we need to find ways to work with them. When that happens, I think that that business structure is something that would really see God's kingdom come and his will done. I hope what I've reviewed from what Lapin has to say helps to give you food for thought, things that you can chew on and hopefully be able to apply into your business world for yourself and for those that you serve in days to come.