The argument is rooted in the notion that all governments are the same, that the czar is the kaiser is the president, that autocratic monarchies are the same as constitutional republics, and – most pertinent – that there is no Torah that governs Jewish conduct. As such, the argument is a moral travesty, notwithstanding that it serves, for some, as a rationalization for misbehavior vis-à-vis one’s obligations toward the general society.
“Every talmid chacham (for these purposes, all religious Jews qualify as “scholars”) whose inside is not as his outside is not a true scholar…. He is even called abominable” (Yoma 72b). As the Gemara there continues, it bespeaks a lack of reverence of Heaven, an utter disregard of God. “Woe to the…Torah scholars who are engaged in Torah study but have no awe of Heaven.”
For some, the Torah is the elixir of life; for others, it is the drug of death, because its study can cause one to have an inflated sense of self and promote the haughty attitude that the rules don’t all apply to him because he has made a unique arrangement with the Creator, thereby deadening the ethical impulses that Torah study usually animates. Such is the inevitable result of Torah study (and observance of mitzvot) without yirat Shamayim, fear of Heaven.
In sum: The entire Torah system is the vehicle God gave us to perfect our souls and to have us gain eternal life. Money, of all things, can never be allowed to become an impediment to those goals. To avert that personal catastrophe, we must re-stigmatize criminality, take forceful measures to avoid temptation, learn mussar, moderate our materialistic pursuits, decentralize the role of money in Jewish life, shatter the kesef equals kavod equation, teach our children that ethical greatness is the accomplishment we most value, eschew the historical rationalizations for misbehavior, and, above all, cultivate a pervasive sense that God is watching us. Because He is.
That closeness to God will then be the defining element of our Avodat Hashem in all its diverse contexts and foster our natural inclinations for righteousness. And we will yet merit that “The remnant of Israel will not act corruptly nor speak any falsehood…and I will make you into a good name and for praise among all the peoples of the earth” (Tzefaniah 3:13, 20).
