JUDAISM AND FAIRTRADE

1. JUDAISM OFFERS AN ETHICAL-LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The possession of money and the satisfaction of economic wants are real human needs, legitimate but, of necessity, operative within a framework of economic morality .. There is nothing wrong per se with earning, having or keeping goods or financial assets and there is nothing spiritual about poverty . The key is an ethical legal framework to commerce, prices and profits which provides justice for all parties.

From Meir Tamari*, In the Marketplace, Targum Press, 1991

2. THE NEED FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ETHICAL-LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

The basis of any economy is the protection of the property rights of all those involved in the market: buyer and seller, employer and employee, developer and community. The practical effect of a lack of such protection may be seen in many undeveloped countries in our own day, which are unable to obtain investment and foreign trade due to the lack of this legal framework.

Tamari, p.40

3. YOU MAY NOT ACT IN SUCH A WAY AS TO DEPRIVE ANOTHER OF THEIR LIVELIHOOD

Hasagat gevul is the biblical injunction against removing a neighbour's boundary marker. This is understood by the classical sources to include depriving another of his livelihood. It is forbidden.

Iggrot Moshe, Choshen Mishpat, pt 1, sec 59

4. ONA'AH, OVERREACHING

Leviticus 25:14 introduces us to the concept of wronging one's neighbour through overcharging or underpaying against a fair price. The concept is known as ona'ah [ ????? ] in rabbinic law - using fraud or simply a superior bargaining position to 'overreach'. Fairtrade seeks to eliminate ona'ah by ensuring that producer, importer and the customer all get a just or fair deal.

Tony Bayfield

5. PROTECTION MUST BE GIVEN TO THOSE IN WEAKER POSITIONS ECONOMICALLY

The planned economy has resulted in a loss of personal freedom, bureaucratic mismanagement, and corruption resulting from the lack of equilibrium between supply and demand. On the other hand, contrary to free market theories, in real life all parties to a transaction are seldom in a position of equal economic, social or political strength. Thus, imperfect competition, ignorance or duress has led to the exploitation of some and the earning of unfair profits by others. Those exploited by ona'ah are protected in Jewish law.

Tamari, p.80

* Former Chief Economist, Bank of Israel, Director Jerusalem Institute for Ethics in Economics, Lecturer, Bar Ilan

click here to contact us, or phone 07891 439 646