Thou Shall Prosper

Thou Shall Prosper examines the tried and true principles of age-old, Jewish tradition for creating a life of wealth, prosperity and integrity, and combines them with examples from the modern world of business, to help you live a successful life.

Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Gary Vaynerchuk, the list of Jewish entrepreneurs who shape the globe is long. And I’m starting to understand why. The Jewish perspective on money and business is absolutely perfect to win in a meritocratic system.

Jews belief in ethical capitalism, which is to say they think hard work should be rewarded, but be predicated on honesty, integrity and a strong moral code. They see business as a means to take care of yourself first, so you are then in the best position to give to others. Instead of considering selling as an evil activity, Jewish tradition frames it as a source of creativity, of helping others grow and enable them to do business themselves.

Not everyone carries these attitudes and sure, not all of them ever work out perfectly in business, but Jews focus on the positive and don’t blame business itself. By considering business as a mere object, a tool, that is useless without humans who use it, they remain objective.

That lets them hold those accountable, who abuse it, instead of condemning business altogether.

Gary Vee likes to say that winners pull from opposite sides and boy, are Jews winners. One of their biggest symbols, the Star of David, is a union of very different ideas, according to one of its many interpretations: the first of the two triangles represents God, humans and the physical world, the second openness to change.

The punchline is that Jews try to embrace and stay rooted in these three core values, while remaining open to whatever changes happen. Ideally, change should come about gradually, which is why religious festivities marking a big change, like for marriage or death, usually last several days.

This is not just a great attitude towards life, but also a huge advantage in business: a solid company always has a great, consistent culture, but isn’t afraid to change direction fast and often, if necessary to succeed. Take Disney, for example. They’ve always been committed to family and child entertainment, but over the years, have tried and expanded into lots of other areas and age groups.

Changing without changing where it counts is what makes great people and businesses. One of my favorite quotes comes from German poet Hermann Hesse. Roughly translated, it means: