Faith and the Market Economy

by Kendra Walz

I recently read an academic article entitled The Baha’i Faith and the Market Economy by Farhad Rassekh. Baha’i is a religion that began in Iran, and the Baha’i World Centre is a beautiful temple that sits on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. It is one of the many important religious and cultural sites found in Israel.

Typically, one may not spend too much time thinking about the correlation between faith and the economy. But the truth is that the faith of a community heavily influences its economy – from the goods they produce to an individual’s personal feelings surrounding money. For the Baha’i, every person has a spiritual, benevolent higher nature and a material, maybe less benevolent lower nature. The lower nature is where the human impulse of self-interest exists. When we think about the concepts of materialism and self-interest, we may draw an association with wealth and money.

The Baha’i faith has a lot of teachings surrounding wealth, money, and the market economy. They reject the laissez-faire doctrine, which limits the intervention of the government in commercial affairs. They also believe that commerce, agriculture, industry, and philanthropy can be vital to a civilization and even praise-worthy at times. For the Jews, harmful stereotypes surrounding money and economics have been forced upon us for centuries, which may make it an uncomfortable topic to dwell on in Jewish spaces. However, it is important to remember that just like in any faith, Judaism has important philosophies about how to handle money and the distribution of resources.

…it is important to remember that just like in any faith, Judaism has important philosophies about how to handle money and the distribution of resources.

One big example of a Jewish value regarding money is the concept of tzedakah. Oftentimes, tzedakah is translated as “charity”, but the idea is a little more complex than what one English word can summarize. We may associate tzedakah with putting literal coins in a special box in our home, but it does not always look like literally giving cash to the poor. While laws of tzedakah are written with concern for meeting everyone’s needs, they are also concerned with the protection of everyone’s dignity, and acknowledge the needs of both the Jewish community and non-Jews alike.

Tzedakah can look like a donation of money, but it can also look like cooking food for those who are experiencing a life change that makes it difficult for them to feed themselves. It can look like hiring an individual in need of a job, or gemachim,* which loan out anything from money to space heaters in the winter, to wedding dresses.

Tzedakah is not meant to be a special action reserved for individuals who happen to have a generous nature, but rather a value and obligation to understand how resources are distributed in your community. It helps to not think of it as “charity” but rather as basic economics – how should Jews work together to ensure all of our resources and talents are being distributed for the harmony of our communities? We can fulfill the obligation not only with the money we make, but with the jobs we create from the businesses we start, or the products and services we create when we contribute our talents, gifts, and knowledge.

Chai Mitzvah has materials for deeper exploration of this topic:
Business Ethics and Tzedakah/Philanthropy
Adult Jewish Journeys: Tzedakah/Philanthropy
Teen Jewish Journeys: Tzedakah/Philanthropy
Grandparents and Beyond: Tzedakah/Philanthropy
Adult Mussar: Generosity/N’divut
Teen Mussar: Generosity/N’divut

DOWNLOAD A SOURCEBOOK WITH INTERGENERATIONAL ACTIVITIES RELATING TO TZEDAKAH AT NO COST

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*Jewish community-run, volunteer-based institutions that provide free loans of items or services to anyone in need

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Kendra Walz, Administrative Services Manager, has a background in non-profit management and grant administration. She will graduate with an MBA in International Business from the University of Hartford in 2026. She volunteers with multiple Jewish organizations in the Greater Hartford area and Israel, and has been published in the Jewish feminist magazine Lilith.