Madoff, Jews, Judaism and Money

An interesting article relating the close proximity between Jews and money, and in Madoff’s case, the deception and betrayal of a Jew to his co-religionists.

For a muslim, Jews and Christians are taught as People of the Book, given enlightenment by God before they chose a path for their religion for themselves. In Islam, whilst the teachings are preserved through the pristine Quran and Sunnah, the transmission of teachings of which are historically and academically proven, and the choices of muslims is now down to their own control of their personal will and desires. But I digress.

In the Seerah, we find how the Prophet treated the Jews of Bany Qurayzah (tbc) with kindness, before the ultimate act of betrayal of abrogating a peace treaty at the darkest hour of a potential siege on the muslims in Madinah during the height of the Battle of the Ditch forced the Prophet’s hand to show how to deal firmly when an act of trust is betrayed. And being the confused being that I am, though I think the Jewish double-standard and hyprocritical business dealings being justified through their Rabbis is proof of the fact that they have strayed from the right path, I absolutely admire their ability to have a stranglehold on business and finances in any society since time immemorial.

There was a though a pretty senseless comment made at this site which reads as below,

I’m surprised that this article has not triggered the standard Jew-bashing vitriol yet. Come on, let’s hear it from the marauding masses!

Which seems to suggest that the commentator has been taken in by Israel’s Zionist agenda. Anyone with some sense of justice would be able to look beyond Israel’s continued surreptitious, merciless and underhanded colonizing war against defenceless, down-trodden Palestinians, while portraying themselves as the victims of terrorism with their control on the global media. And this is backed by the UN through UN resolutions ever since the illegal occupation in 1948. And the negotiations with the ‘wildmen of the Arab world’ is to create a legal Israel state, thereby conveniently leaving out the argument of forceful occupation 60 years ago to legitimately consider Israel as a legal nation on the basis of the might of Israels’ friends. Amidst all these political maneuverings, principles, justice and truth are ridden roughshod. In Madoff’s case, from the Judaism perspective, and I say this cognizant of others in Judaism who deplore the Israeli political machinery that brings with it many predictions of Armageddon contained in the Talmud, it would seem that if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. You can’t have double standards in life.

Although I suppose my comments here is proof that I am anti-semitic and vitriol?

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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/14739-in-madoff-scandal-jews-feel-an-acute-betrayal

In Madoff scandal, Jews feel an acute betrayal

NEW YORK, Dec 24 — There is a teaching in the Talmud that says an individual who comes before God after death will be asked a series of questions, the first one of which is, “Were you honest in your business dealings?”

But it is the Ten Commandments that have weighed most heavily on the mind of Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles in light of the sins for which Bernard Madoff is accused of.

”You shouldn’t steal,” Rabbi Wolpe said. “And this is theft on a global scale.”

The full scope of the misdeeds to which Madoff has confessed in swindling individuals and charitable groups has yet to be calculated, and he is far from being convicted.

But Jews all over the country are already sending up something of a communal cry over a cost they say goes beyond the financial to the theological and the personal.

Here is a Jew accused of cheating Jewish organizations trying to help other Jews, they say, and of betraying the trust of Jews and violating the basic tenets of Jewish law. A Jew, they say, who seemed to exemplify the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes of the thieving Jewish banker.

So in synagogues and community centres, on blogs and in countless conversations, many Jews are beating their chests — not out of contrition, as they do on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, but because they say Mr Madoff has brought shame on their people in addition to financial ruin and shaken the bonds of trust that bind Jewish communities.

“Jews have these familial ties,” Rabbi Wolpe said. “It’s not solely a shared belief; it’s a sense of close communal bonds, and in the same way that your family can embarrass you as no one else can, when a Jew does this, Jews feel ashamed by proxy. I’d like to believe someone raised in our community, imbued with Jewish values, would be better than this.”

Among the apparent victims of Madoff were many Jewish educational institutions and charitable causes that lost fortunes in his investments; they include Yeshiva University, Hadassah, the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

The Chais Family Foundation, which worked on educational projects in Israel, was recently forced to shut down because of losses in Madoff investments. Many of Mr Madoff’s individual investors were Jewish and supported Jewish causes, apparently drawn to him precisely because of his own communal involvement and because he radiated the comfortable sense of being one of them.

“The Jewish world is not going to be the same for a while," said Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York.

Jews are also grappling with the implications of Madoff's deeds for their public image, what one rabbi referred to as the “shanda factor,” using the Yiddish term for an embarrassing shame or disgrace. As Bradley Burston, a columnist for haaretz.com, the English-language website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote on Dec 17: “The anti-Semite’s new Santa is Bernard Madoff. The answer to every Jew-hater’s wish list. The Aryan Nation at its most delusional couldn't have come up with anything to rival this.”

The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement that Madoff’s arrest had prompted an outpouring of anti-Semitic comments on websites around the world, most repeating familiar tropes about Jews and money.

Abraham H. Foxman, the group’s national director, said that canard went back hundreds of years, but he noted that anti-Semites did not need facts to be anti-Semitic.

“We’re not immune from having thieves and people who engage in fraud,” Foxman said in an interview, disputing any notion that Mr Madoff should be seen as emblematic. “Why, because he happens to be Jewish, he should have a conscience?”

He added that Madoff’s victims extended well beyond the Jewish community.

In addition to theft, the Torah discusses another kind of stealing, geneivat da'at, the Hebrew term for deception or stealing someone’s mind.

“In the rabbinic mind-set, he’s guilty of two sins: one is theft, and the other is deception,” said Burton L. Visotzky, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

“The fact that he stole from Jewish charities puts him in a special circle of hell,” Rabbi Visotzky added. “He really undermined the fabric of the Jewish community, because it’s built on trust. There is a wonderful rabbinic saying — often misapplied — that all Jews are sureties for one another, which means, for instance, that if a Jew takes a loan out, in

some ways the whole Jewish community guarantees it.”

Several rabbis said they were reminded of Esau, a figure of mistrust in the Bible. According to a rabbinic interpretation, Esau, upon embracing his brother Jacob after 20 years apart, was actually frisking him to see what he could steal. “The saying goes that, when Esau kisses you,” Rabbi Visotzky said, “check to make sure your teeth are still there.”

Rabbi Kalmanofsky said he was struck by reports that Madoff had tried to give bonus payments to his employees just before he was arrested, that he was moved to do something right even as he was about to be charged with doing so much wrong.

“The small-scale thought for people who work for him amidst this large-scale fraud — what is the dissonance between that sense of responsibility and the gross sense of irresponsibility? he said.

In a recent sermon, Rabbi Kalmanofsky described Madoff as the antithesis of true piety.

“I said, what it means to be a religious person is to be terrified of the possibility that you're going to harm someone else,” he said.

Rabbi Kalmanofsky said Judaism had highly developed mechanisms for not letting people control money without ample checks and balances. When tzedakah, or charity, is collected, it must be done so in pairs.

“These things are supposed to be done in the public eye,” Rabbi Kalmanofsky said, “so there is a high degree of confidence that people are behaving in honourable ways.”

While the Madoff affair has resonated powerfully among Jews, some say it actually stands for a broader dysfunction in the business world.

“The Bernie Madoff story has become a Jewish story,” said Rabbi Jennifer Krause, the author of “The Answer: Making Sense of Life, One Question at a Time,” “but I do see it in the much greater context of a human drama that is playing out in sensationally terrible ways in America right now.”

“The Talmud teaches that a person who only looks out for himself and his own interests will eventually be brought to poverty,” Rabbi Krause added.

“Unfortunately, this is the metadrama of what’s happening in our country right now. When you have too many people who are only looking out for themselves and they forget the other piece, which is to look out for others, we’re brought to poverty.”

According to Jewish tradition, the last question people are asked when they meet God after dying is, “Did you hope for redemption?”

Rabbi Wolpe said he did not believe Madoff could ever make amends.

“It is not possible for him to atone for all the damage he did,” the rabbi said, “and I don’t even think that there is a punishment that is commensurate with the crime, for the wreckage of lives that he’s left behind. The only thing he could do, for the rest of his life, is work for redemption that he would never achieve.” — NYT

liverpool held by 10-man arsenal last night

Arsenal – Liverpool 1-1 at Emirates, leaving Liverpool still top by 2 points, but they drop to second if Chelsea beat Everton at Woodison tonight, but I think Everton will put up a stiff fight, and it wont be a certainty like what it was with West Ham last week, and look what happened.

It was funny, Liverpool were beginning to exert control, though with very little chances being created, than RVP scored a gorgeous goal, where everything also just fell perfectly for him, but the execution was absolutely flawless – an absolute perfect 10 and it had to be. Then Liverpool began to turn the screw and out of nowhere Keane equalized, and Liverpool briefly threatened to run riot. Second half, Ade was dismissed, and suddenly, we lost steam.

Key points – Liverpool are very, very strong, even without Masch, Torres, Aurelio, and Gerrard, Kuyt and Alonso looking tired. Whether they can remain contenders, the next 2-3 results are very important, the run of draws, or heaven forbid, if we lose, continues, and we’d pretty much feel deflated and look towards next year. So it’s very much a confidence level thing, I hope. Can we sustain the good 1^st half in the 2^nd half given that there have been less rotation this year, I dread the feeling, but tactically, we should remain the same. It’s just the confidence to go all out and arrogantly thrashing everyone all the time can we win that.

And having seen how Rafa operates, identify the weakness and overcome it with strategic decision making, if we fail this year, and chances are still pretty high that we wont, then, next year, watch out as we have the experience of challenging built up and the squad is retained for the coming years.

Contesting evolution - a muslim speaks out

Response from http://adamdeen.blogspot.com/2008/09/responding-to-usama-hasans-muslim-apes.html is also relevant.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/11/religion.darwinbicentenary

Knowledge regained

In contrast to their forebears, modern Muslims have a childlike view of science, especially evolution. This needs to changeComments (182) Usama Hasan guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 September 2008 13.30 BST Article historyProfessor Richard Dawkins recently said that most Muslims were creationists, and their children are taught that the theory of evolution is wrong, which causes a huge problem in schools.

He's largely correct, and the Muslim world desperately needs to debate the matter properly without fear, since science can neither prove nor disprove God. Whereas the Christian world, where Charles Darwin first proposed his thesis, has had a century and a half to come to terms with the theory of evolution, it has only begun to be taught rather recently in the Muslim world, where faith and religious practice is still relatively strong.

No wonder then that the theory is opposed by some religious elements, especially those that are ignorant of science. Snazzy websites, videos and books produced by fundamentalist Muslim "creationists" such as those at www.harunyahya.com, are obscuring clear scientific thinking.

Creation or evolution? Many believers in God have no problem with an obvious solution: that God created man via evolution. Here is some explanation of this view from a Muslim perspective.

I have a background in physical sciences, not biological ones, but there are parallels. Just as we can see clear evidence for the fact that planets, stars and galaxies evolved very gradually over the last 13 billion years since the big bang and weren't just beamed into existence by God, it would seem intuitive that life in its breathtaking variety on Earth also arose through a gradual evolutionary processes. There are plenty of Muslim biologists who have no doubt about the essential correctness of evolutionary theory.

The Qur'an teaches that humanity began with Adam, whose wife Eve was made "of like nature". The raw materials from which Adam was created are variously described as dust, clay and water, ie a mixture of water and minerals found on earth and in its soil. God completed the creation of Adam, breathed his spirit into him and taught him the names of everything. Since the angels were ignorant of these names, he commanded them to bow down to Adam, to symbolise human superiority over angels due to our free will, intelligence, capacity to understand and express ourselves in eloquent language.

One problem is that many Muslims retain the simple picture that God created Adam from clay, much as a potter makes a statue, and then breathed into the lifeless statue and lo! it became a living human. This is a children's madrasa-level understanding and Muslims really have to move on as adults and intellectuals, especially given the very serious scientific heritage of the medieval Islamic civilisation.

Another objection that is sometimes posed is the following: doesn't evolution denigrate and insult all humans, but especially the prophets of God, by insisting that we all originate from apes? I reply that the theory doesn't insult anyone, but does remind us of the humble origins of our created form. This is nothing new or blasphemous, since numerous Qur'anic verses remind us that we are all created from "dust" via sexual discharges: "despised drops of water". Those verses clearly do not insult the prophets. Meanwhile, our spiritual form remains the most exalted, since it is from the spirit of God breathed into Adam: we exist for the most noble purpose of knowing and loving God, freely and after having been given a choice.

Another irony in this whole debate is that several medieval Islamic thinkers had ideas that were broadly similar to the theory of evolution. The 10th-century Persian philosopher Ibn Miskawayh may have had ideas about the natural world that were, broadly speaking, evolutionist. The 14th-century philosopher Ibn Khaldun wrote:

One should then look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals.

Although Ibn Khaldun wasn't speaking directly about evolution in the modern sense, I don't think he would have had a major problem with Darwin's theory, judging from the passage above. But it is precisely the loss of the heritage of people like Ibn Khaldun that has led to the current, appalling state of science in the Muslim world and the Muslim consciousness

My Beautiful Country. Part 1

I am in one of my nationalistic pangs today. Thing is, it arrives in a sort of inverted, transposed order, where the beauty is seen in its absence.

I took the LRT from Serdang, unknown to me that today is a Selangor public holiday. It was late by 3 mins, jampacked with people, and I had failed to get entry earlier through the TnG barrier, although after checking later, I was really cleared but didn’t know it. That was only the beginning.

After squeezing in, and changing trains at KL Sentral, I queued up and expected things to be OK as the LED display proclaimed train frequencies at 3m 44s. I was 9 mins before the next one came, and even though I was 6^th in line, I couldn’t force my way in. I managed on the next train through, about 4 mins later, but it was so crammed I was basically doing a salsa to this lady next to me. Had to forcefully focus on other things as my body parts attempted to betray me as I had a growing erection. By the time I arrived, I was sweaty and tired. Sat down for breakfast, and finally started work at 9.25, about 1 hour later than I usually came in, despite leaving the house about 10 mins earlier.

Learnings: Our public transportation design in the Klang Valley is meant for the poor, downtrodden, salt of the earth population who cant afford to buy a car. I would never ask my wife, or indeed any ladies, to take the LRT during peak hours anymore.

Observations, too...

Over the last three decades, we can observe that the engineering profession is quickly losing, or has lost, its lustre. When I was in my primaryschool days, I could feel the respect when my mother speaks about our backdoor neighbour who was an engineer with UDA, never mind the fact my schoolteacher parents could afford to have the exact same house as he did. (of which, I am proud of, Mak..;-) ) It was probably imprinted in my subconscious, that about 7 years after, subsequent to getting my SPM results, at our family meeting discussing my study and career options, despite my sense that my parents were hoping for the “doctor” answer, I suggested engineering with the excuse I am not much good at cutting up cadavers. If they were disappointed, they didn’t show it, and even went out of their way helping me get my TNB scholarship by meeting with Dr Salim Sairan (arwah now), Dato’ Rashid (unknowingly the father of my colleague here in SWF), En. Karim(!?) (curse on my memory lapses) and many others. Thanks again, Mak. (and abah, too, sorry I probably did not voice it out when you were around)

Since then, I have evolved into this super-rational human being, heard that people have said that I seem emotionally void at times, dungu at others, and being in the investment realm doesn’t help remedy that, instead it has probably accelerated the process further. But engineers have other redeeming features. We say it as it is. Although moving up the organizational pyramid and moving to the financial industries have seriously removed that from me. Okay, we are logical, able to spot gaps and issues and arrive to a conclusion quickly. Hmmm.. let’s not go there, as I certainly can not claim that as a personal virtue. Right, we inquire about the truth, and defend it to the hilt. Perhaps, moreso a long, long time ago, but especially not now in this industry where I’m still trying to find my footing.

But, back to my main point, why and where did engineers lose their attraction? The advent of IT was certainly a major factor. IT graduates commanded more pay, had better job offers and the industry shone brightly. In Malaysia, finance and banking industry boomed and grew by leaps and bounds in the last two decades aided by GOM’s drive to accelerate Malaysia’s economic growth. I know plenty of engineers in finance, and elsewhere, financial engineering has even been blamed for the unfolding economic crisis. It also became fashionable to import expertise from outside in developing Malaysia’s iconic buildings, Hijjaz Kasturi was probably the exception of a local who managed to swell his reputation despite the unfair global competition. FTAs and the WTOs will further liberalise these services sector, and the remaining engineering services providers will either become small-scale organizations living on scraps, or partners and sub-contractors of Aussie and New Zealand (!) engineering companies trying to enter our markets. (I mean, British, American, Japanese, Dutch – OK I can understand, but New Zealand? Come on.., Aussie – well OK they are probably good, but I don’t like them to a fault, so there u go)

So, engineers end up not having much in terms of pay. They don’t have that many places to practice their trade, and if they did it will be doing mundane, routine, mind-numbing stuff in GLCs, and hence, they also find their route to the top of the pile jealously guarded by people who are more innovative and has more game-changing arsenal compared to the average Mat Engineer. It is a systemic problem, and the brutal truth is that who ever is left in the profession will bear the brunt of the blame, or the shit-cleaning job, of the landslides, cracks in flyover pillars, foundations, buildings and such like. Others who have the capacity to change lanes should leave their tracks, and seek the arsenal required to change this fate.

As a nation, can we live on being a nation of economists, financiers and Islamic bankers? Sure we can. But at the end of the day, wouldn’t a diversified skill set working within the framework of nation-building, be better for Malaysia?

The human development policy in Malaysia is in such shambles that any demand for salary increase is a political issue, and none is more adept at playing this game than CUEPACS. Schoolteachers have had their increase, private sector can job-hop and get their increase, fishermen, taxi-drivers etc will get what they want as soon as the guy in charge sees a perceived erosion in political support. The ad-hoc, elastoplast, cant see beyond tomorrow approach has been the bane of Malaysia in the last 4 years. A mitigating factor for Pak Lah is that the last 5 years of Mahathir was also not great as he sought to exit with his political reputation intact.

Economically, the low-wage structure has got to be gradually unraveled. We cannot sustain this as the costs are too high. The “brain drain” to moneybags Middle East and ravenous China is turning into a tidal flow- where it was once only geologists, it now includes engineers, accountants, nurses, doctors and anyone who is able to pad up his CV with important sought-after recruitment keywords and has friends already working over there. The leftovers are unable to make up for it, and already sectors such as manufacturing are crying over firstly, the lack of quantity and then the quality of the local graduates, either struggling to speak coherent English or ability to grasp mundane work instructions. It is a sad indictment of an education policy which encourages, subsidises and allows our people to pursue expensive, overseas education, (the Malays who get their overseas education paid for by government agencies are proportionately most at fault here, and those whose parents, including the non-Malays- can most afford it are the ones which we need to train our guns on the most) could not provide the employment opportunities upon their return, their individual attitude’s towards depending upon government handouts notwithstanding.

Obviously, meritocracy would be the solution. But we have lost the last generation of our people being molly-coddled and pampered to the extent that any drastic removal of privileges and opportunities would create sustained political fractures as racial jealousy and demand for personal, class and racial rights overtake common sense.

It would seem the first step is always to create the right environment and context to move forward, prioritizing firstly, judging equally between man (populace, if you happen to be one of those gender-sensitive people who bite at such trivialities), removal of suspicions of underhanded motives emanating from other countries, respect for the legacy that we have and our 51 year history which has allowed us to move this far, that only then can we begin to take the first tentative steps towards removal of these forces which hold us back.

Observations

I love to listen to other peoples’s conversations in lifts, restaurants and other public places. Of course, it’s not the most morally upright thing in the world, but there is only so much you can do to cut out the “noise” from reaching my audio receptors. And I do have a pretty good SNR reading, borrowing from the remnants of what I can remember from my comms module in my uni days.

And hence, observations can be made on certain types of people, and stereotypes are created. Some positive, some are negative. I find Malay men can talk in indulgent subjects of conversations, about family in general, about certain things they need to achieve in life. Malay women talk about the best eating places, latest shopping sale, where to find the latest handbags and stuff. Caucasian kwailos talk about the latest policies in their office which could affect what they are trying to achieve at work. Chinese ladies.. err ok, this particular Christian Chinese was actively trying to invite her friend to come to her church for a communion.

Which leads me to realize how deeply committed they are to propagate their new found faith. Chen, my old buddy, a free-wandering-spirit looking for the next best thing to achieve in life, as well as money, converted after chasing after then his girl, and wife now. He was smart, intelligent, and no doubt very much clear about life as Malay-muslim having grown up in Pilah, and having tastebuds accustomed to gulai rebung, but the speed with which he was converted, no doubt that love had a strong unalienable pull, was still something I find immensely surprising.

Perhaps it is a question of personal commitment towards truth. I find myself fighting with, against it every hour. Doing what I know could be wrong, doing what I think is not the priority, doing not the right thing – you know, the different grades of choosing the wrong path is a continuous exercise of jihad and iman. Numerous times I have lost, and currently almost terminally, so that to find a way back seems to be so difficult. Although try I must.

But I digress. These observations seem to highlight to me what I need to do. Seems to highlight to me how huge the gap is for us to overcome that merely trying to exercise methodology and approach improvements will never be sufficient. It is a moral question, one that guides choices and reinforces personal integrity towards what the truth is and exercises passion towards what brings the best for the whole, not purely for personal and selfish gains.

work residuals

it has been a funny week. One where I thot most of what I have will be whittled down, to lets look forward to next three months, and then, thereafter.

One where a first deal is completed, to one where probably next year will be a slow year, and *groan* research is on the agenda.