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The Distilled Wisdom of Human Nature
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Two of Rabbi Lapin’s seven children, with his bestselling books.
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Rabbi Daniel Lapin, national radio talk show host on political, economic, and cultural values and the author of two best sellers, paid another visit to the BBRC Friday. The Rabbi and his wife live on Mercer Island with their seven seven children, all homeschooled.
While researching the ancient texts of early sages to help Rabbi Lapin counsel his congregants in their personal and professional lives, he uncovered the "distilled wisdom of human nature." He saw that while technology has certainly changed during the last two millennia, the nature of human beings and of business transactions have not.
The only orthodox Rabbi to host a nationwide radio show, Rabbi Lapin was recently appointed by President Bush to a three-year term on the Government’s Commission on U.S. Heritage. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Seattle #4.
“I am constantly amazed at the energy you have at 7:00 a.m.! I thought it might be in the orange Juice, but there was nothing but orange juice!”
The Rabbi said he was working on a new book, a rabbinical research. “Jews are good with money, but you’re not supposed to say that out loud … Jews can say it, Christians can’t. Let’s analyze this for a moment: Jews are 2.3% of the U.S. population. The Forbes 500 lists not less than 60 Jewish people on it since its inception. This tells me that if you have a reputation of ripping people off, soon you will run out of people to rip off. You never truly excel if what you’re doing is morally reprehensible. You have to believe in what you do to be a success. That’s the key to Jewish business acumen. Jews look at it that God rewards good work. God wants us to be good to one another.”
Rabbi Lapin says that “Jews were never encumbered about feelings of intense guilt by good intentions. You become a recipient of rewards. Business people are successful because we do business with people we like. Look at the dollar in your pocket. Did you rob someone, defraud someone to get that dollar? If so, put it on the table for the Sergeant At Arms!”
The Four C’s: care, concern, compassion, and cooperation. It’s an enormous breakthrough to understand how this works. The BBRC uses this in having fun. Secret of extracting profit from people? There is no secret. It’s a matter of maturity and hard work.
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Bob McNulty talks with Rabbi Lapin after Friday’s program.
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The February 12, 1996, issue of People Magazine featured a cover story on best loved stories, part of their Valentine edition that year. It featured a list of “Best-Known Couples.” All of these men were married when they teamed up with the star that made their partnership famous: Tracy and Hepburn, Burton and Taylor, Edward and Wallis Simpson, and so forth. All of these were adulterous relationships. “Somehow, we’ve overlooked these indiscretions throughout the years. We know these kinds of relationships are not right, but we accept them because of the notoriety of the participants. A star quality sort of thing.”
“No, it seems to me that the only way to be a villain today is to have the pursuit of money. Pursue the appetite, you are already guilty. The Enron situation is the worst possible scenario. But why is this becoming a blanket indictment of all of business and business people? Doctors abuse patients, politicians abuse citizens, but everybody abuses business people.”
Lapin continued, “What we have is a cultural struggle against business. Where did the philanthropist get his money? He takes it! The villain in all this is business. So, how have Jews coped? Sometimes, life gives us two lousy choices. Pick the one I like the least.”
“We have what I call a system of ‘ethical capitalism.’ It has built America into the greatest engine of prosperity. Here are your options when you apply this thought:
There are approximately 500 waterfront homes on Mercer Island. There are perhaps one million Washingtonians who want one of these parcels. Here are the five lousy choices:
- A lottery
- Nobody gets the property; make it public.
- Form a committee to decide who gets it.
- Take the parcels by force.
- Everybody in the country bid on it.
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Club President Steve Goldfarb (R) thanks Rabbi Lapin for his presentation.
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“We have reached a peak of maturity in this country,.a maturity that drives this economy. There is a great tie-in with business and helping people. We’re sitting in a roomful of Rotarians right now. You are all in business in some form or another, and you are Rotarians because you want to help your community. That’s our hole card.”
As Calvin Coolidge once said, “The business of America is business.”
The spirited address by Rabbi Lapin was rewarded with a gift of 700 pounds of food donated in his name to Rotary First Harvest.
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