Judaism and the Free Market: How Biblical Ideas Helped Create the West

Judaism and the Free Market:
How Biblical Ideas Helped Create the West

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Does Jewish tradition have clear ideas about economics—issues like taxes and trade, wealth and poverty, business and entrepreneurship? And what does Jewish history teach us about the nature of capitalism, socialism, and other ways of organizing economic life? While some Jewish thinkers have argued that free market economics are exploitative or unjust, this class will explore an array of mainstream Jewish sources—from the Bible, the Talmud, and other commentators—that point us in a different direction: toward limited government, private property, and economic liberty. We will explore how Jewish ideas helped shaped the emergence of free market societies in the West, and ask what guidance the Jewish way of thinking might offer in our current age of economic turmoil.

Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin

Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin is Director of the Jewish Classical Education Concentration track at the University of Dallas and the academic director and dean of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. His prior work on Jewish Classical Education as a research fellow with Tikvah was featured in the Wall Street Journal. He received his Ph.D. in history from the CUNY Graduate Center, held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, and taught at both CUNY and Princeton. He is also a chaplain in the Army National Guard with the rank of Major. Rabbi Rocklin is also the president of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, as well as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America’s Executive Committee and Military Chaplaincy Committee. Prior to his work at Tikvah, he served as a congregational rabbi in Connecticut. His writings have been featured in publications including The Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, The Daily Wire, The Forward, The Public Discourse, and Mosaic.

Jason Bedrick

Yehoshua (Jason) Bedrick is director of policy at EdChoice. Previously, he was a policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He also served as a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and was a research fellow at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, where he focused on educational choice. Bedrick received his Master’s in Public Policy, with a focus in education policy, from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from the Rabbinical College of America and a B.S. in Business Administration from Babson College.

Judaism and the Free Market: How Biblical Ideas Helped Create the West

Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin

Jason Bedrick

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Judaism and the Free Market:
How Biblical Ideas Helped Create the West