Sept. 8, 2010 Rabbi Dov Fischer: iPods and why our prayers aren't answered Caroline B. Glick: What Glenn Beck can teach Israel Sept. 7, 2010 Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz: Beginnings: Why Rosh Hashana can affect the entire year Jeff Jacoby: Victims on the road to 'peace' Sept. 3, 2010 Rivy Poupko Kletenik: How to beat those down-home High Holiday blues Caroline B. Glick: The new Netanyahu? Mona Charen : Why These Talks Are Doomed Ground Zero Mosque Investor Was Terror Contributor (INVESTIGATIVE VIDEO) Sept. 2, 2010 John Rosemond: What do today's children seriously lack that children in the 1950s and before enjoyed in abundance? Evan Gahr: Seems Bloomberg truly CAIRs Thomas H. Maugh II: Diabetes drug found to reduce cancer risk Sept. 1, 2010 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Fed Up! Michael B. Oren: Reason for optimism in Mideast talks Nat Hentoff: What hath the Ground Zero imam wrought? August 31, 2010 Mark Johnson: Scientists unveil new step in less-controversial stem-cell efforts Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Not a Muslim, but there's certainly legitimate room for concern over Obama's recent repeated actions August 30, 2010 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Bogus Job Interview Peter J. Sampson and Jean Rimbach: Tenants don't see imam as 'healer' Andrew Silow-Carroll: Fly the friendly skies --- or go to Israel August 27, 2010 David Hazony: The Mystery of Goodness Caroline B. Glick: Accepting the unacceptable August 26, 2010 John Rosemond: ‘Fixing’ Son's Shyness George Will: The Mideast mirage Paul Greenberg: Rare Sighting: Common Sense from the Bench August 25, 2010 Ariella Marcus: New prayer book uplifts as it enlightens Nat Hentoff: Am I also a bigot? Pols clueless on Ground Zero mosque Sarah Tully: Muslim employee is taken off Disney's schedule after deciding she no longer wants to wear uniform August 24, 2010 Steven Emerson: A 'moderate Muslim' exposed Cal Thomas: Pointless Talks Wesley Pruden: The 'Zionist plot' to build a mosque August 23, 2010 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Reclaiming what's yours through deception George Will: The 'two-state' delusion August 20, 2010 Rabbi Dov Fischer on his divorce and responsibility Caroline B. Glick: Dusk in Iraq August 19, 2010 Jeff Jacoby: The 'disengagement' disaster, five years on George Will: Skip the lectures on Israel's 'risks for peace' Matt Flegenheimer: Hypercompetitive overachievers bet on their own academic success August 18, 2010 Suzanne Fields: The New Dance on a Pinhead Richard Z. Chesnoff: A Film Unfinished: The Warsaw Ghetto As Seen Through Nazi Eyes Lee Margulies: Dr. Laura to leave radio show amid controversy (INCLUDES VIDEO) August 17, 2010 Dennis Prager: Same-Sex Marriage and the Insignificance of Men and Women Caroline B. Glick: Standing on a landmine Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Obama's 'Teachable' Shariah Moment August 16, 2010 Arnold Ahlert: You've Lost America, Mr. President George Will: Israel will not be a 'perfect victim' August 13, 2010 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: What does 'doing the right thing' entail? Caroline B. Glick: Guide to the Perplexed Jon Stewart: Charlie Rangel's War (VIDEO!) August 12, 2010 George Will: Israel's anti-Obama Larry Elder: Is Obama Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab and Muslim World? August 11, 2010 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: How to talk to a neo-Nazi (POWERFUL!) Rene Stutzman: Muslim-turned-'infidel', now 18, is ready to begin life anew August 10, 2010 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Paid volunteer employee? Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Coming to grips with shariah

Jewish World Review Sept. 18, 2008 / 19 Elul 5768 Lessons From The Puritans By Cal Thomas http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "Greed is good." (1987 film "Wall Street") "Whoever loves money, never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 5:10) The financial "crisis" on Wall Street has provided another teachable moment. It turns out that greed is not good after all. While the media and politicians blame the usual suspects, greed, like illicit sex, is not held in copyright by either party or political persuasion. Barack Obama partially and predictably blamed the Bush administration, but it was the policies of the Clinton administration (as detailed in the Sept. 15 issue of Investors Business Daily) that sowed the seeds for the subprime mortgage collapse. John McCain wants more regulations. What McCain should be demanding is an investigation, especially of those members of Congress who failed to provide oversight. It also wouldn't hurt to recommend more self-control and an embrace of the Puritan ethic of living within one's means. FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. Modern Western culture has been built on the success ethic, which says the acquisition of material wealth produces happiness and contentment and that the value of a life is to be measured not by one's character, but the size of his bank account, the square footage of his home, the cost of his clothes and the cars in his garage. The Puritan Thomas Watson addressed this notion when he said, "Blessedness ... does not lie in the acquisition of worldly things. Happiness cannot by any art of chemistry be extracted here." Christianity Today magazine noted in a 1988 article, "The Puritan Critique of Modern Attitudes Toward Money": "American culture has been strangely enamored of the image of 'the self-made person' — the person who becomes rich and famous through his or her own efforts. The idea of having status handed over as a gift does not appeal to such an outlook. Yet the Puritans denied that there can even be such a thing as a self-made person. Based on an ethic of grace, Puritanism viewed prosperity solely as G-d's gift." The writer might have added that prosperity should not be seen as an end, but a means. Throughout Scripture, people are warned that money is a false G-d that leads to destruction. Wealth is best used when it becomes a river, not a reservoir; when it blesses and encourages others and does not solely feed one's personal empire. The modern business ethic seems to be to make as much money as possible, but with little purpose for making that money other than to enhance the wealth and status of those who make it. No wonder Paul the Apostle wrote that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). It isn't money itself that is evil. Money, like fire or firearms, can be used for good or ill, depending on the character of the person who possesses it. But money can be worshipped with as much fervency as that golden calf in Moses' time. In Dow we trust! Part of our problem is a failure to distinguish between needs and wants. Until the last century, most people were familiar with the Puritan ethic of living within one's means. The Gilded Age in the late 19th century demonstrated the folly of rapacious living, yet the Roaring Twenties generation had to learn the lesson anew from the Great Depression. When the Forbidden Fruit was handed to Adam and Eve, they were allowed the moral choice to accept or decline. I know people who have refused to feast on the money tree. They live simply, within their means, and seem far more content than those who are trying to horde their wealth while clinging to the ladder of "success," terrified to let go. That isn't real living. The Puritans rightly saw that as covetousness. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. BUY THE BOOK Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.). Cal Thomas Archives JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here. © 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Barbara Amiel  Michael Barone  Tony Blankley  Andy Borowitz  David Broder  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Richard Z. Chesnoff  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Alan Douglas  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  John Fund  Frank J. Gaffney  Lloyd Garver  Michael Gerson  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Lewis Grossberger  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Ron Hart  Nat Hentoff  Marybeth Hicks  David Horowitz  Cheri Jacobus  Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  Ed Koch  Ch. Krauthammer  Michael Ledeen  John Leo  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Dick Morris  Jim Mullen  Bill O'Reilly  Kathleen Parker  Mark Patinkin  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Jonathan Rauch  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Heather Robinson  Pat Sajak  Debra J. Saunders  Culture Shlock  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo  Chip Bok  Dry Bones   Lisa Benson  John Branch  Gary Brookins  John Cole  J. D. Crowe  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holber  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Ranan R. Lurie  Jimmy Margulies  Rick McKee  Michael Ramirez  Kevin Siers  Jeff Stahler  Ed Stein  Danna Summers  John Trever  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  Lori Borgman  Fixit  Dr. Peter Gott  GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko  Richard Lederer  Tech Maven  Every Monday Matters  Nutrition Myths  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams  How Stuff Works