Introduction
Judaism does not separate economics from ethics—it embeds a moral dimension into the very structure of economic concepts. Jacques Attali points out that the Jewish people created a system in which money serves to sublimate violence. Instead of bloody revenge, the law introduces material compensation. This article explores how the ancient principles of Tzedakah, the prohibition of usury, and a nomadic approach to property have become key points of reference today in debates over social justice, artificial intelligence, and the global financial order.
Jacques Attali: The Jewish People as the Creators of Money
According to Attali, Judaism defined money through four concepts: kessef (desire), maot (time), mamon (responsibility), and damim (blood). The latter is crucial—the moment God stays Abraham's hand over Isaac marks the birth of a civilization based on symbolic exchange. Money becomes a substitute for violence, allowing blood to be redeemed with silver. In this logic, wealth is not a reward but a question: "What do you intend to do with it?" Wealth gains meaning only through ethical use, symbolized by Jacob’s ladder—a figure of an order that allows one to transcend differences in fortune.
The Talmud: A Portable Constitution for a Nation Without a Territory
After the destruction of the Second Temple, Judaism transformed into a religion of the Book. The Talmud became a "portable normative architecture," binding the diaspora together through a common law. Forced nomadism meant that capital had to be mobile, making Jews innovators in the spheres of services and credit. The central prohibition of usury within the community protected a debtor's lifetime from unfair appropriation. Talmudic thought does not condemn wealth but treats it like a fountain: money must flow to generate social value. In this ethics, halting the movement of capital is a form of communal death.
Judaic Ethics: A Moral Compass for AI Development
The contemporary debate on AI in finance resonates with the Judaic distrust of "black boxes." Attali, countering the theories of Weber or Sombart, sees Judaism as a system of ethical brakes that prevent profit from becoming autonomous. While the American horizon focuses on technology and the European on law, Abrahamic traditions (including the Islamic prohibition of riba) ask about responsibility. In the era of the "digital nomadism" of platforms, the biblical institution of the Jubilee year (debt forgiveness) emerges as a tool to combat precarization. Tzedakah—an obligation of justice, rather than voluntary alms—could become the foundation of an order where algorithms serve Tikkun Olam (repairing the world).
Summary
If money is the lifeblood of society, then the way its flow is regulated is a test of our maturity. The history of Judaism shows that it is possible to create an ethic that harnesses wealth to serve the community, but it also warns of the fate of the "nomad," who easily becomes an object of hatred. In the age of algorithms, returning to the Hebrew names for money is not nostalgia but an act of intellectual self-defense. It reminds us that every number on a screen represents the condensed time of someone's life and the potential equivalent of someone's blood.
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