Foundations of a Jewish Economic Theory

Out of Step Jew comments on an interesting article Foundations of a Jewish Economic Theory published in Azure by Yosef Yitzhak Lifshitz. In the context of the popular belief that social justice and redistribution of wealth is integral to Judaism the author makes the claim that the roots of Socialism are to be found in Catholicism not in Judaism. He writes:

But if the historical roots of socialism are not to be found in Judaism, then where do they come from? This is not an easy question to answer, and it is never a simple task to measure the impact of ideas in history. Yet it is difficult to ignore the fact that the most notable antecedents for these socialist ideas appear not in the Jewish sources, but in the doctrines of the very Catholic Church against which socialism had originally sought to array itself. The Church Fathers had a clear view of man�s place in the world, according to which the individual�s accumulation of wealth was seen as a form of injustice, and his rights to property were clearly limited by the needs of the poor. In the classical Christian view, man should not keep more than he needs to live modestly, and property should be made available to the needy, even in contravention of the owner�s wishes.

A fascinating study by Yosef Yitzhak Lifshitz falls short of pursuing the idea of Protestant and Masonic influences on money culture in America. Spelling out stealth Catholic roots in Federations social justice rhetoric and leftist Jewish propaganda is a task at hand.