Proudhon, Marx, Gesell and other economists and philosophers. For the same reasons usury was also condemned by the writers of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Other critics of usury include Allah, Thomas Aquinas, and all the popes from Alexander III (1159 to 1181) to Pope Leo XII (1823 to 1829); not to m

alternatively, basic obedience to spiritual teachings. All major religions recognised the inequities of usury; the bible clearly prohibits usury in Deuteronomy 23:20. For many, particularly the wealthy and those that remain wedded to neo-classical ideas, an appeal to common decency or divine guidance may n

ed by Christian fundamentalists who were literally relying on the Word of God as their guide. One wildcatter in the 1960s was led by a passage from Deuteronomy to conclude there was oil located somewhere on the ancient lands of the tribe of Asher, on "the foot of Asher" between Haifa and Caesarea. No luck.

ity, Israeli Arabs are second-class citizens, even if their living standards remain higher than those of most Arabs in the region. As we know from Deuteronomy, "Man does not live by bread alone." This distrustful ignorance of the other can be found everywhere in Israel. Or almost everywhere, for there is

reward for capital, a concept that goes back to Aristotle and is implicit in the Christian idea of usury. Islam forbids it altogether. The book of Deuteronomy suggested a debt amnesty every seven years, which survived into later Jewish custom. But conventional morality has not always been on the side of th

s not merely that we be just, or even that we do justice, but rather that we actively pursue justice, as if injustice never rests. The exact words of Deuteronomy—which I recalled because I recited them in my Bar Mitzvah portion—were “Justice, justice, you must actively chase after.” The traditional translation

case, how would one chose which one.” In fact, there remains an on-going debate about the order with which the embedded four passages from Exodus and Deuteronomy should be arranged and inserted in the ftefillin such that some compromising orthodox Jews wear two types of fefi/lin, each representing one of the t