A look at the Holy Book series

The Jewish Family Identity Forum with Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer 

Preparing the kitchen for Passover is a grueling process. Packing away the chametz (leaven). Polishing the silver. Cleaning the oven. And the list goes on.

Rescuing me from some of the tedium this year was the popular reality television show Bar Rescue. In each episode, nightlife industry consultant Jon Taffer analyzes a failing pub or nightclub and then works with its owners and staff along with outside professionals to overhaul the business.

While the physical remodeling was invariably dramatic, it was the transformation — or not — of the staff that I found most engaging.

As the episodes played endlessly in the background, I started to notice the behavior patterns that inevitably contributed to failure. Each time those negative patterns were eliminated, the business turned around.

At the same time, by their own admission, everyone on the staff became happier, more productive, and ultimately successful. And that’s where the connection to the Bible comes in: the more I watched, the more I realized that the principles for managing successful businesses echo the ones we find in the Bible for managing ourselves.

Rescue Rule 1: Rules rule, not emotions. The common denominator in nearly every one of the failing bars was emotion-based decision-making. The owner would hire unqualified friends and family members, fail to enforce consequences for theft, hesitate to terminate incompetent workers, or allow staff to choose their preferred jobs, all to avert hurt feelings, give second chances, avoid personal discomfort, be understanding, or keep the peace. What the owner ended up with instead was chaos.

Recognizing this human tendency to make moral decisions — what is right or wrong, good or bad — based on emotions, the Bible instructs otherwise.

Judges must not pervert justice by showing partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great in court (Lev. 19:15). Landowners must leave part of their fields and vineyards for the needy and the stranger (Lev. 19:9-10). An ox (domesticated animal) that kills a human must be destroyed (Ex. 21:28).

Rebuke must be (appropriately) given to someone when necessary (Lev. 19:17). These are just some of the many emotion-laden situations the text addresses, cautioning that when emotions alone rule, the moral character of society suffers.

Rescue Rule 2: Rules have a purpose. Another universal factor in the failing bars was inattentiveness to or even a purposeful disregard for health and safety rules.

Warm draft beer in old kegs. Vegetables and raw meat prepared on the same surfaces. Uninspected fire extinguishers. Lackadaisical nightly cleanings. These and other violations resulted in customer dissatisfaction, staff and patron illness, and hazardous mold and fire conditions.

Similarly, biblical rules are for the moral health of the community. Don’t gossip. Don’t put a stumbling block before the blind. Apply laws universally. Don’t use inaccurate weights and measures. Observe Shabbat and the festivals. Don’t make gods out of worthless things. Rules have a purpose: sometime obvious, sometimes obscure, but invariably relevant.

Dismissing them as arcane, old-fashioned, or simply bothersome, you end up with no way to objectively judge when you’re morally off track.

Rescue Rule 3: Being good means doing good, not believing you’re good. Many of the worst offenders in the bar scenarios believed they were good: the chefs and bartenders and owners who, despite moldering stockrooms, scrapped meals, abandoned drinks, bug-littered liquor bottles, and accounts in the red, still pointed to their degrees and titles in deluded pride.

Believing and doing are not the same. It is interesting to note that God self-identifies to Moses as “I am that I am.”

God is a verb, David Cooper concludes in his book of the same title. If we are to imitate God, then our identity is found in action, not thought. Do good. Be Torah.

Rescue Rule 4: You are responsible. At the failing nightclubs, whatever went wrong, it was always someone else’s fault: the picky manager, the slacking dishwasher, the ignorant customer.

On the other hand, the earliest chapters of Genesis teach that each human has free will and alone is responsible for choices and their consequences.

From the prophets to the Babylonian exile to the High Holy Day prayers, the challenge has been to take responsibility for our behavior and improve ourselves as individuals and as a community instead of looking for someone to blame.

Rescue Rule 5: You can’t live in the past, but you have no roots without it. One episode of a similar reality show, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, featured the son of Italian immigrants who started a restaurant. Unable to modernize after they died and he took over, he saw it go downhill as the neighborhood’s demographics changed.

Unwilling to give up his legacy, the son worked with Ramsay to maintain the restaurant’s Italian roots while updating its menu and ambiance.

His story is not unlike that of the Jews in Babylonia: how do we maintain a strong Jewish identity while adapting to the majority culture? What things are “roots” that cannot change in order for us to remain Jews, and what things are the “menu and ambiance” that can be altered?

The early chapters of Genesis teach that the entire universe reflects the orderliness of creation.

Thus, it is no surprise to me that the successful moral business is founded on the same principles as the successful moral individual. So don’t wait until you or your business are in need of rescue. Pick up your Bible and read and reflect on it a bit today and every day.

Family Discussion: Looking over the rescue rules above, which one is most challenging for you? Why? How do you think you or your projects might improve if you applied that rule?

Literature to share

Jerusalem Besieged by Eric Cline. Just in time for Jerusalem Day (May 28), this well-researched volume combines archaeology, biography, primary sources, maps, legends, travelogues, art, and current events into an informative and easy-to-read, story-like history of this most significant city. My all-time favorite Jerusalem resource.

Lights Out Shabbat by Sarene Shulimson. This delightfully illustrated PJ Library paperback highlights the rituals of Shabbat celebrated by a little boy and his grandparents despite a snowstorm that knocks out the electricity. The beauty of tradition, the light of Shabbat, and the warmth of family all come alive in this lovely book for preschoolers.

To read the complete May 2014 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.