cover image More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul

More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul

Steven Z. Leder. Bonus Books, $23.95 (250pp) ISBN 978-1-56625-195-2

Gold is not a problem unless we fashion it into a calf to worship, according to this engaging volume of moral instruction. Leder, a rabbi and author of The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things, addresses the spiritual problems of accumulating and then liquidating wealth in a responsible fashion, reminding readers that wisdom, family, friendship, fulfillment and ethics all take precedence over mammon. His ecumenical approach invokes the teachings of Buddha, Christ and Abe Lincoln, but maintains a characteristically Jewish tone of religious obligation tempered by common sense and infused with a concern for social justice. Practical advice abounds, on tithing (a tenth--at least--of one's income should go to charity); on money and kids (make them work for it, and no credit cards before college); on business ethics (reasonable profits are okay, but don't take advantage of another person's ignorance of the market); on workaholism (keep the Sabbath holy, because""we must put limits on the degree to which we are willing to sell our soul for a dollar""); and on loans to relatives (better to co-sign than to lend outright). There's nothing surprising in these ageless verities, but Leder conveys them with a mixture of parables, proverbs, jokes and sermonettes (on, among other things, why marriage is a lot like fishing for halibut) that keeps them fresh.