Non­fic­tion

Jew­ish Choic­es, Jew­ish Voic­es: Power

Elliot N. Dorff and Louis E. New­man, ed.
  • Review
By – December 16, 2011
Just as we are try­ing to come to terms with Mad­off, AIG, Dar­fur, Gaza, Propo­si­tion 8, and a host of oth­er moral chal­lenges, along comes the third in a series of work­books on crit­i­cal eth­i­cal issues. This book, deal­ing with pow­er and its con­se­quences, is designed specif­i­cal­ly for young Jews in their twen­ties and thir­ties, but is equal­ly valu­able for read­ers of any age or reli­gion. It belongs in the library of every busi­ness school and is an ide­al teach­ing aid for cours­es on Busi­ness Ethics and Man­age­ment. 

The first part of the book presents case stud­ies con­cern­ing issues such as char­i­ta­ble giv­ing, inter- per­son­al rela­tions and ethics in busi­ness. To help resolve these cas­es, the authors cite a wide range of Jew­ish sources includ­ing the Torah, Tal­mud, and Mish­nah as well as con­tem­po­rary authors such as Arthur Miller, Joseph Telushkin, Thane Rosen­baum, and many others. 

The sec­ond part of the book is a Sym­po­sium” with essays by Rab­bi Lau­ra Geller, Con­gress­man Hen­ry A. Wax­man, a physi­cian, a cor­po­rate CEO, and sev­er­al oth­ers, each of whom reveal how they grap­ple with moral issues con­fronting them. Glos­sary, index, sug­ges­tions for fur­ther reading. 
Peter L. Roth­holz head­ed his own Man­hat­tan-based pub­lic rela­tions agency and taught at the Busi­ness and Lib­er­al Arts (BALA) pro­gram at Queens Col­lege. He lives in East Hamp­ton, NY and San­ta Mon­i­ca, CA and is a fre­quent con­trib­u­tor to Jew­ish publications.

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