Pillow Book of Talmud Wisdom

Chapter 26 Deceiving others for no reason is hurting oneself—Jews on Integrity

In the eyes of the Jews, the first element of being trusted is: honesty.Honesty is the root of the tree, without the root, the tree has no life.

As the "Talmud" says: money is a tree on a mountain, honesty is a spring in a mountain.

Deceiving others can only hurt yourself
In the city of Tarnopur lived a man named Favel.One day, he was sitting in his room reading the Talmud seriously when he heard a loud noise outside.He went to the window and saw a large group of children playing.Fewell wanted to drive them away, so he opened the window and said to the children:
"Go, children, to the church. There you will see a sea monster. It has five legs, three eyes, and a beard like a goat's, but green!"

As soon as the children heard this, they all ran away, and Mr. Fairwell went back to his study, thinking of the nonsense he had just made up to those children, he couldn't help laughing secretly.But soon the tranquility of his study was broken again, this time by the sound of running footsteps.He went to the window and saw many Jews running.

"Where are you going?" he asked loudly.

"Go to church!" replied the Jew. "Haven't you heard? There is a sea monster there, with five legs, three eyes, and a beard like a goat's, but green!"

Mr. Fewell smiled smugly, and went back to reading his scriptures.

He had just sat down firmly when he heard a commotion outside.He looked out of the window, and there was a big crowd, men and women, old and young, all running in the direction of the church.

"What's the matter?" he asked aloud.

"My God! what, don't you know?" they answered, "just in front of the church there is a sea-monster. It has five feet, three eyes, and a beard like a goat's, but green! "

People hurried past.Mr. Fewell suddenly noticed that the Rabbi himself was among the crowd.

"My God!" he exclaimed, "if the Rabbi himself is running with them, something must have happened. There is nothing like nothing."

Without thinking, Mr. Fairwell grabbed his hat and left the house, and ran after him.

"What's the matter?" he asked to himself, as he ran out of breath towards the church.

When Jews do business, nails are nails, riveting is riveting, and they are very serious and honest.They think that if they deceive others for no reason, they will lose their credibility, and in the end they will actually hurt themselves.

Take honesty as the first priority in life
The Jewish classic "Talmud" pointed out that money is a tree on a mountain, and honesty is a spring in a mountain.

In the eyes of the Jews, the first element of being trusted is: honesty.Honesty is the root of the tree, without the root, the tree has no life.

When people asked Morgan what he valued most in employing people, he clearly answered: "We pay great attention to the degree of trustworthiness of candidates." He said, "Once you have a bad record in the use of money, our company will not Will hire you. Many companies, like us, pay great attention to a person's character and use it as a criterion for promotion and appointment. Even if that person has rich work experience and good conditions, we will not hire him. There are four reasons for us to do this : First, we believe that apart from having a sense of responsibility to the family, keeping promises to creditors is the most important thing. If you break the contract and break the promise in terms of money, it means that you have a personality defect. But you must pay for things, owe money It is a matter of course that debts must be paid. To be unkept in money is the same as stealing. Second, if a man does not keep his word in money, he will not keep his word in anything. Third. , a person who has no sincerity to keep his promise will definitely neglect his duties at work. Fourth, we will not hire a person who cannot even solve his own financial problems. Because repeated financial difficulties are easy Leads a person to steal and embezzle. People who have a bad record with money are ten times more likely to commit crimes than the average person. The same applies to how we behave when we spend our money with integrity.”

Morgan's employment standards illustrate such a problem: honesty is a ruler to measure the character of a businessman.This ruler, no matter in ancient or modern times, is applicable to the inspection of all businessmen. Honesty and trustworthiness are not only a proof of a businessman's character, but also enable a businessman to establish a strong sense of responsibility to the family and the society.

The Jewish prophet once predicted that the judgment of the future world will first ask five questions, the first of which is: Are you honest in your business?

The other four are, in order:
"Have you made time to study?"

"Have you worked your best?"

"Do you desire to be redeemed by God?"

"Have you ever engaged in an intellectual debate?"

Putting honesty in business before learning, work, faith and wisdom shows how much the Jewish prophets valued honesty in business.

Use fair balances and fair weights

The prophets of the Jewish nation instructed their descendants:
"You can't practice unrighteousness. You must use fair scales, fair weights, fair scales, and fair scales."

Their requirements are specific:
"There shall be no weights and measures of one large and one small.

Measuring instruments are cleaned once a month for wholesalers, and once a year for small manufacturers.

Small manufacturers have to clean their weights frequently.To the degree that it is not sticky.

The store owner has to clean the measuring instruments once a week, the weights once a day, and the balance after each weighing. "

Integrity is the soul of Jewish commercial law and the highest skill in commercial activities.The Jewish commercial law not only requires merchants to "clear the bad beans out of the grain barrels, but not put them at the bottom of the grain barrels where consumers cannot see", it also prohibits the use of paint to paint aging slaves and sick cattle and sheep, Outdated appliances.

The purpose of doing this is to expose the shortcomings of these "commodities" to customers.However, they should not only tell customers about the defects of the goods, but also declare loudly that "my goods are the best".

Radical integrity doesn't mean they abstain from embellishing the world.To make the world look prettier, the Jewish prophets allowed good clothes to be washed brighter, sackcloth to be beaten thinner and finer, and windows and baskets to be painted in bright colors.

The Jewish businessman thought it was not the fault of the businessman that the customer was in debt.

The interpretation of honesty by modern Jews is of course close to modern society.Integrity is the source of wealth and the highest skill in business activities.Whether in the Western or Eastern world, whether for big businessmen or small businessmen, this Jewish business law has been proved everywhere and everywhere.

They clearly tell customers "I want to make money", and they let the world clearly see how they make money.

Jewish businessmen are never treacherous.The first person in the history of world business to propose "return if you are not satisfied" is a Jewish businessman.The man was Julius Rosenwald.Rosenwald is the owner of the Sears Romanc department store in the United States. This famous slogan was put forward at the beginning of the 19th century.

Paying attention to advertising and being good at advertising is just the way of doing business for modern Jewish businessmen.In the "Talmud", it is clearly forbidden for businessmen to use advertising and other promotional methods.The Jews considered such behavior to be a trick in the sense that it was tricking people into buying or making a deal.

The Jews believe that even if they have nothing, they will not take ill-gotten gains or do unrighteous acts, because in this way, "you will be thrown into hell."

Credit is the embodiment of word of mouth
In this world, some wealth is tangible and within reach, such as villas, private cars, deposits, etc., while some wealth is intangible, such as reputation, credit, and word of mouth.Jewish businessmen believe that if you want to become a rich man, you must first abide by credit, because credit is an intangible wealth, and credit is the embodiment of word of mouth.

It is conceivable that a person with a bad reputation and bad credit cannot win the favor of others, let alone win the trust of others.Therefore, for businessmen, they must pay attention to their own credit.

There once was a Jew named Karen.One year, he borrowed 40 yuan from a friend. There was no property guarantee or deposit certificate as collateral. He only had one sentence: "Believe me, I will pay you back at the end of the year no matter what."

At the end of the year, his capital turnover was very difficult, and he could not pay back his foreign debts, and he was pressing for arrears.In order to repay his friend's 40 yuan, he racked his brains to raise 20 yuan, and he couldn't raise the remaining 20 yuan.In the end, he decided to use his private house as a mortgage, but the bank assessed the house to be worth 24 yuan and could only mortgage 18 yuan.Karen made a determined effort, and after serious discussions with his wife, he sold the house at a low price of 20 yuan, and finally raised 40 yuan.The family rented a house in the outskirts of the city.

Karen, who had drowned before, went to fight in the commercial sea, so she would naturally be cautious and calm when encountering chaos.He succeeded again, and two years later not only had he paid off his debts, but he had also made a fortune.Whenever someone asked him how to bring the dead back to life, he would solemnly tell the other party: "It's credit!"

You can't do business without credit.A person without credit is like a reed on the wall, which will not stand up after all.And a trustworthy person, no matter what environment you are in, because you have a good reputation of "keeping promises", others will naturally believe in you extraordinarily.In this way, you have accumulated a huge fortune for yourself invisibly.

The Jewish classic "Talmud" points out that if someone says that the Jews have deceived you, don't believe it, because the Jews are not born to deceive.Jewish businessmen advocate honesty first. After suffering countless carefully arranged lies and traps, they did not abandon God's teachings, and still abide by the covenant, win people's trust with honesty, and believe that they will be rewarded.Therefore, the commercial transactions of Jewish businessmen are completed on the basis of trust. Whether it is a written agreement and rules or a verbal commitment to the agreement, Jewish businessmen will fulfill it without compromise.

As a classic work of the Jews, the "Talmud" stipulates the basic ideas and original practices of commercial regulations.The sages of the Jewish nation predicted the future development trend of society and made various regulations when other nations were still farming. It is really very foresight.These statutes have also proved to be reasonable and effective regulations in modern life, and have great significance for the history of business and law.This basic idea and specific norms have a profound impact on the formation of Jewish businessmen's unique management style and on the value standards of the modern business world.

There is a "Brown Berry Bakery" bakery opened by a Jew in the United States. The hostess is Kathleen, who has good cooking skills.The store is small and inconspicuous, and the two daughters are employees.In the first year, the business was booming, and the business was booming; two years later, the small shop turned into a company; within a few years, Kathleen was honored as the "King of Bread", and her annual turnover rose to 400 million US dollars, becoming a Big entrepreneur.

At the beginning of opening the store, Catherine said: "There are no certain rules to follow when doing business, and it depends entirely on the improvisation of the operator. But I have a principle, that is, 'honesty and no deceit', and I will respond to all situations with the same principles. Change, emphasizing that you only earn what you should earn.” To do this, she first accurately calculated the cost of bread, added a reasonable profit, set a fair price, and marked it on the package.

Secondly, it publicly stated, "If the goods cannot be sold for more than three days, the expired bread will be taken back", and the baking date should be marked on the bread.She dispatched cars, delivered fresh bread to dealers every day, and took back old bread, all year round, without sloppiness or stinginess.

Once, the car sent by Kathleen, loaded with recovered bread, passed through a fire area.There was a shortage of food, and hungry people found the van and rushed to buy the bread in the van.This made the guards very anxious: no matter how much they sympathized with the hungry masses, they dared not sell the old bread, or they would be fired by the boss.One party wants to buy, but the other party is afraid to sell. How to deal with this matter?At this time, an escort said to the buyer: "The company does not sell expired bread, but there is no rule that forced buying is not allowed; everyone can buy goods by force, and just throw some money with conscience." He begged the reporters present to send them Take photos of the scenes of dissuasion and people forcing them to buy bread, and use these photos to explain to the boss.

After the news came out, the reputation of Catherine Bread Company rose sharply. In less than half a year, the profit increased by five times, and the products were sold all over the United States.

Therefore, keeping verbal promises can also improve your credibility and bring you a lot of wealth.

Winning people's trust is the foundation of doing business
The Jewish classic "Talmud" says:
"A fish will die if it leaves the water, and a man cannot survive without etiquette, and he will be punished in purgatory if he does not speak honesty."

Although all ethnic groups have the saying that "doing business should be done without deceit", only the Jews are the nation that strictly enforces this kind of honest business. "Only the honest and honest way of doing business is the highest law of survival and dealing with the world." This is a point that the Jews have deeply realized from the pain they suffered from violating the contract with God.

Of course, the honesty of the Jews has also brought them a good reputation, and there are countless examples in this regard.The relationship between parts and machines must be clear to everyone. Generally speaking, parts are cheap and machines are expensive, but the purpose of owning parts is to use the machine. Therefore, some smart Jewish merchants adopt the seemingly loss-making method of giving away machine parts for free. Ways to promote your company's machines and be successful.

American Kate Pinal Company, a large company that produces bulldozers and forklifts worldwide, said in its advertisement: "Anyone who buys our products, no matter where in the world, needs to replace spare parts, we guarantee that It will be delivered to you within 48 hours, if not, our products will be given to you for free.”

They walk the talk, sometimes using a helicopter to deliver a $50 part to a remote location.The cost was as high as $2000.

Sometimes it is impossible to deliver the parts to the user within 48 hours on time, so the product is really given to the user for free according to the advertisement.Due to its high operating reputation, the company has been thriving for 50 years.

In the eyes of the Jews, winning the trust of others is the most important thing in life.In the business field, they have a deeper understanding: gaining the trust of others is the basis for the successful completion of the transaction.Jews abide by the agreement, but they do not sign written contracts uniformly. They often only make verbal promises, informal and unwritten agreements. As long as they admit the agreement, they will act in accordance with the agreement. This virtue of keeping promises has won them a very high reputation.

A customer owed the Dieter Wool Company $15.One day, the customer rushed into the office of the Jewish Mr. Dieter angrily, saying that not only would he not pay the money, but he would never spend a penny to buy anything from Dieter's company in his life.Mr. Deeter let him talk patiently, and then said to him: "I want to thank you for coming to Chicago and telling me about it. You did me a great favor. Because if our trust department bothers you, they may It would be unfortunate to disturb other good customers as well. Believe me, I want to hear what you tell us more than you do."

The customer never dreamed of hearing these words.Mr. Dieter also reassured him: "Our staff has to take care of thousands of accounts. Compared with them, you are less likely to make mistakes. Since you can no longer buy wool from us, I will recommend some other wool companies to you." .”

As a result, this customer signed another order that was bigger than before.When his son was born, he named him Dieter.He remained a friend and customer of Dieter until his death.

It can be seen that morality is by no means dispensable for Jewish businessmen.

(End of this chapter)