Rabbi Wein: Yisro [and the Drive for Wealth]

 A very 2026 timely presentation:

Rabbi Wein -  WEEKLY PARSHA FROM THE DESTINY ARCHIVES

Yitro 5769/2009

The Torah teaches us important lessons about wealth and money in this week’s parsha. In fact, many of the Ten Commandments deal directly or indirectly with money and wealth. The commandment about the observance of the Sabbath teaches us that money is not nearly everything in life. 

The drive for wealth and the necessity of making a living in difficult times drove the immigrant generation in the United States, which was overwhelmingly traditional, to work on the Sabbath. This has inevitably led to the great and tragic assimilation of a great many of Americans of Jewish descent and to a wave of crippling intermarriages. There are exceptions to this rule, but generally it is true. 

Those who discarded the Sabbath in favor of wealth and seeming physical comfort are the unfortunate and unintentional progenitors of a generation of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are no longer Jewish in any sense of the word.

 

Wealth and money are necessary parts of everyone’s life. But the Sabbath trumps them – it is the most important element of Jewish life and the one guarantee of Jewish success and survival. A more direct view on the problem of money and wealth lies in the commandment not to covet. 

Coveting the belongings, the possessions, or the spouse of another is one of the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments. One could say it lies at the root of many of the other commandments. One cannot understand the commandment not to kill others and not to steal from them only through the prism of the commandment not to covet what belongs to someone else. It is as simple as that.

 

Stealing comes in many forms and shapes and circumstances. From misleading advertising to Bernard Madoff, stealing is pretty much rife in the world. The rabbis of the Talmud stated that most people eventually are found guilty of having stolen something in their lives. The drive to acquire more for one’s own self, to be richer and apparently more financially secure, drives the person to steal in a myriad ways. 

The drive for wealth forces moral and eventually legal compromises with the pure conscience that the Torah wished us to possess. The halacha even possesses within it the concept of stealing someone else’s mind and intent. One is not allowed to mislead other people in order to obtain financial reward for one’s self. I knew a good person who, while selling his home, nevertheless informed the potential buyer of all of the hidden defects that existed in the house. Kosher money is harder to come by than is kosher food.

The drive for wealth, if left unchecked and untamed, can also eventually lead to murder. Many a murder has occurred in human life because of money. King Solomon stated that money can answer all problems, but nevertheless he was forced to admit in his own life that he was not exactly accurate in that assessment. It can answer many problems, but it is not all powerful. 

All money is fungible and impermanent. Don’t take my word for it; just look around at our current world.

 

Shabat Shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

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ME NOTE:

The terms "fungible" and "impermanent" appear in distinct contexts but intersect heavily in decentralized finance (DeFi), specifically regarding liquidity provision and asset valuation. 

Here is a breakdown of the terms and their relationship: 

1. Fungible (Interchangeable) 

• Definition: Assets that are interchangeable with others of the same kind, where each unit is identical in value and properties (e.g., a  
• $10
  $ 10  bill, 1 BTC, 1 ETH).
• Crypto Context: Fungible tokens are divisible and interchangeable, acting as currency or utility tokens.
• Non-Fungible (NFTs): Contrasts with assets that are unique and not interchangeable (e.g., digital art, real estate). 

2. Impermanent (Temporary/Changing) 

• Impermanent Loss (DeFi): This is a specific risk in liquidity pools where the value of the tokens you deposited changes compared to if you had simply held them in your wallet.
• Why "Impermanent"? It is called "impermanent" because the loss only becomes "permanent" if you withdraw your assets from the pool while the price divergence exists. If the asset prices return to the ratio they were at when you deposited them, the loss disappears.
• Broader Context: In a philosophical sense, it refers to the buddhist concept of anicca, meaning all things are in a constant state of flux. 

3. The Intersection: Fungible & Impermanent 

• Liquidity Provision: Users deposit pairs of fungible tokens (e.g., ETH/USDC) into liquidity pools.
• The Risk: These users (Liquidity Providers or LPs) face impermanent loss due to volatility and arbitrage activity.
• Uniswap v3 Example: While v2 uses fungible LP tokens, v3 introduced concentrated liquidity, which can make liquidity positions behave more like unique, non-fungible positions.
• Mitigation: To reduce impermanent loss, providers often pair volatile assets with stablecoins (like USDC or DAI) or use highly correlated assets. 

In short: Fungible tokens are deposited to provide liquidity, but they are subject to impermanent losses caused by market price fluctuations.