The Price of Faith: Muslim & Jewish Financial Challenges
Ever thought about how religion plays a part in your finances? As a Catholic I'm trained to think in terms of tithing and such, but after reading about some other faiths out there - the Muslim and Jewish communities in particular - I am *blown away* at how different the role of money comes into play here.This article in Money Magazine (pg.88, June '09) showcased 3 families of these different faiths, and how they cope at being financially stable while at the same time keeping in good standing w/ their values. Not only was I unaware of most of these (big shock, right?), but it really hit me how GOOD these couples were at making their lifestyles work here in the U.S.! This excerpt sums it up perfectly:
"It is impossible to put a price on religious belief. But as Abbi Perets knows from her trips to Kroger, exercising that belief doesn't come free. For the most devout practitioners...following their faith's precepts often has a profound financial impact: Religion guides how they make, spend, and invest their money. And it often leads to financial decisions and stresses far different from those of people who don't share their beliefs. "Yeah for real, I am thoroughly impressed after reading some of these stories. While the Christian portion of the article was pretty interesting, I'm going to stick to the Muslim & Jewish differences here as they stood out the most to me. And again, this is all just from what I read in the magazine, I don't claim to be an expert or anything ;) Here's what I've learned:
Financial Management & the Muslim Family:
- Interest cannot be earned, nor paid. (according to the Qur'an, where riba is generally understood to mean "interest"). As you can imagine, this would be quite hard on the majority of us Americans!
- This means no credit cards, no mortgages, no car rentals, and even limited amounts of diversification within your retirement portfolio (since you can't invest in bonds or any stocks involved in forbidden activities such as lending, gambling, and serving/making alcohol)
- Education may be an exception, but for the most part it's going to take some massive creativity to finance big ticket items & expenses.
- Charitable donations should roughly equal 2.5% of your net worth. (if you follow Islam's rules on zagat) Not sure how the net worth is calculated, but it seems that most Muslims give more than that allocated % anyways.
- Everything consumed must be kosher. That in itself didn't mean much to me, but apparently it can get REAL expensive REALLY fast. We're talking $9 grape juice and $14.99 brisket by the pound (instead of $1.99/lb). Talk about a budget buster!
- Meat & dairy products must be kept separate. That means potentially having TWO sinks, TWO ovens, and even TWO dishwashers! I'm sure there are ways of going about it without picking up 2 of everything, but needless to say it would be a bit more daunting.
- Cannot do anything classified as "work" on the Sabbath. Even riding in a car. Which means, unless you really enjoy hiking, it's a good chance you'll need to live within walking distance to your place of worship. Which also means you'll pay a higher price for your house since you and everyone else in your religious community needs to live close by!
I would love to hear if any of you practice these religions - or any others - and how it affects your personal finances. Is this article right on? Is there anything missing that plays a major role in your finances? I find it interesting that no matter where our faith lies, we are all challenged to manage our money to the best of our abilities :)
Labels: in the real world, money management, religion
posted by J. Money at
7:45 AM
12 Comments:
Wow.. Quite an interesting article. I grew up as a mormon and we were taught that we should contribute 10% to tithe and whatnot. My family wasn't always the richest so my parents did what they could. I remember once when I was a kid I earned $1 for doing a chore. I was then instructed by my teacher at church that I should be giving 10 cents to the church. That wasn't easy to take as a child. As an adult I do what I can to donate money and clothes and other items each month when I can, I don't go to church anymore so I figure this is a better way to contribute. Thanks for the article..
Oh and how about this weather in the D.C. area. I live in Frederick and Work in Rockville and I couldn't see anything on the way to work. Right now it's crazy!!
Oh man, yeah I grew up with a handful of Mormons and even went to their church for a while even though I was Catholic :) It was more to spend time with my friends than convert or anything, but it was certainly cool learning some new stuff. Like the no caffeine rule and what not. I think Sunday's they couldn't work too, right? Religions fascinate me.
And yeah, the commute in this morning was not pretty...supposed to rain non-stop for 3 days or something! Crazy indeed.
TOO TOO funny to see another blogger talking about my family. :-)
I was my mom's BFF's family "Shabbat Goy" which is a non-Jewish (Goy) Sabbath (Shabbat) helper. I turned on lights, changed TV channels, handled money, drove them, washed dishes, handled any food prep involving electricity/appliances, etc. I got paid $100 to be available Friday evening through Saturday sunset (like 6pm - 10pm Fri and 7am - 6pm Sat) every week through high school. So add in that cost to this particular Jewish family...but I'm not sure how typical this service is nor whether the rate I received is normal. Essentially, they paid for my first car & my non-scholarship portion of my first 2 years at college! Anon.Michelle
What an interesting post!
i grew up lutheran but have been agnostic much of my life. Still, i beleive in "giving back."
I recently adopted an older, feral cat from a shelter. They were so grateful i took in this cat (it's been nearly 3 weeks and he's still hiding) that they lowered the adoption fee and one volunteer even made a house call bearing special treats, meds, toys and a cat condo. (The cat was so scared when i got him home that he didnt eat for FIVE days.)
So whenever i go to costco, i buy a case of catfood so it doesn't really hurt in the pocketbook. When i have a trunkful of cat food, i'll bring it down to the shelter.
Being Jewish and growing up in a Kosher home I had the two sets of silver ware, etc. Not to a crazy degree, but I am also not real religious, every one is different. Initially sure I can see that being an expense, although most silver ware is passed down or a one time purchase. Kosher food is more expensive (although in some cases better quality) and that could add up.
My father and step-mother are Jewish. We were recently discussing the economy, and my father's dwindling 401(k) when he informed me that when they retire (Dad is 63,) they may not be able to remain kosher because of the expense.
@WriterGrrl - Woahhhh!! I'm blogging to a magazine celeb ;) At first I thought you just meant like you can *relate* to one of these families, but after further poking around I see that you are, indeed, one of these young ladies from the article! (i won't mention your name). Thanks for your honesty & being so open! So eye opening for me. And ya gotta love blogging ;)
@Anon.Michelle - Woahhhh again! haha...who knew a job like that even existed? I don't know why, but that really excites me. Although I must admit I find it strange that it's okay to have other people do this stuff for them when they're not allowed to. Is having someone else "work" on your behalf similar to working themselves? I say that with 100% curiosity, not to be critical or anything :) It's obvious I don't know anything about these religions.
@Jessie - Glad you liked!
@Anonymous - Good for you, I think that is wonderful :) Giving back in general is great for mankind...and cat-kind.
@Craig - Yeah that's true, getting things passed down and all helps out. It's all so *different* to me, but I guess if you grow up a certain way you it's all you really know. Thx for the input!
@Divorced Lifestyle - That is so sad, I'm really sorry to hear that :( This economy is hurting those closer to retirement so much more than some of the rest of us for sure. But having to change your beliefs to cope? So bad...I'll send a prayer over there, for what it's worth :)
About hiring a non-jew to do your work on the Sabbath....
A consistent Jew (according to the old testament) doesn't really have any room to believe in Gentile proselytes (turning gentiles into Jewish converts) because the Bible never allows for such an occurrence. So paying a Gentile to do that work, while it would be sinful for a Jew, is no big deal because there is no hope for the gentile anyhow.
(this is not true with the theme of the entire Bible, for the record, but if one were to look at just the letter of the Torah this is the logical conclusion. God forgave/showed love to many non-Jews many times throughout the Old Testament, and the New Testament is the same way. Just saying... :D)
That's definitely an interesting theory! And one day we'll all find out the "truth" when our time has come :)
Interesting. I never thought of those things. Thanks for sharing the article - I'm off to read the rest of it now.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Back to Budgetsaresexy.com