1] Regarding “Everything is foreseen”—it is commonly interpreted to mean that everything is foreseen in advance, but in my understanding “everything is foreseen” means that everything can develop in different directions.

2] I think you’re confusing socialism with communism. Because socialism is a social idea, which has economic components. Think about the literal meaning!
Socialist thinkers in the 1960s and 1970s spoke mainly about the problem of alienation between the worker and his workplace.
By contrast, workers in the giant Krupp concern had a sense of esprit de corps. Japanese firms had commitment toward their workers.
About 20 years ago a friend of ours—A.—traveled to Taiwan to study methods of raising fish in concrete pools. Women workers were employed there, fairly hard physical work, and there was already mechanical equipment that could have replaced the women’s labor. When A. asked about it, the owner of the farm answered that he was committed to the women’s livelihood and therefore wasn’t replacing them with machinery!
The essence of socialism is concern and responsibility for all parts of society. That doesn’t mean the socialist establishment is obligated to dictate a person’s life to him.
I remember that in my youth, in the early 1950s, we talked in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement about the Swedish model as something desirable.
After all, today we know better than ever that the idea that the accumulation of wealth by entrepreneurs will cause some of that wealth to trickle down, in a way that will create general economic well-being, does not stand the test of reality.
True, the purchasing power of the masses has grown, but it creates a dynamic of suffocation and enslavement.
Two cars per family and a big television at home do not necessarily create a feeling of well-being. Nor does a bit of fresh air abroad once a year. I’m sure you know these problems from your friends and don’t need my stories.
Sabbath שלום and all the best

It doesn’t matter. Even if you define socialism as a social system, it has clear goals: to improve the feeling of well-being. And therefore you can measure its efficiency—whether it indeed achieves that. But as for Judaism, I don’t know of any defined goals, and therefore I argued that its efficiency can’t be measured.
By the way, I don’t agree that capitalist wealth from entrepreneurship doesn’t trickle down. It absolutely does, very much so. It’s just that the socialists try to brainwash people and convince them that things are bad for them because there is inequality (they’re not millionaires like Tshuva, who is cashing in at their expense), and that a car and a television don’t bring happiness—which isn’t true—and that incitement itself contributes greatly to the feeling of suffocation and to the lack of happiness. In short, socialism causes damage even in a capitalist society.

Everything is foreseen, yet permission is granted.

“Foreseen” means known in advance to the Holy One, blessed be He. And nevertheless, permission is granted—”and you shall choose life.”

Hi Michi,

“Sorry”—Joshua son of Nun warned the people to serve God, and if not—then!… Isn’t that a clear goal for a Jew?
In our day-to-day life, not all Jews who keep the commandments understand Judaism the way you and Leibowitz do.

Although most thinkers define socialism as an idea whose goal is to improve a person’s feeling within society, and your faithful servant adds existential-security arguments, most of the Torah’s commandments that we interpret as social are not explained that way in the source, but rather: “for they are My servants.”
As for wealth trickling downward—I noted that indeed the public’s purchasing power has increased, but the feeling of well-being—I’m doubtful… Today many families need 2 cars in order to get to and from work. They need a car to bring the children to the various educational settings. After being stuck for hours in traffic jams, you need a big television to clear your head.
I admit that I have no right to preach morality to people like my children, who like me live in detached houses, who are land-guzzlers and lengthen roads and increase transportation burdens.
Do you know what caused the U.S. to develop a network of highways from coast to coast?
When Eisenhower commanded the invasion of Germany, he was very impressed by the Autobahn in Germany that had been paved on the Führer’s orders. In this case, the road network worked against the Nazis; these roads enabled the Allies to race into Germany. But Eisenhower concluded that there are projects that won’t be carried out without federal funding, and therefore he initiated the paving of those roads, not private entrepreneurs!
People of means did indeed contribute a lot to establishing our hospitals and institutions of higher education. But let me remind you that aside from the insane cost of living here in the country, the cost of studies is also very high compared to developed countries. If Y. Tshuva and his friends were real Zionists, they ought to have expressed that in different percentages regarding the gas royalties, and so on.
Perhaps you didn’t study the poetry of David Shimoni [one of the poets of the Second Aliyah], who put the following verse in his hero’s mouth: “What is love of the Land of Israel? Making do with little.”
And something related: although this week scientists finally decided that the greenhouse effect is negligible regarding global warming [and there are scientists who claim that between 2020 and 2055 we will experience a short ice age], overall our descendants’ future is in graver danger than the rise in ocean levels. Waste of resources and pollution of the air and water—these are phenomena that occur when the main goal is economic prosperity. And I won’t elaborate!
And one more thing: when Mahatma Gandhi fought for India’s independence, he convinced his people to boycott British textile products. On one of his state visits to England, he was invited by the Davis family, who owned the spinning mill in the city of Darwen, so that he would understand the plight of their workers, who were suffering unemployment because of the Indian boycott—but Gandhi managed to awaken understanding among the workers, and they cheered him!
By the way, the mill owners were Quakers and socialists.

What about “Everything is foreseen”?
Have a good week

Hello A.,
I already wrote to you that in my opinion the damage to the feeling of happiness is because of socialist preaching. Wealth trickles downward, but the socialist preachers put into people’s heads that they are unhappy because Yitzhak Tshuva has more than they do (the value of equality).
I don’t need Shimoni in order to learn about making do with little, and a declaration also teaches me nothing. He declares that one must make do with little and teaches me nothing by that. Learning means reasoning and grounding, not declarations. But capitalism teaches us that making do with little is a demand on the private individual, whereas as social policy it is not a correct policy because it freezes creativity and the motivation to create.

Regarding “Everything is foreseen,” that is a possible interpretation. Usually people are accustomed to interpreting “foreseen” in the sense of foresee = to see.

I don’t know what “socialist preachers” are. I only know that many things in this country and in the world could have been improved if the tycoons were less greedy.
And regarding the connection between creativity and the motivation to create—come on, really…
If they gave you a lot of money in exchange for stopping your reflections and their publication, would you make that deal?

Maybe I’d consider it. But if there were no motivation to publish, then obviously I wouldn’t publish. For example, if there were no readers. People don’t establish factories and companies and inventions so that their profits will be distributed among the whole world and his wife. So I repeat and refer the “come on, really” back to you.

From your answer I have learned that your rationality is stronger than your passion to create. In me, as in other creative people, there burns a need to find solutions to a variety of problems; others create in music, painting, dance, etc. Someone who is creative in his soul must create—it gives meaning to his life.
I was mistaken when I told you I’m an entrepreneur by nature—an entrepreneur looks for opportunities to make money. Not that I don’t notice things that might yield a nice financial return, but that is only when it is some innovative idea of my own! There are entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, who after they invent a certain invention, focus on advancing that field and become entrepreneurs; that is also true of Elon Musk, who is innovative in every direction he goes.
Therefore the economy is driven by entrepreneurs, and technological progress by inventors. Most entrepreneurs make do with exploiting efficient technologies to advance a purely economic project. The entrepreneur will do as much as possible for his own pocket and to realize his economic vision, many times while ignoring the suffering and damage he causes to the human environment and to nature.
If he has surplus, he’ll also be happy to donate.
Have a good week

That doesn’t matter at all—who you are or who I am. The question is what the reasonable public policy is. I explained in the previous email that there is a difference between the demands made of one person or another (Tshuva) and a policy directed at the public as a whole.