What does 'wealth' mean?
Wealth refers to the amount of money and possessions someone has. Unfortunately wealth is not evenly spread around the world and this means that some people are extremely wealthy and others go through life with too little money to live.
Acquisition of wealth
The acquisition of wealth refers to how a person gets their money.
People can acquire wealth in many different ways including:
- receiving an income from working for someone
- starting their own business
- inheriting money, possibly from the death of a loved one
- through criminal means such as fraud or burglary
- activities such as gambling
Judaism has some rules about the acquisition of wealth. The faith teaches that wealth should be gained from honest work and that people should always try to use their money to help others. It forbids Jews from being dishonest in any business deal.
If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other.
Judaism teaches that Jews will be judged by God if they lie or cheat in order to gain more money.