“Gaining wealth is about increasing wisdom.” 

Rabbi Daniel Lapin

It’s a fact: rising multimillionaires must cultivate a love of learning for the principles of the Kingdom as well as the accumulated knowledge in your area of business. As you rise to various levels of business and financial management, you must learn the ways and  principles of that particular level of wealth and stature. If you do not master your current level and learn about the next, you will not advance. You will be stuck.

 A love of learning is crucial for you to become the “future self” that you envision,  and fortunately, there are vast bodies of knowledge easily available to anyone who desires to learn. You will learn from the experiences of others in the field of your choice, and as advancement is made in you discipline, you can stay on the cutting edge. Therefore, you must stay open to learning more and more. Reading, taking courses and consulting with experts must be regular habits. These are regular habits of all successful rising multimillionaires and as you get into Rabbi Lapin’s book, you will see that it is a regular habit of wealthy Jews. Once learning becomes a regular habit, you will see that it is enjoyable as well as profitable.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin has written an important book for Kingdom Business Founders, “Thou Shall Prosper”. I strongly recommend that you read this book from cover to cover. It is worth gold to your business knowledge and growth toward your “future self”. Rabbi Lapin emphasizes how the Torah has guided the success of Jewish business owners. He relates that of Forbes Magazine’s annual announcement of the 400 wealthiest Americans, 60% are Jews. His book provides 10 Commandments for Making Money according to the Torah, the foundation for many wealthy Jews. The Torah  helps us know how the world really works.

In this post, I will briefly review five of Rabbi Lapin’s Commandments and continue in a later post with the final five. 

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“Deep within traditional Jewish culture lies the conviction that the only real way to achieve wealth is to attend diligently to the needs of others and to conduct oneself in an honorable and trustworthy fashion.” Rabbi Lapin

Commandment #1 Believe in the Dignity and Morality of Business

Unfortunately, we live in a society that generally regards business wealth as an undesirable thing. Many of us think it takes advantage of the poor and is basically a selfish, personal endeavor, not concerned with the results of the business activity. This thought is ingrained in our media, our institutions of learning, and our churches. A cultural belief that Rabbi Lapin points out is, “Charity is good, business is selfish.” This erroneous belief is shared by a large majority  of people. Of course there are always unscrupulous and selfish business owners, but the majority are not that way. “You can’t earn an honest living without pleasing others”, Lapin.

The Torah as well as the entire Bible points to the value of money  for God’s people. In the beginning, God said that everything He created was good. Gold was a special gift to mankind. Gold symbolizes money and wealth. God provided it for us to enjoy and use for the expansion of His Kingdom.

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“You are simply going to have to learn how to relate to strangers with the sincere warmth and interest that turns them into friends .”

Rabbi Lapin

Commandment #2 Extend the Network of Your Connectedness to Many People

Yeshua gave us the two greatest Commandments:

30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. KJV

 Business is a social act. There is no way you can build a large successful business without people. You must learn to love people, all types of people; your employees, your customers, your business affiliates, your family and anybody affiliated with you. This gives us a sense of completeness that Yah meant for us to have. He made us to be social beings. The most powerful and prosperity producing business Mission or Purpose we can have is to provide some needed product or service that people need. If we serve, the money will follow. Rabbi Lapin relates,“The way to advance in your profession is to find a way to help people above you and below you in your discipline”. Everybody needs some type of help. Focus on helping. This will improve your importance to the great people that cross your path. “Make sure all your friends and contacts know that there are ways you could help them and you are eager to help them,” Rabbi Lapin.

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“You too need to build a kind of spiritual prism through which you can more clearly see yourself without being distracted by the glare of your ego.” 

Rabbi Lapin

Commandment #3 Get to Know Yourself

In the Business Architecture for Kingdom Founders training, I share the importance of having a strong Mission or Purpose plus Values or Principles that will guide all actions in your business. This is called your Core Ideology. The Word of Yah plus your important Values will create the spiritual prism that allows you to see yourself more clearly. 

Knowing yourself is important, but Benjamin Hardy tells us that self-imaginations are far more compelling and powerful. We can never have a completely objective view of ourselves, but he says: “The more imaginative you can be about yourself, about what you learn, and about your future, the more creative control you can have over these things.” Benjamin Hardy

That’s why a “spiritual prism” is so important. It organizes your life and allows you to work beyond the chaos of daily activities.  It helps promote order, plus it gives you a sense of grounding and stabilization. As you begin to know your “future self’, you will also realize the critical need for constant growth. Your “future self” must always strive for advancement. Yah made us that way too!

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“In your business and your personal life, try to become comfortable with the second-best solution if the very best solution is unattainable.” 

Rabbi Lapin

Commandment #4 Do Not Pursue Perfection

A reality is that many of us are looking for things to be perfect.  It can stop us from moving ahead. We look for perfection in ourselves, our families, our friends, as well as in our businesses. There is nothing wrong with shooting for excellence or high quality, but looking for perfection is a futile endeavor. There will always be room for improvement in every area of our lives. Rabbi Lapin suggests that we become comfortable with second best, if that is all we attain at the time. When you have done your very best, rest with that.

Envying those in a better place than we are is a type of aiming for perfection with perfection being the status of the one we envy. It’s far better to appreciate where we are and the progress we are making toward our own personal dreams. Gratitude is the remedy. “Focus on the good, the wonderful, and the miraculous”, Rabbi Lapin.

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“Leadership is most needed precisely during moments of chaos, fear, and stress. When feeling fear and uncertainty, people run gratefully to the man or woman who seems fearless and who seems to know what is going on and the direction in which people or events should be going.”

 Rabbi Lapin

Commandment #5 Lead Consistently and Constantly

In their book, “Be the First Believer”, Deutschlander and Campe describe some essential leadership qualities. Basically, they say that attitude and effort show your intentions. If you are the first believer, your attitude and effort will be controlled by what you really believe in. As a leader, you will lead consistently and constantly if your attitude and effort are shaped by your Purpose. The ability to manage your attitude and effort are critical.  

There are many facets to great leaders. In Business Architecture for Kingdom Founders, you will learn the behaviors of several types of leaders but one primary thing all the types share in common is, “They Walk the Talk”. Your followers must see you doing the things your business and your business culture asks them to do. 

A key thing that Rabbi Lapin advises is to use the power of prayer to achieve your business goals. He says,” Early each day, find a quiet opportunity to say out loud an affirmation of faith having to do with some business challenge.” Finally, you must carry yourself like a leader. Show confidence, courage, and commitment to your principles, objectives, and goals.

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot adopt these practices of America’s wealthiest people for yourself! Get the book!