Happy holiday to our readers celebrating Simchat Torah, the day Jews finish reading the weekly Torah readings in synongogues, and start again from Genesis.
A related factoid: In Hebrew, the last letter of the Bible is Lamed which appears in the last sentence of the last chapter of Deuteronomy in the last letter of the word [...]

An interesting twist to church-state separation occurred July 20, 1969 when  Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut but also an elder in the Presbyterian Church, served himself communion in space. But NASA asked him not to broadcast the service, due to an atheist lawsuit “after Apollo 8 astronauts read from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas.” [...]

Continuing our discussion of Joseph and the financial lessons in his story: the Divine plan behind Joseph’s sale to the Ishmaelites and his ultimately landing in Pharaoh’s court is stated clearly in Genesis 50 as was foreshadowed a few chapters earlier.
After their father, Jacob-Israel dies, Joseph tells his brothers, “you meant evil against me (in [...]

Here’s the latest DC leader with tax troubles. The LA Times quotes a Bloomberg investigation into California Congressman Pete Stark – a senior House Democrat who helps write the nation’s tax laws. The State of Maryland is now launching an investigation into Stark who:
has been claiming a $1.7 million Maryland home as his principal residence in recent years, [...]

In this Letter to the Editor of the Pocono Record, the Rev. Marilyn Smith cites the experiences of Abraham and Jacob to argue for tithing even in tough times:
If we can’t be faithful giving God 10 percent of our little, why would God give us more?

Here’s the latest twist on administration officials/nominees with tax problems.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was forced to fork up $34,000 in unpaid back taxes, told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration will be going after people who avoid and evade taxes. In prepared remarks before Congress, he said the president [...]

In his Washington Post/On Faith column, “Our Brothers’ Keepers, Not their Guarantors,” Rabbi Brad Hirschfield cites the Cain and Abel story to support bailing out even those who behaved irresponsibly, offering a different take than this famous TV clip arguing the government’s subsidy of “losers’ mortgages” promotes bad behavior.
When God asks him where his brother is, Cain [...]

Now a fourth Obama administration nominee with tax troubles.
This time, it’s Ron Kirk, the president’s choice to be U.S. trade representative. Kirk owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to pay them, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.
Remember this good lesson for public officials from Abraham in Genesis: even [...]

Pharaoh’s famine policy — besides teaching us about nationalization of assets and urbanization  — constitutes an ancient precedent that to this day hasn’t changed much: a government is never quick to reduce the tax burden even when the crisis ends.
Pharaoh’s famine tax remained in effect, even after the seven years of famine were over. Joseph — the [...]

For those of us who thought government intervention in the private sector was something new, Genesis 47 provides proof the practice is as old as, well, the Bible. It’s also a lesson in the possible perils: why the policy must be undertaken tenderly, and only at the most critical juncture.  
After he and his brothers make up, [...]