Parshat Ki Teitzei

Parshat Ki Teitzei - I’m looking for a man in finance

The speed of modern social media memes is breathtaking. It's nearly impossible to know which memes are current or passé.

A sales professional, Megan Boni, saw her life change overnight. Inspired by thoughts on single women, including herself, who vent frustrations about relationships while holding unrealistic expectations of men, Boni created a song purely as a parody.

She sang, “I’m looking for a man in finance. Trust Fund. Six-Five. Blue Eyes.”

On April 30, 2024, she posted a short 19-second video with the caption, "Did I just write the song of the summer?" The catchy lyrics and upbeat tempo took only minutes to create. 

In just three weeks, her TikTok video exploded, amassing over 26 million views and igniting a wave of remixes across the platform. Here is a link to one of literally hundreds of remixes: https://youtu.be/wpIQt57vT_A?si=JyCvD1IQO6LAutjA. I chose this one because you can see Ms. Boni’s original video before the remix begins.

Our culture coined the phrase “Finance Bro” for young men working on Wall Street and elsewhere who embody an ethos where money rules everything, including friendship, family, and community. Every generation has its finance bros. In the 1990s, Michael Lewis’ Book Liar’s Poker captured this Finance Bro Culture at the Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers. 

As you emerge into the workforce, you will be challenged to understand your relationship to your inner Finance Bro - we all have one.  Our Yetzer Harah will always push us to seek to maximize our financial transactions with others. 

In our Parsha, we are told not to charge interest when we lend money to fellow Jews—it is a prohibition among the 613 mitzvot. We read in Chapter 23, Verse 20, as Moses says, “You shall not give interest to your brother, [whether it be] interest on money, interest on food or interest on any [other] item for which interest is [normally] taken.” This is the third time we have been given this mitzvah in the five books.

Rashi teaches that this is a warning to the borrower that he should not pay interest to the lender. Earlier in Leviticus 25:36, we read that one should not charge interest to a fellow Jew. Therefore, prohibition flows both ways.  

Moshe’s admonition about charging interest doesn’t come in a vacuum. In the verses preceding this one, our parsha, we read about how our new nation in Israel is to treat the stranger, the convert, the orphan, and the widow.  Moshe reiterates positive and negative mitzvot that teach us to honor these individuals, not exploit them. 

Rabbi Avishai Milner, writing at the Ohr Torah Stone website, adds, “Naturally, these people are prone to exploitation and unfair treatment and for this reason the Torah cautioins us to not take interest from these vulnterable persons.”

He goes on to quote Rashi, in his commentary on the same prohibition when it appeared earlier in Exodus, saying “Neshech (interest) is like the bite (neshichat) of a snake that bites one’s heel, leaving only a tiny bruise.  At first, one feels nothing, but then the venom flows and reaches the head.  Such is interest.  At first, one does not feel it, but then the interest inflates and deprives one of much money.”

Rashi offers a powerful reminder of how painful and lasting the impact of interest can be. However, Rabbi Miler adds that the parsha this week isn’t referring to charging interest to the oppressed; instead, it's about our fellow Jew, regardless of her status. 

Milner quotes Ramban, saying that there is nothing wrong with charging or paying interest. In fact, it's how the free market works. We don’t charge our fellow Jew interest because he’s our brother.

The Ramban and others speak to this prohibition as a mitzvah. We are commanded to forego the interest. This act of tzedaka, of treating our brothers with kindness, is not just a commandment but a source of inspiration and promise of something bigger. When we forego interest and treat our brothers with kindness, Gd will reward us and bless the labor of our hands.

Regarding non-Jews, Verse 21 clarifies that the opposite is also true. It reads, “You may [however,] give interest to a gentile, but to your brother, you shall not give interest, in order that the Lord, your God, shall bless you in every one of your endeavors on the land to which you are coming to possess.”

Rambam, in his Laws of Kings 6.8, as quoted in the Rebbe’s Chumash, states, “In principle, the Torah would require us to charge interest to any borrower.” It says charging interest is ethical and universally accepted. Rambam adds that failing to charge interest would violate the Torah’s prohibition against wasting money. It is only because Gd has deemed it so critical that we waive interest in transactions with our fellow Jews. 

Rav Hirsch provides additional context in three ways.  He compares the mitzvah prohibition against charging interest to a fellow Jew as similar to the Schmittah (the sabbath year for the land) and the Sabbath itself. All remind us that our possessions aren’t ours. It is Gd who is the master of all property.

He also adds that the prohibition against charging or paying interest among Jews means this mitzvah sits above our normal mitzvot related to justice. This is nothing less than an act of homage required by Gd.  Paying or charging interest is incompatible with serving Him.

Finally, he adds that this verse comes at a moment when the Jews are about to settle the land of Israel. Commerce and land management require lending to be successful. The duty not to charge interest or pay it is meant to foster a positive influence on social relations—that we are all in this together.

In an interview about what she was really looking for in a man, Ms. Boni was a bit more serious.  She said, “I’m looking for someone who understands my humor, lets me shine a little, and balances me out. 

Whether it's dating or building a society together, we are in a pitched battle with our Yetzer Harah. It wants us to disregard the humanity of others for the sake of personal gain. When building a Jewish nation, this prohibition is a decisive step to remind us that it takes all of us to complete the work, to balance each other out, and to help each other shine.