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By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—I have been reading in the San Diego Union-Tribune as well as on the Internet about the two Republican county chairs in South Carolina who apologized profusely for suggesting that the proverb ‘take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves’ was a matter of Jewish practice.
In an opinion piece in The Times and Democrat, Edwin O. Merwin Jr. and James S. Ulmer, Jr. wrote: “There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves.”
It was not Jews but rather, according to Wikipedia, Lord Chesterfield who was responsible for this particular adage, and it was George Bernard Shaw who further popularized the saying in 1913 in the play Pygmalion. They didn’t refer to pennies and dollars, but instead to pence and pounds, but the idea was the same.
So, you might ask, why is it so terrible that someone might confuse Jewish wisdom with that of George Bernard Shaw or of Lord Chesterfield? Aren’t we all being a bit too sensitive?
The Republican Jewish Coalition, which demanded the apology, said the two Republican chairmen “drew on an old and malignant stereotype of Jews as penny-pinchers in their attempt to praise (U.S. Senator James) DeMint's efforts to look out for his constituents.”
The malignant stereotype to which the RJC refers goes further than characterizing Jews as penny-pinchers. The stereotype also asserts that we Jews are “cheap” and so in love with money that we are liable to cheat honest God-fearing Christians.
No matter how many wonderful philanthropists our Jewish community has produced, this stereotype hangs on. And to some degree we can blame our miscreants for adding fuel to that fire. Bernie Madoff is an example.
Every group is burdened with unscrupulous individuals, who fail to live up to their ideals. Rather than exemplifying the Jews, Madoff represents the antithesis of our values.
We Jews are taught to act fairly towards others and to give tzedakah, popularly translated as “charity.” But tzedakah also connotes “justice,” with the understanding being that there can be no justice unless people fulfill their obligation of giving charity—whether this be in the form of money or volunteer work.
I admire the courage of the Republican Jewish Coalition in being ready to call out fellow Republicans over a perceived insult to the Jews.
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Nevertheless, I believe we Jews—Republicans, Democrats and independents-- have become too defensive about the issue of whether we as a group, appreciate the value of a dollar.
Rather than deny the idea that the Jewish people have learned many good lessons in the arena of business, I think we should proudly acknowledge this aspect of our Jewish history. What we should reject is the idea that, as a group, we use the money we earn for improper or unfair purposes, notwithstanding the Bernie Madoffs among us.
I worry whether ‘political correctness’ will someday deprive various ethnic groups of their cultural and historic heritages. If we Jews-who were banned from many trades and practically forced to become merchants during our long history—did not learn the value of saving pennies, what group, if any, did?
My mother was a charitable person. She was an “area captain” in New Rochelle, N.Y., for the Community Chest, and spent hour after hour raising money for the less fortunate. She was quite passionate about it.
While I can’t remember her ever saying ‘save pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves,” I do remember her reminding me to turn off the lights when I left a room because electricity costs money.
I also remember how my father would shake his head in wonderment—and perhaps in secret admiration--about how his wealthy Uncle Manny continued to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to his office in Manhattan in order to save car fare. (New Rochelle is too far from Manhattan for anyone to even think of that.)
And, I’m pretty certain that my father said to me on more than one occasion that “money doesn’t grow on trees”—which, according to one Internet source, is an American saying, and according to another may have come from the Carlo Collodi fairy tale Pinocchio.
The Talmud isn’t silent on saving money, telling us in Sotah 12a “The righteous are careful with their funds, lest they squander their money and come to theft.”
I’m willing to bet almost every culture has some saying about why it’s wiser to hold onto one’s money than to waste it.
Ben Franklin told us “a penny saved is a penny earned.”
I can’t read the minds of the two Republican county chairmen who attributed the pennies-and-dollars saying to Jewish practice. But why should we be so quick to condemn them?
Wouldn’t it have been more civilized simply to have corrected them –“Ah, we appreciate the thought, but in fact Lord Chesterfield and George Bernard Shaw—two Anglicans actually—were the ones who taught that particular piece of wisdom. Maybe we should all take it to heart!”
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