Jewish Law as a Set of Rules - Essay Example

Sur JEWISH LAWS AND THE REAL E BUSINESS Law is a set of rules and guidelines used to govern a group of people who generally accept them in a state with well defined leadership system. It covers political, social and economical aspects of the people in that particular state (McMahan, 222). It includes property laws, which protects and regulates ownership of property by the people, contract laws, which concerns with all aspects of trade, criminal laws that concerns with all crime related issues, constitutional law which protects the rights of the people. Political elections and laws creation by the legislatives, international laws that concerns with over the boundaries issues and administrative law concerned with government decisions. Jewish law is a set of rules generally referred to as Halacha or Halocha or Halakha. Halakha is a Hebrew name meaning to go hence taken by the Jewish people to mean the way to go. It comprises of the practical application of the Moses rules in his five books. It is comprised of the biblical law, customs, rabbinic and Talmudic laws and the traditions of the Jewish people (Meister, 188). The halakha is used to steer many life aspects including the spiritual religious beliefs and practices of the Jews. It provides legal guidance to all in all they undertake. The Jewish people both in the country and in those away, however, voluntarily use the Halakha. Real estate refers to land together with whatever is permanently attached to it. It is the property consisting of land and building structures on the land. It further consists of the natural resources like the minerals, crops and water. It includes the purchasing, selling of the buildings, renting, and leasing of the land and buildings in the real estate business, building loans, property owner issues and tenants and renters issues. However, the contract law and the real estate laws govern real estate business. These laws regulate the property ownership, their development and their transactions. Real estate business in the United States of America is a booming investment with a profitable income with reasonable interests charged. An interest is the amount of money paid by the property borrower to the property owner to compensate the utilization of the assets. The Jewish Law (Halacha) relates to the United States of America’s real estate business in several ways. The Halacha Strictly adheres to the Biblical teachings. It strongly advocates for fairness in any business undertaking. For instance, it condemns monetary deception in any business. Hence, it affects the real estate business especially on the renting and leasing as it condemns overcharging and the deception of the property owners on the interests (Meister, 188). The laws also condemn false labelling of commodities. Hence, the selling of false properties is strongly condemned by the Jewish rules. The rule stating that one shall not put an obstacle before the blind is applied. This is when a real estate agent is strongly and sternly warned that he should not under any circumstance try to cheat anybody into purchasing a home or land or a business building with many faults and damages simply for the mission of making fast and easy money. Moreover, it condemns cheating further when it condemns a stockbroker not to sell a terrible and bad investment to a buyer for the aim of making money easily through cheating. In addition, a salesperson of the real estate business should not talk a customer into purchasing very costly and expensive commodities the customer does not need at all at the moment. The Jewish law advocates for payment of taxes in their rightful amounts and at the right time. The real estate business people are required to pay the taxes since whoever fails to paying the taxes is a considered to have robbed the portion of the king whether the king is a Jew or not. The Jewish laws known as Gezeirah also known as preventative legislation intends to prevent all violations of the laws. This can relate to the real estate business in that the agents and property owners can at times take advantage of the people who rent their houses and they may often violate the rights of their clientele (McMahan, 222).. The real estate business deals with property and this may give them an arena to practice injustices and actually violate the rights of their clients in activities such as selling them substandard properties or selling or leasing property that is not of the client’s desired quality. In the recent times, the real estate market has been affected by the global markets, which means the market has become more unstable thus affecting the business. This could make some real estate agents and businesspersons want to take advantage of their clients’ in order to increase their profits. The Halacha laws come in this situation in that the fact that they have high regards for violation of any laws for self-benefit (Meister, 188). The deed of capitalization and availability of discount rates among other incentives and the marketing of property gives the client a very big picture of what to expect and thus there is need for the public to understand this so that they do not feel cheated when they buy property from the real estate agents. This means that even when there is change in the happenings in the real estate market, such as mergers, taxes and other events that will lead to a change in business transactions then you will be covered and will not have to cause a negative effect to their clientele. The Halacha law that focuses on individuals and property dictates that individuals will not forcefully or in that way wish for that which belong to another. As such, it is important for the real estate business to ensure that whatever he or she offers the client is of quality so that every person is contented with the product(McMahan, 222). The Halacha laws of interest known as Ribis prohibit lending money and asking or expecting them to repay it in interest. This relates to the real estate business in that interest rates are seen as cheating the client off and taking what does not belong to them. It simply means that the laws of Halacha do not support interest rates and as such affects the real estate business since they are in the business to make profits and if it means they cannot use interest from their business then they will not achieve their goals. There is need for the Halacha laws to be lenient since real estate is a business and it needs to make profits in order for the proprietor to remain in business (McMahan, 222). The Ribis law that prohibit lending money for interest can be applied to Orthodox Jews in that these Jews follow the Halacha in a traditional way. The Orthodox Jews follow the interpretation that was made on the laws in the early days. The simple fact that these people will follow those laws to the letter means that they will be against business of attaining interest for what they transact with. The real estate as we know depends on property tax to flourish, therefore, these will affect the real estate business especially that which is run by the Orthodox Jews since they will operate their businesses at the exact value of their worth. This will be to avoid attaining any interest from their clientele. Therefore, it is right to say that the orthodox Jews will apply these laws to the real estate business and as such they will be at a loss (McMahan, 222). The Halacha laws are related to the real estate since they ensure a streamline is maintained in the real estate business and it means that they ensure that human rights are not infringed. The real estate business has property tax as its base and as such in order for the business to earn a maximum; it must ensure that this is achieved without hurting anyone. The real estate business trends in the recent times are such that it must ensure tax compliance is maintained and that financial matters are held in accordance to the laws that govern the real estate business. If this is maintained then the real estate business will be such that it will not affect the clients that buy the property. The taxes and other regulatory charges affect the real estate business and so they must be handled in such a way that they will influence the prices of property. The real estate business has been affected by the current global economic trends, which means the business may have honoured some of the Halacha laws (Meister, 188). The Halacha laws that ensure that people are not either violate physically or emotionally ensure that the business proprietors and that do not oppress individuals investing in real estate. It will also ensure that these people have the best quality products and services as per their monetary value. This means that the real estate business must do anything and everything to ensure that the clientele gets the best service ever. The Halacha laws will also ensure that the clientele enjoy their investments by ensuring that they receive the best of the products that they pay for (Meister, 188). In conclusion, it is right to say that the Halacha laws do affect the real estate business. It means that the relationship between real estate and the Jewish Laws is existent and the relationship ensures that the real estate business is kept in check (McMahan, 222). WORKS CITED McMahan, John. The handbook of commercial real estate investing, New Jersey: McGraw- Hill Professional, 2006 Meister, Stephen B. Commercial Real Estate Restructuring Revolution: Strategies, Tranche Warfare, and Prospects for Recovery, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Read More