GEN1410 The biblical ideal seems to be “Each man under his vine and under his fig tree,” 1 Kings 5:5 with each person and engaging in independent productive activity. In light of this, is it ethical to make a living through business and commerce?   It is true that the blessings of the Torah are usually directed to the individual farmer or herder, not to the trader. Nonetheless, we also find that our tradition greatly esteems the role of commerce. When Jacob arrived in Schechem, the Torah tells us, he “graced” the city [this verse]. How did he do this? Our sages explained that he established the foundations of commerce by establishing coinage or a marketplace. Shabbat 33b. In order to understand this approach, we have to understand the role of commerce in human society.   Why is commerce necessary to get goods and services to people in the first place? After all, the creator could easily have arranged the world so that all our needs would be fulfilled without commerce or even without effort, as in the Garden of Eden. One aspect of the importance of commerce is that it gives people a motivation for cooperation. When every person or every nation is self-sufficient economically, there is a tendency for them to be isolated or even hostile. However when people see that there is an opportunity for mutual gain through trade, they learn to accommodate each other and get along.   MEIR 4