DEUT1726 According to Maimonides (Hilchot De'ot 5:13), one of the characteristics that make someone a talmid chacham, a Torah scholar, is that he deals honestly in business. Apparently, Maimonides understood that being ethical in business is a vital component in being a Torah scholar. The Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma, Veyechi 11) based on [this] Torah verse, that portrays the tribe of Zevulun going out, and the tribe of Issachar staying in a tent, describes the unique relationship between the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun. The people of the tribe of Zevulun were the business people, and they supported the people from Issachar who sat in the "tent" and learned Torah. The Midrash implies that Zevulun, the businessman, receives and even greater reward than Issachar, the Torah scholar, and is thus placed first in the verse. Rashi concurs (his commentary on this verse). In an amazing statement, it is recorded that the blessing pronounced by the High Priest upon leaving the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur was a prayer that the Jews should prosper in business during the coming year, that is, that the economy should flourish (Taanit 24b). Of all the possible prayers that the holiest person, upon leaving the holiest place on the holiest day, could have uttered, why did the Kohen Gadol select this particular prayer, which seems non-holy? One of the answers advanced is that the High Priest understood very well that with the repentance of the people on Yom Kippur and a desire to improve during the coming year, if their business needs were not satisfied, they would not be able to actualize their desire for change. An adequate economy had to be a reality in order to make their prayers come to fruition. Hence, the High Priest understood the relationship between business and spirituality. The rabbis were not merely mouthing words when they spoke of the highest ideals of business ethics. They practiced what they preached. Maimonides records (Hilchot Talmud Torah 1:9) that the greatest Torah scholars in the time of the Talmud (far greater than any of today or any who emerged since that time) worked in the marketplace, often with most menial jobs, even though they studied Torah every free moment.