Ursula von der Leyen and the Values of the Talmud

The President of the European Commission made a rather expansive declaration.

“Europe is the values of the Talmud,” she said, before identifying what she meant: “the Jewish sense of personal responsibility, of justice and of solidarity.”

So let us take President von der Leyen seriously for a moment.

If Europe represents the values of the Talmud, how is Brussels doing?

The Talmudic Concept for Deception

Geneivat da'at is commonly translated as “stealing the mind” or deception. In Chullin 94a, Shmuel says that it is forbidden to deceive people, explicitly extending the rule to non-Jews. The discussion involves someone creating the impression that he has done another person a greater favour than he actually has.

The Commission says its new “own resources” will help “limit the national contributions to the EU budget.”

The current EU budget for 2021–2027 was €1.21 trillion. When that was not enough, Brussels added an exceptional borrowing instrument of roughly €800 billion on top. “Temporary,” naturally.

The proposed ordinary EU budget for 2028–2034 is almost €2 trillion, including a new crisis mechanism of almost €400 billion in extra loans on top of it.

The EU intends to spend more money.

Rather than asking for it, Brussels creates new revenue streams - promoting sustainability, fairness, autonomy and resilience - and presents them as a way of “limiting” the burden on national states.

The citizen may reasonably hear: my country will pay less.

In reality, he will pay more, with these additional revenues funding the EU budget directly.

The Talmud Allows Taxes. It Also Wants You to Grow as an Independent Entity.

In Nedarim 28a, Shmuel states the famous principle dina de-malkhuta dina: the law of the kingdom is law.

The starting assumption is that a lawful tax imposed by legitimate government must be paid.

The text also distinguishes the legitimate tax from a collector who has no fixed rate and collects arbitrarily.

Ketubot 50a says that even when someone is giving money to charity, he should normally not give away more than one-fifth because he might impoverish himself and become dependent on others.

Why praise ‘personal responsibility’ while constructing a fiscal system in which an ordinary working person is taxed when he earns, taxed when he spends, taxed when he drives, taxed when he heats his home, taxed when he smokes, taxed when he drinks, taxed when he throws away the packaging, taxed because the packaging existed in the first place, taxed for carbon, taxed for energy, taxed for property if he ever manages to buy any, and now invited to finance Brussels’ new ‘own resources’, before being solemnly informed that his inability to accumulate meaningful property is a problem requiring another publicly funded programme?

Gifts Are Dangerous

In Ketubot 105b, Rabbi Yishmael receives a small favour from a person involved in litigation. He refuses to judge the case. Later, merely listening to the proceedings, he catches himself mentally constructing arguments in that man's favour. He is horrified.

This is interesting because the EU is extremely comfortable with "legal" financial dependency.

The EU finances NGOs (which is funny in itself), civil-society organisations, research programmes, media projects and campaigns promoting The Commission's idea of a unified Europe ruled by The Commission.

NGOs received about €7.4 billion in EU funding during 2021–2023 - the EU-funded advocacy activities were not always clearly disclosed. 

Rabbi Yishmael was worried that receiving a tiny favour could influence his judgment without him intending to be corrupt at all.

An organisation whose continued existence depends on EU grants will therefore of course judge and report independently and truthfully.

Personal And Communal Responsibility

Von der Leyen herself specifically identified “personal responsibility” as one of the Talmudic values Europe embodies. This is an interesting value for her to choose.

During von der Leyen's time as German Defence Minister, parliament investigated irregularities in the ministry's use of outside consultants. Her ministerial phones became relevant evidence. One was security-wiped and von der Leyen told the inquiry that she had regularly deleted her chats.

In 2021, von der Leyen famously personally conducted preliminary negotiations with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla per texts/SMS, before the EU signed its COVID-19 vaccine contract.

The European Court of Auditors asked for the messages, The European Ombudsman found maladministration and the EU General Court annulled the Commission's refusal to hand them over.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has meanwhile confirmed an ongoing investigation into the EU's acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines. It has not said that von der Leyen personally is suspected of a crime (yet).

Still, for a woman lecturing Europe about personal responsibility, the documentary record is striking.

NextGenerationEU mechanism introduced EU borrowing on a huge scale. The Commission distributed hundreds of billions through grants and loans. Repayment will run through all future EU taxpayers.

Perhaps Jewish tradition is not compatible with the lived European values after all, and if Brussels prefers centralised spending, redistribution and collective debt, Karl Marx might have been the safer quotation.