Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses the different efforts of the Amoraim, Shmuel’s father and Shmuel himself to prevent hoarding, price manipulation and gouging in the marketplace. Interestingly, with good intentions, they employed opposite strategies. The Gemara also commented on whose intervention was more effective:

אבוה דשמואל מזבין להו לפירי בתרעא חרפא, כתרעא חרפא. שמואל בריה, משהי לפירי, ומזבין להו בתרעא אפלא – כתרעא חרפא. שלחו מתם: טבא דאבא מדברא. מאי טעמא? תרעא דרווח – רווח.

The Gemara relates: Shmuel’s father would sell produce during the period of the early market price, when produce is cheap, for the early market price. His son Shmuel acted differently, and would keep the produce and sell it during the period of the late market price, when produce is expensive, for the early market price. 

They sent a message from there, Eretz Yisrael: The practice of the father is better than that of the son. What is the reason for this? A market price that has been eased and starts out low will remain eased, with little increase over the course of the year. Therefore, one who makes produce available at the beginning of the season, like Shmuel’s father, aids people during the entire year. By contrast, a market price that starts out high, because people are not making their produce available at the market, is not easily lowered.

This Gemara brings to light two ideas. One, is the simple reality of inertia in social and economic dynamics. Once there is inflation, even if the original impetus (scarcity) goes away, it takes longer for the prices to deflate (don’t we know it today!) But this is true for almost everything. In the United States, income taxes were imposed in the 19th Century to fund war efforts and obviously they have not gone away in peace time, and only rarely have been reduced. Government regulations become more complex and intrusive, and rarely scale back. One of the many campaign promises kept by President Trump, was his Executive Order 13771 to cut two regulations for every new government regulation imposed.

Another important idea that emerges from this Gemara is that good intentions alone are not enough; one must also be clever. Shmuel’s strategy of holding a reserve supply of produce seemed like it would work to directly counter scarcity, and therefore reduce prices. In a straightforward logical manner Shmuel’s plan seemed sound, as why would introducing more supply early in the season counter scarcity that might arise later? However, his father’s wisdom allowed him to foresee the advantage of catching the initial market conditions, and set a trend early, even when there was no scarcity at all. His father’s approach was counterintuitive, but nevertheless superior on a practical basis. We might imagine that the elder possessed more life experience, allowing him a more tactical view on the situation.

The Gemara (Berachos 17a) similarly counsels that one should be clever in the manner that he is God fearing. Mesilas Yesharim (19) elaborates: One ought to devise new ways of pleasing his creator in every possible manner. 

Ben Yehoyada (ibid) speaks of devising internal tricks to motivate and avoid pitfalls. He quotes a Midrash Rabbah (35) about Dovid Hamelech who would say to himself, “I’m just going to stroll in the garden”, but then end up in the Bais Midrash. There are other ways to interpret this Midrash, such as his learning and good deeds became habitual. However, Ben Yehoyada interpreted it as if Dovid Hamelech was playing a psychological game with himself, not fully acknowledging his plan to go study, so as not to arouse the resistance of the Yetzer Hara.

In any case, we see numerous examples where leadership of self or others is not merely about being God fearing, but also shrewd and creative.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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