Capitalizing Off of Jewish Life
Question
What are the laws pertaining to capitalizing off various aspects of Jewish life, such as Jewish holidays, simchas, or other mitzvot. For example, operating a catering service providing food for people to eat on the Yom Tovim. Or selling sukkahs or the arba minim for profit? Or writing and selling tefillin, mezuzahs, or print copies of the Torah. Or singing songs derived from the words of Torah and Tefillah, then selling albums of them and performing them at concerts to make money while entertaining others? All just to name a few examples. I know people are doing it all the time. But are there any restrictions on doing so?
Answers
There are no restrictions from any of the things that you mention. There have always been entrepreneurs who have found their livelihood through supplying the religious needs of the communities. That has been the case almost from the beginning of Jewish history. What is true is that there is a concept within Jewish Law called “ona’ah” which stops a person from selling products for a vastly inflated price. But even then it is not a legal concept that can be applied to every single product that is sold.
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