The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Review by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom for The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Rating:
I originally bought this book hoping to get the entire list of 285 Rules. Guess what — the book only has 70 of the Rules. The reason being, that the full list was never revealed on the series. (Yes, there are apocryphal lists of the rest of the Rules circulating in cyberspace, but they are fan-written and not canonical Trek. Hence, they are not included in this book.) Perhaps more Rules will be made public in future movies. The book does have some blank spaces at the back to list new Rules as the appear. But until they do, we’ll have to be content with the 70 Rules we have, because, as Quark says on page vi, “I doubt you humans could handle much more.” This is a pocket-sized book that simply lists the Rules for handy reference, along with some B&W stills from the series. It doesn’t tell you anything about the cultural context, history or practical application(s) of the Rules — for that, you should get “Legends of the Ferengi,” also by Ira Steven Behr & friends. Before I go any further, I should clarify that, contrary to popular stereotypes, the Ferengi are NOT supposed to be based on Jews. (They are based on “Yankee Traders” — see TNG episode “The Last Outpost.”) As a rabbi who is also a Trekker, I can tell you that some of these Rules go directly against true Jewish values: “When in doubt, lie” (#266) would violate the Ten Commandments, as would “Never ask when you can take” (#52). “Females and finances don’t mix” (#94) isn’t very Jewish either, since the Book of Proverbs clearly says of the virtuous woman that “she considers a field and buys it; with her profits she plants a vineyard.” In the “ultra-orthodox” Hasidic world that some fans [wrongly] believe these rules are spoofing, the women frequently have their own businesses. So no, Ferengi culture is not Jewish culture. The only reason people think the Ferengi are a metaphor for Jews is because the old stereotype says that Jews love money, and the Ferengi really *do* love money — but then again, doesn’t everybody love money? As Rule #284 states, “Deep down everyone is a Ferengi.” And that’s the reason this book is so much fun. The Ferengi Rules spoof the world of business in a way that lets us all admit that financial success is OK. In a society where we are all supposed to idealistically disdain money as “the root of all evil” but where, in real life, we all need money to survive, the straightforward greed of the Ferengi culture let’s us have a good laugh at ourselves — and frees us up to pursue our own success. I keep a copy of the Rules on my desk, and have sometimes used them in the Ferengi section of the Amazon community (otherwise known as “Auctions and ZShops”) to give good feedback. What buyer doesn’t smile at being told that “Good customers are as rare as latinum — treasure them” (#57). Conversely, the Rules provide a humorous way to deal with all those net spammers who want my time for free — because, after all, “Anything worth doing is worth doing for money” (#13). I could go on and on, but I’ll end this review here, even though “Enough is… never enough” (#97.)