Berkshire Hathaways stakes in Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo have now increasedon averageto at least 8.5%, the company confirmed today.

The investment firm also revealed that the aggregate value of these stakes now puts Japan as Berkshires second-largest geographycoming in behind the U.S.

Buffett began investing in Japans trading housesknown as sogo shoshain 2020 and since then has been strengthening his ties to the nation, as well as visiting the country earlier this year.

During that trip, the Oracle of Omaha sat down with bosses of the five companies at the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo, with insiders saying the conversation centered around the sogo shoshas move away from commodities.

Ahead of these meetings, Buffett had made it clear he wanted to be the first port of call if the firms were looking to raise funds, telling Nikkei Asia: We would love if any of the five would come to us ever and say, Were thinking of doing something very big, or were about to buy something and we would like a partner, or whatever.

The seasoned investorreportedly worth $118 billion according to Bloombergs Billionaires Indexhas now doubled down on his investments, with Berkshires stakes increasing this week from the 7.4% they sat at previously.

Buffett has previously set a self-imposed ceiling of how much hes willing to sink into the five brands, saying the maximum stake he will hold is 9.9%.

The release adds: The company will make no purchases beyond that point unless given specific approval by the investees board of directors.

Whether or not this cut-off is limited to the five companies in question, or Japanese stock as a whole, remains to be seenthough Berkshire currently holds no other investments in the country.

Berkshire boom

The sogo shosha have enjoyed basking in the light of Buffetts attention.

In the days following the announcement that Berkshire had upped its stakes from 6% to 7.4% overseas investors piled in, buying $7.83 billion in Japanese stocks during five days of trading through April 14.  

Some of the stocks got another boost on June 19 following the latest announcement.

Mitsui was up 0.31% over the course of the day with a particular surge in afternoon trading after Berkshires announcement, Mitsubishi was up 0.25% while Marubeni was up 0.22%.

Conversely Itochu was down 0.57% and Sumitomo was down 0.52% over the course of the daythough this is a fraction compared to the increases they have enjoyed this year alone, up 39.6% and 41% respectively.

The shares in the five firms are near their all-time highs.

Markets Insider placed a valuation of $15 billion on Berkshires Japanese assets in May, up from the $6 billion bet Buffett first made back in 2020.

Given this weeks announcement, that top line is sure to swell further, though not everyone is convinced that Japan is a sure winner.

Premature optimism?

A recent note from analysts at Banks of Americaanother of Buffetts most prized investments said the buy Japan call may be premature.

In May strategists Shusuke Yamada and Tony Lin said: We remain bearish on JPY in 2023 despite its cheapness for two reasonsa persistent foreign direct investment (FDI) deficit and a potential rise of yen-carry trade.

The pair suggested a longer-term strategy which is a tactic the team at Berkshire have confirmed they are using, saying the company intends to hold the investments over the long term.

The focus on Japan has also drawn Berkshire away from Taiwan, after the company did a U-turn on a multi-billion dollar investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, following concerns about geopolitical tensions with China.

Despite praising TSMC, calling it a fantastic enterprise, Buffett told the companys annual shareholder meeting in May: I feel better about the capital that weve got deployed in Japan than in Taiwan. That is the reality, and Ive reevaluated that in the light of certain things that have been going on.

A week later, Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it had sold its entire remaining stake in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, exiting an investment the company had disclosed just six months earlier.

Now, there are concerns that an anticipated Supreme Court ruling could strike down affirmative action in college admissions. The potential impacts of the decision could extend beyond college campuses and reach into corporate America. Companies diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts could face an even greater backlash and corporate leaders may be pressed to make the case for why this work matters.

Now is not the time for companies to step back. Instead, they must deepen their work to advance both racial and economic equity by focusing on workers and wages. In recent months, companies have seen an unpredictable economy characterized by inflation, poor market performance, and the politicization of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Some have made significant layoffs, which have hit corporate DEI offices especially hard.

But the hardship, of course, wasnt only felt by corporations. More Americans are reporting that their finances are tight because of inflation, which reduces the real value of wages over time. Inflation disproportionately impacts Black people and other people of color. Meanwhile, economists have found that high inflation has actually boosted corporate profits.

One thing has become especially clear over the last year: Companies should continue to invest in their workersand do so equitably.

Americans across demographics are united in their desire for companies to prioritize workers first and to pay a fair, living wage, according to JUST Capitals 2022 Issues Report. Meanwhile, a strong majority (77%) of Americans agree that CEOs of large companies have a role to play in addressing racial equity, and another 77% agree it is not possible to achieve racial equity without paying all workers a living wage. However, about half of Russell 1000 employees still do not make a family-sustaining wage.

Studies over the past decade have suggested links between employee well-being with productivity and firm profitability and found that higher wages for lower-income workers lead to more productive workplaces.

JUST Capitals analysis has also shown that when companies prioritize their workers, they tend to be rewarded by the market. JUSTs collection of worker index conceptsincluding two for companies determined to be DEI Leadershave outperformed their Russell 1000 benchmark since inception. 

Corporate leaders should be asking questions like, How can we be sure our workers are able to sustain themselves and their families? But they should also dig deeper by asking, Which of our workers are not able to sustain themselves and their families? Are all workers getting an equitable chance to advance professionally? Answering these questions requires assessing workers financial health, and taking action on the resultsincluding wage increases, especially for low-income and hourly workers.

One of the most important ways companies can demonstrate how they are prioritizing their workers and their financial well-being is by disclosing the organizations policies and practices and communicating progress. While lifting wages can help workers weather a challenging inflationary environment, only 13% of Americas largest companies disclose some information about their workers hourly wagesmaking it difficult to determine whether these workers, including Black hourly workers, can make ends meet. 

Were already seeing disclosure rise on these important measures. From 2021 to 2022 the number of companies sharing EEO-1 or equivalent data more than tripled. And while only under a quarter of major U.S. employers disclose conducting a pay equity analysis by race or ethnicity in 2022, thats a significant increase from 15% the previous year. In 2022, 24% of the Russell 1000 companies we track disclosed conducting a pay equity analysis with a specific focus on race and ethnicity. Just 9%or 85 companies have disclosed the results of these analyses. 

Our JUST Jobs Scorecard, which analyzes corporate disclosure on the issues that matter most to the American public, JUST Capital found that companies leading on DEI transparency did the following: 

• Perform pay gap analysis, and report pay gap ratio(s) by race and/or ethnicity, in addition to gender.
• Specify diversity and opportunity targets by race and/or ethnicity, and gender.
• Disclose an EEO-1 report or some other similarly detailed workforce diversity report by race and/or ethnicity and gender.

Tracking diverse representation across all levels of the workforce can help identify whether Black workers have opportunities to advance internally to senior leadership. Setting targets allows a company to become more intentional about how it attracts, hires, and retains Black employees. And conducting a pay gap analysis helps determine whether Black employees are being paid fairly for doing the same work as their white male peers.

The public is looking to companies to demonstrate leadership by making good on their commitments to address racial inequityand critics are looking for reasons to curb these initiatives. Its time for companies to look inwardand start by uplifting workers through wages.

Ashley Marchand Orme is the director of equity initiatives, corporate impact at JUST Capital 

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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Rabbinic roots

Two thousand years ago, Jews were divided between competing sects all based on the Jewish scriptures, but with different interpretations. After the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E., one main group, who called themselves rabbis sages or teachers began to dominate. What we now know as Judaism grew out of this group, technically called Rabbinic Judaism.

Rabbinic Judaism believed that God gave Jewish teachings and scriptures to Moses at Mt. Sinai, but that they came in two parts: the written law or written Torah and the oral law or oral Torah. The oral Torah is a vast body of interpretations that expands upon the written Torah and is the source for most of the rules and theology of Rabbinic Judaism.

Fearful that these traditions might be lost, the early rabbis began the process of writing them down, culminating in two texts called the Mishna and the Talmud. This corpus became the foundation of rabbinic literature.

The rabbis assured the Jews that although the temples destruction was devastating, Jews could continue to serve God through study, prayer and observing Gods commandments, called mitzvot. Someday, they promised, God would send the Messiah, a descendant of King David who would rebuild the temple and return the exiled Jews to the land of Israel.

Historic turning point

There were tensions in Rabbinic Judaism from the outset. For example, starting in the Middle Ages, a Jewish group called the Karaites challenged the rabbis authority by rejecting the oral Torah.

Even within the rabbinic tradition, there were regular disagreements: between mystics and rationalists, for example; debates over people claiming to be the messiah; and differences in customs between regions, from medieval Spain to Poland to Yemen.

Still, Rabbinic Judaism remained a more or less united religious community for some 1,500 years until the 19th century.

Around that time, Jews began to experience emancipation in many parts of Europe, acquiring equal citizenship where they had previously constituted a separate, legal community. Meanwhile, thousands eventually millions of Jews moved to the United States, which likewise offered equal citizenship.

These freedoms brought opportunity, but also new challenges. Traditionally, Judaism was based on Jewish autonomy communities governed by rabbinic law and taking the truth of its beliefs for granted. Political emancipation challenged the first, while Enlightenment ideas challenged the second. Jews were now free to choose what to believe and how to practice Judaism, if at all, at a time when they were experiencing widespread exposure to competing ideas.

Three major groups

Competing Jewish denominations emerged, each one attempting to negotiate the relationship between Jewishness and modernity in its own way. Each group claimed that they followed the best or most authentic traditions of Judaism.

The first modern denomination to organize was Reform first in Germany in the early 19th century, but soon in America as well. Reform Judaism is based on the idea that both the Bible and the laws of the oral Torah are divinely inspired, but humanly constructed, meaning they should be adapted based on contemporary moral ideals. Reform congregations tend to emphasize prophetic themes such as social justice more than Talmudic law, though in recent years many have reclaimed some rituals, such as Hebrew liturgy and stricter observance of Shabbat.

Orthodox Judaism soon organized in reaction to Reform, rallying to defend the strict observance of Jewish customs and law. Orthodox leaders often blurred the distinction between these categories and put particular emphasis on the 16th-century legal code called the Shulchan Aruch. Orthodoxy insists that both the written and oral Torah have divine origins. Contrary views in pre-modern sources are often censored.

Conservative Judaism, which did not arrive in the U.S. until the mid-1900s, shares many of Reform Judaisms views, such as equal religious roles for men and women. However, Conservative Jews argue that the Reform movement pulled too far away from Jewish tradition. They insist that Jewish law remains obligatory, but that the Orthodox interpretation is too rigid. In practice, most Conservative Jews tend not to be strict about even major rituals, like observing Sabbath restrictions or kosher food practices.

There are also smaller but still influential Jewish movements. For example, Reconstructionism, created by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan in the 1930s and 1940s, emphasizes community over ritual obligations. And the Jewish Renewal movement, born out of the late 1960s counterculture, seeks to incorporate insights from Jewish mysticism with an egalitarian perspective, and without necessarily following the minutiae of Jewish law.

What makes Jewish identities even more complex is that for many Jewish people, being Jewish is more of a cultural or ethnic identity than a religious one. Over a quarter of Americans who describe themselves as Jewish say they do not identify with the Jewish religion at all, though Jewish culture or their familys Jewish background may be very important to them.

Its also important to keep in mind that Jewish groups evolved in different ways in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Jews from the Muslim world, often called Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews a minority of American Jews, but over half of Israeli Jews did not experience the kind of abrupt emancipation that they did in much of Europe. Different Sephardic traditions developed, which are often described as Masorti or traditional Judaism in Israel, although many of their adherents have become Orthodox in recent years.

From Orthodox to ultra-Orthodox

Of all the Jewish denominations, the Orthodox groups are perhaps most misunderstood. They all share a commitment to Jewish law especially regarding gender roles and sexuality, food consumption and Sabbath restrictions but there are many divisions, generally categorized on a spectrum from modern to ultra Orthodox.

Modern Orthodoxy celebrates secular education and integration into the modern world, yet insists on a relatively strict approach to ritual observance and traditional tenets of belief. They also tend to see Zionism the modern movement calling for Jewish national rights, today connected to support for Israel as part of their religious worldview, rather than just a political belief.

The ultra-Orthodox, on the other hand sometimes called Haredim or Haredi Jews advocate segregation from the outside world. Many continue to speak Yiddish, the traditional language of Jews in Eastern Europe, or to dress as traditional Jews did in Europe before the Holocaust.

This is especially true of Hasidic Jews, who make up about half of the ultra-Orthodox population worldwide. Hasidism is a mystical movement born in 18th-century Ukraine, but today mostly concentrated in New York and Israel. Hasidic Jews are known for being particularly strict about shunning secular culture and education, but they remain also a mystical movement focused on Gods close presence. They are divided into subgroups named after cities in Eastern Europe, and they follow leaders known as Rebbes, who wield enormous power in their communities.

Haredim are particularly committed to gender segregation, separating men and women beyond what previous Jewish traditions called for, and tend toward the strictest interpretation of Jewish law, even when traditional understanding of a rule has been more lenient.

Whether modern or Haredi, Orthodox Judaism sees itself as traditional. However, it is more accurate to say it is traditionalist. By this I mean that Orthodoxy is attempting to recreate a pre-modern religion in a modern era. Not only has Orthodox Judaism innovated many rituals and teachings, but people today have greater awareness that other types of life are available creating a firm break with the traditional world Orthodoxy claims to perpetuate.

Becoming a nation

Jewish groups are often described as Zionist. What is Zionism, and where does it fit in to all these terms?

The first Zionists were mostly secular Jews from Eastern Europe. Inspired by nationalist movements around them, they claimed that Jews constituted a modern nation, rather than just a religion. Traditions and prayers connected to the land often reinterpreted through a secular, nationalist lens became all-important for Zionists, while many other rituals and traditions were abandoned.

Most Jews opposed Zionism for decades. Reform Jews and even some early Orthodox Jews worried that defining Jews as a nation would undermine their claim to equal citizenship in other countries. Orthodox Jews, meanwhile, opposed Zionists staunch secularism and emphasized that Jews must wait for the Messiah to lead them back to the land of Israel.

Within a decade or two of Israels establishment as a modern state, however, most Jewish denominations integrated Zionism into their worldview. Still, most ultra-Orthodox Jews today continue to oppose Zionist ideology, even as they hold right-wing political views on Israel. Young liberal Jews, too, are increasingly emphasizing the distinction between Zionism and their own Jewish identity.

Today, most U.S. Jews are either unaffiliated with any particular denomination or Reform. However, the percentage of Jews who are Orthodox especially ultra-Orthodox, whose members tend to have very large families is growing rapidly. Almost 10% of American Jews and nearly 25% of Israeli Jews are Orthodox today, although attrition from these communities is also rising.

This trend may continue, or that sector may see mass defections, as it did a century ago. Either way, Orthodoxy is going to continue to play a very important role in Jewish life for many years to come.

This article has been updated to correct a chart caption and include information about Masorti Judaism.

Joshua Shanes is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, College of Charleston.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.