Abe goes to see his boss and says, "We're doing some heavy house-cleaning at home tomorrow and my wife needs me to help with the attic and the garage, moving and hauling stuff."
"We're short handing, Abe," the boss replies. "I just can't give you the day off."
"Thanks, boss," says Abe, "I knew I could count on you!"
"We're short handing, Abe," the boss replies. "I just can't give you the day off."
"Thanks, boss," says Abe, "I knew I could count on you!"
In parshas Ki Tisa we read of the breaking of the luchos. Afterwards Hashem tells Moshe "פסל לך" - Fashion for yourself new luchos. Rashi [echoing a gemara] tells us that Moshe will become RICH from the chips of the stone that fell when chiseled out. It was really expensive stone.
HOLD ON!! Is that what Moshe was interested in? Getting rich. In fact we know that the Jews didn't lack for money as they had quite a bundle from the booty of Mitzraim and the sea. He needs MORE money? Enough is enough. And is this what you give a tzadik, half-angel half-human [as the Medrash calls him]. Expensive stone? Gelt? Moola? Kesef?? If Hashem wanted to give him a gift I believe that the mesivta edition of Shas would be a more appropriate gift or maybe a super mehuder-dike tefillin. But BUCKS?
Another problem is that these luchos are coming to fix what we lost the first time. How does making Moshe rich create a tikkun for the cheyt ha-eigel??
And what does this have to do with Purim?
A man goes to a fancy house in an upscale neighborhood and knocks on the door. A woman opens up the door and he pleads "I haven't had a morsel of food in 3 days". The woman answers "I really admire your willpower". 
Chazal tell us that the sin of the golden calf was committed because the Jews had TOO MUCH MONEY AND USED IT FOR THE WRONG REASONS. A new avoda zara came to town and the donations piled in. Much better that a chabad telethon. People were giving generously and willingly. When the Jews built the mishkan not everybody gave - only those of a generous heart. When donations were needed for the unholy calf כל העם gave - EVERYBODY!!! [except for the holy ladies].
The pasuk says הצילני מדמים אלקים - [literally] save me from bloodshed O G-d. It can also be read SAVE ME FROM MAKING MONEY [דמים] A gOD! People literally turned their money into a god. Instead of using it for holy elevated purposes they used it for unholy, impure purposes.
The Medrash tells us that Moshe was the biggest philanthropist of his generation. He needed the money to give to the poor! For tzdaka and chesed. For Torah and tfilla. For kedusha and tahara. Using money for kedusha is the tikkun of the cheyt ha-eigel.
Wonder of wonders!:-)
Moishe is not the world's greatest businessman – he loses money all of the time, but this time it's not his fault because he was robbed. Henry, his friend, hears about the robbery and goes to visit Moishe.
"I'm very sorry to hear about the robbery," says Henry. "Did you lose much?"
"I lost a few things, but it's OK – I got off lucky. I'm just happy it didn't happen one night earlier."
"Why?" asks Henry.
"Well," replies Moishe, "just on the day of the theft, I marked everything down by 30 percent!"
"I'm very sorry to hear about the robbery," says Henry. "Did you lose much?"
"I lost a few things, but it's OK – I got off lucky. I'm just happy it didn't happen one night earlier."
"Why?" asks Henry.
"Well," replies Moishe, "just on the day of the theft, I marked everything down by 30 percent!"
Achashveirosh said to Haman when he offered big-big heavy bucks for permission to annihilate the Jews הכסף נתון לך והטוב בעיניך תעשה - Keep the money and use it for what is good in your eyes. The holy Rav Yonason Eibeshutz says a HUUUUGE insight into this pasuk. Even goyim understand the value of tzdaka. Haman understood that the BEST thing to do with money is to give it to those less fortunate. That is כטוב בעיניך - What is good in Haman's eyes was to give to the poor as a merit with which he would be able to decimate our people. On Purim we give matanos li-evyonim to relive and re-earn the right to exist by defeating Haman with the power of tzedaka.
Wow!
Morris and Bernard meet in a restaurant for a business lunch. Morris says, "I have a good deal for you, Bernard. When I was at the zoo recently, I happened to pick up an elephant they didn't need anymore. I could let you have it for $3000."
"Morris are you crazy?" Bernard responds. "What am I going to do with an elephant? I live in a third floor apartment. I barely have enough room for my furniture. Why in the world would I buy an elephant?"
Morris says, "OK, I could let you have three of them for two grand."
"Aha!" says Bernard. "Now, you're talking!"
You know why Obama is talking to Iran? I have a secret. It is all about ONE issue.
Money.
If tomorrow I would walk into the White House with a few dozen billion dollars he would pick up the phone and say "Muchamed - not interested. Deal off".
EVERYTHING in life revolves around money. Every shidduch comes down to money issues. Every school, yeshiva, shul etc. makes every decision because of financial factors. When kids come to Israel to learn and their parents pressure them not to stay for more than one or two years it is because of money. If the kid would have a bank account with 700 million years the parents would let the kid learn to his hearts delight. But people are worried "If he learns Torah, what will he do for MONEY?".
EVERY advertisement you see EVERYWHERE is another way of saying "We want your money". "I am looking for a job" is a euphemism for "I need money". Almost nobody really wants a job. Let's be honest. People want money - not the headaches that come along with a job. The entire entertainment and sports industry is about money. The Ponivitcher Rov said about this world that is both a "mashal" and a "nimshal" to money. Everything is money alluding to money. There is nothing we can do about it. That is the reality. The wealthy work hard to earn their money and to preserve and increase it while the poor and less fortunate [even though I don't think that rich people are particularly fortunate - too many worries and problems] try to get a small piece of the pie [which the Ohr Ha-chaim Ha-kadosh and the Alshich Ha-kadosh say really belongs to them in the first place and Hashem gave it to the rich man to give it to its rightful owner]..
Every business [it goes without saying] revolves around money and since peoples lives revolve around their work it emerges that all of life revolves around money.
We see attractive pictures of vacation getaways "Come to Chicopica, Mexico for Pesach, glatt kosher food, full time tea room, nightly entertainment, top chef, 18 hole golf course, olympic size swimming pool, tennis courts and [oops we almost forgot], daily minyanim and daf yomi. Scholar in residence - Rabbi Warren Geltman". What they are really saying is "Give us tens of thousand of dollars for a few days. Sounds like a bad deal for you and it really is. 40k for some food and a little golf. You can stay home and your wife cooks better - or if she needs a break you can hire a chef and save a huge bundle of money. But come anyway. You will leave fatter and with a sun tan [even though there is sun in New York as well]. Plus, you will see Lipa live and make business deals with a cell phone next to a pool insead of in your boring office."
But they know what they are doing. People go for it and every Pesach klal yisrael spends tens [hundreds?] of millions of dollars on Pesach getaways.
So here is a Purim suggestion - don't stop enjoying life. Hashem loves you and wants you to enjoy his world and the gifts he gave you. But start re-assessing if we are really using His gifts in the Jewish way. Maybe some of the money we spend on our luxuries could better be used to help our BROTHERS [in the context of tzdaka the Torah calls the poor "brother"] who lack the basics. What will happen if one night we decide to cancel our plans to eat in a fancy restaurant and give the 180 dollars we were going to spend to a family in Yerushalayim that has nothing more than challah for a shabbos meal? I will tell you what will happen. You will be tremendously elevated and bring great good and bracha down to the world.
The anti-semites spends billions of dollars creating weapons to destroy us. They receive DONATIONS. People give generously for this purpose. The Christians spend TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS every year in efforts to convert us. The Tzadikim teach that when we are lacking the middah of generosity, the goyim take it and use it [often] for nefarious purposes. I have read about so many wealthy goyim who give loads and loads of money to tzdaka. Some billionaires established foundations to give away ALL OF THEIR MONEY while many many [even] frum Jews don't even give a tenth of their money. When Madoff went down we learned how many people had tremendously huge sums of money which instead of being shared with those less fortunate ended up ... in the ground.
AHHHHHHH.
In many families you find some members who possess tremendous wealth and have more money to live three lifetimes in great while their own blood relatives have to scramble for the barest necessities. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US?? The Huffington Post reported in April 2012 that "81 billionaires committed to giving at least half of their fortunes to charity". As of January 2015, 128 billionaire or former billionaire individuals and couples have signed the pledge. Where are Torah Jews?
OF COURSE there are many many generous Jews but is it enough? THAT is the test of our generation and of a person's character. It befuddles the mind how people can sleep soundly at night knowing that people lack the basics, yeshivas and other Torah institutions are choking, sick people can't afford medication, cold people can't afford warm clothing [a neighbor of mine...] etc. etc. and instead of helping they instead spend the money on a new car. Of course nobody can solve all of the problems but the more we do the better. לא המלאכה לגמור ואי אתה בן חורין להיבטל ממנה. We ask how the world was silent when 6 million were being slaughtered. Silence in the face of anyones pain is inexcusable - even if it is not about Nazis and gas chambers.
This world is very-very-very short. The next world is VERY-VERY-VERY-LONG. All we TAKE with us is what we gave.. Let us open our hearts and wallets this Purim [see the Rambam that the mitzva of matanos le-evyonim is greater than the mitzva of mishloach manos] and feel true love and brotherhood with our fellow Jews. In that merit ALL Jews will experience ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר.
And let the parties begin....
Love and blessings to one and all 
and li-chaim
.
Me:-)
[Based in part on last night's shiur of the Tolna Rebbe Shlita]
