Funny calling the COO of Facebook, with a net worth of over a billion dollars, "poor". If I had ONE PERCENT of what she had in material possessions, then most of my problems would be solved. Like all the times I am stuck in Yerushalayim and there are no more buses home and I can't afford a cab [like tonight - Hashem should help me:-)]. If I had a billion, then I would call my driver and in minutes I'd be home. If there was a traffic jam, I would just get into my helicopter and like a bird I would reach my destination. Now I find myself hitching, walking, praying and blessing myself with easier days....
So who is calling who poor??
Sheryl's husband David Goldberg [they were married but she is a strong feminist and kept her name] suddenly died while exercising a month ago and she is distraught. Now she has two small children who will grow up without a father and she will be alone unless she finds someone else, but regardless, will never stop missing her late husband.
What would she give for her husband to come back? All of her money. Her job. Her social status. Everything. Of course.
No husband. No father for her children. Money is nice but it doesn't provide companionship and love.
So let us count our blessings. We have a spouse? A parent? Two?? All worth more than money can buy. What about cancer? You don't have it? Isn't that worth a few billion? Do your kidneys work? Wow! Priceless.
The pasuk in Mishlei [13/7] says יש מתעשר ואין כל - Some people are rich but don't have anything. There are many interpretations of this pasuk. I thought along more kabbalistic lines: The word כל is the root of the word תכלית - purpose. כל symbolizes all of the spiritual blessings possible. The gematria of כל is 50 - representing the 50th gate of wisdom that even Moshe didn't attain. The Torah was given on the 50th day and Yovel - the return to the source, is on the 50th year. The Avos were blessed with כל as we say in bentching אברהם יצחק ויעקב בכל מכל כל - Avraham was blessed בכל Yitzchak מכל and Yaakov with כל [see Bava Basra 17a and the Sfas Emes Chaye Sarah 5651, 5655, 5664].
Some people are מתעשר, they have fat bank accounts but don't have כל - spiritual blessings. If you learn Torah - you are the richest person around. Do you have Shabbos? One day of Shabbos is worth more than money can buy. Do you have meaning in life? Real meaning- not fake, contrived meaning?? If the answer is "yes" then you are RICH! Tefillin, tzitzis, tzniyus, kashrus, yuntiv, simchas chosson vi-kallah etc. etc. Our mitzvos give us כל regardless of which tax bracket we find ourselves in.
I once again quote Morrie:
“We've got a sort of brainwashing going on in our country", Morrie sighed. "Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it--and have it repeated to us--over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all of this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore.
Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. Gobble up a new piece of property. Gobble up the latest toy. And then they wanted to tell you about it. 'Guess what I got? Guess what I got?'
You know how I interpreted that? These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.
Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”
Morrie Schwartz as he was dying of ALS.
Tuesdays With Morrie
Nu - Sheryl should have a nechama and find the כל in her life, giving her true wealth.
