Many Jews love their money. [Goyim do to but this blog is not for them or about them. If they want my mussar - they should invite me on national TV and I will happily share...馃槉馃槉]. This is understandable. Money is POTENTIAL. If I have money then potentially I can acquire almost anything [except for happiness, health, long life, good well adjusted happy healthy frum children, a happy marriage, restful sleep, serenity, faith, intelligence, a good heart, sensitivity, time, a good singing voice, a head of hair, beauty, talent, knowledge, wisdom etc. etc. etc. Being able to independently read Jewish texts is literally worth more than all the money in the world. I hope you can and that you wouldn't trade it for anything if you could]. Any car, any house, any vacation, any gadget, any restaurant etc. etc. There is no end of things to acquire in our consumerist world. And today it is all delivered to your door - PRESTO!! Thanks Big JEFF!!!
Chazal say [讬专讜砖诇诪讬 讬讜诪讗 讗 讗] that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed b/c people loved their money and hated each other [probably b/c they were competing for the same money. Money makes people crrrrrazzzyyy]. If we would have fixed this - we would have the Beis Hamikdash. The fact that we are still in Galus means that the problem still exists.
There is nothing wrong with having or even enjoying money. The problem is LOVING money. It is like food. One shouldn't LOVE food. Food is a means. One should love ends. One should love Hashem, people, Torah, goodness etc. Not the means. People say that they love sushi and that they love their children. I hope nobody loves sushi and that everyone loves their children. You can ENJOY Sushi. But leave your love for things that deserve love. Money is a means to an end. It doesn't deserve your love.
Someone once told me about a wealthy person I knew who never bought his rent controlled apartment. It was a mistake, this person told me. What was the mistake? What did he lose out on? He had a place to live. That is the point of apartments - to live in them so we can do our job in life. Inheritance - he left a plenty large one. So he lost out that instead of dying with his name registered as the owner of this apartment, he died without his name being registered as the owner of the apartment. Wow!! He is probably in his grave RIGHT NOW thinking "Oh man - I could have been the proud owner of an apartment. Then I could have bragged to all of the worms consuming my flesh, that yes, they are feasting on me - but in the records at city hall, my name appears as the owner of a Manhattan apartment. You worms are a bunch of losers who have nothing better to do than hang around the cemetery all day. I, in contrast, am a real estate magnate. BTW - When I died I also owned 15 nursing homes." As a descendent of Cham might famously have said "Ain't never seen a Uhaul next to a hearse".
Some people I know who are very very wealthy talk about their money AS IF they have five dollars left to live on and are destitute or could be destitute in minutes. "Oy - that was so expensive". Eggs are an extra dollar so now instead of having 5,678,568 dollars, they have 5,678,567 dollars. And of course the money is invested so they become richer by doing nothing. And their homes go up in value every day. My landlord bought the apartment I am writing this from for a certain sum. The apartment is going to be sold soon for four times that sum AND I paid off most of it myself in rent. So he basically has a clean gain of a million dollars which he didn't have to work a second for. WHATTA LIFE!!! So it is with rich people. Money makes money. Yet, people still have very unhealthy relationships with their money which includes being very stingy and at times less than honest in order to increase their wealth yet more.
What is the INCREDIBLE 诇讬诪讜讚 讝讻讜转 for Jews??
Despite how much they love their money - they give incredible amounts to Tzdaka and spend fortunes to give their children a Jewish education. THAT is special. In addition to all of the parents who help support their children in Kollel. People work hard for money that could be used to buy more and more stuff and is instead used so that a young man can spend his days and nights studying Toras Hashem.
诪讬 讻注诪讱 讬砖专讗诇!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!馃槉馃槉馃槉
