 We all remember being students in school and growing up and taking tests. In elementary school, in junior high school, in high school, in university, in graduate school. It's something that I'm sure all of us who've gotten past that stage of our lives are happy not to have to deal with anymore. However, the Talmud in Tractate Shabbat 31A tells us that we will all face a real final exam after our time has ended on planet Earth. Our souls will have to answer a number of questions. Fortunately, the Talmud tells us what these questions will be, so we can study and prepare ahead of time. The first question that we're going to be asked after 120 years is concerning money. That is the very first question. And the question will be whether we were honest and faithful in our financial activities in carrying out our business transactions. This question is at the top of the handful of questions that we're going to be asked. It's clearly considered to be a very important question. Our sages also teach in the Talmud, Tractate Aruvan 65B, that people can be known, that if you want to know someone and who they are, the Talmud says you can know them by Kiso, Kosso, and Kaaso, which we can't really effectively translate with the same kind of rhyme into English, but basically Kiso is their pocket, how they handle money, Kosso their cup or their glass, how they handle their drink, and Kaaso their anger. What sets people off and how angry they get. Those are the three ways in which the Talmud says you can really get to know who someone is. And one of them is, again, how they handle money. You can tell a tremendous amount about a person based upon how they relate to money, how they handle money, what's important to them financially, how they spend their money. These are all very, very important indicators about who people really are. King Solomon, who was the wisest person to ever live, wrote in his book of Proverbs, Michelet, chapter 27, verse 21, a refining pot is for silver and a crucible is for gold and a person according to their praises. And the 13th century Spanish commentary Rabbeno Yonah writes that a major component of how God will judge us will be regarding how we see what is important in life. God is going to look at us and say, what is this person considered to be important? In the depths of our hearts, what do we truly admire? What do we praise? It's worth trying to understand our relationship with money. And tonight I'd like to explore different ways that our literature views this very complex topic. Let's begin by examining the various terms that the Bible and our sages have for money in the same way that Eskimos have quite a few different terms for snow. It's interesting that in our literature, there are a number of different terms for money. So the first one we'll look at is Kesef. Kesef literally means silver, but it also is used in a very general way for money. Atomologically, Kesef is related to the word meaning yearning or desire. And the reason is clearly that people tend to want to accumulate money. Often people believe that it could be a key for happiness and fulfillment in life. And so money is something that people desire and they yearn for and they seek. Another term used for money is Shekel. Shekel was the name for currency used in biblical times. And in Israel today, Shekel is the equivalent of our dollar. And etymologically, Shekel is related to words meaning weight or balance. And we say that something is important, we say that it's weighty, that it's heavy. And certainly people regard money as important. It's interesting that the word Shekel, you know that in Hebrew every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. So the first letter is one, the second letter is two, the third letter is three, etc. So the word Shekel adds up to 430. Shin is 300, kuf is 100 and Lamid is 30. And 430 is also the numerical value of the word nefesh. Nefesh meaning soul. So that there is almost this equivalence between money and our very life. That's how important people regard money. Shekel, we consider it, we weigh it in balance to be very, very important. Mamon is a third word that's used for money. Now Mamon is a term that goes back to Mishnehik Hebrew. It's not entirely clear what the etymological roots of this word Mamon are. Some people think it's based upon an Aramaic term. There are many theories as to where Mamon comes from. But we know that it was used in Mishnehik Hebrew, which is quite ancient. And it's entered numerous other languages. So many languages have the word Mamon or Mamon to discuss and deal with money. A fourth term in Hebrew for money is Damim, Damim. And this Hebrew word for money also means blood or literally bloods in the plural and Hebrew Dam is blood, Damim is blood. And a number of explanations have been offered for why we have the same word for money and for blood. Number one, people often spill their own blood or sometimes the blood of other people in the pursuit of money. People sometimes kill themselves in the pursuit of money. And also, just like blood sustains our life, the Bible calls blood the life force of any creature. So, to money is essential for life. That's why Damim can mean both money and blood. And finally, the last term that I'll mention is the word Zuz. Zuz was a common coin in the Talmudic times. The word Zuz means move. If you're in Israel today and someone wants you to move, that's what you're gonna hear, they're gonna say Zuz. Get out of here, move. So, why do we speak about money as Zuz? So, money basically moves around and doesn't stay in one place for a long time. The Talmud in tractate Shabbat 151b says that money is a gal gal hachozer ba'olam, a wheel that rolls around in the world. Wealth is cyclical and you can have it today and you may not have it tomorrow. So, that's one reason why money is called Zuz. Cuz money is something that can move away or it moves to you or away from you very quickly. Another reason money is called Zuz is based upon the Midrash. Midrash ba' mid-barabah says that money is called Zuzim. Zuzim is plural of Zuz because they circulate. They move from person to person. That's what money does. It moves around from person to person. There's a lot of truth to the expression that it's money that makes the world go around. I think that was from Cabaret. Money is the catalyst. When you think about it, money is the catalyst that mixes things up in the world. Money brings people and nations to be involved with each other. Money is that thing that basically becomes in many ways the glue that gets people involved with each other, gets places, nations, countries, states involved with each other. As a matter of fact, what's fascinating is that the Talmud teaches us that before God created the world, he determined that creating the world would require that money be necessary for civilizations to exist. The Talmud actually says that one of the things that God determined to be able to have a world is that there has to be money. Otherwise, civilizations could not exist. The Talmud teaches this in Psachim, 54b. And there, the Talmud lists a number of things that God planned to be part of reality prior to creating the world. Number one, God planned that corpses should decompose. That was part of the plan for the world. Why is that? Because when corpses decompose, they have to be buried. And because bodies are buried, families will not continually suffer by having to see their loved ones dead. So that's actually a kindness that God built into the fabric of the world that corpses decompose. Secondly, the Talmud says that another thing that God planned before creating the world was that people that the deceased are forgotten from the heart. Meaning that after a time, people basically forget about those that have passed away. They don't entirely forget, but what the Talmud means is that after a time, pain diminishes. That people's intense pain and grief over the loss of a loved one does not remain constant. It diminishes over time. Number three, the Talmud says, grain rots. Grain will rot. And the reason for that is that if it rots, it cannot be hoarded forever. You can't hoard it forever. You've got to basically use it. And finally, number four, God's plan for the world would be that money will circulate and be accepted as a method of payment. When you think about it, actually, it's quite artificial that you can go into a store and give them a $10 bill and buy something because the $10 bill is worth absolutely nothing. It's useless. You can't even blow your nose with it. And so the reality is that there is a convention that's been accepted throughout all of history and all societies that money is accepted as a form of payment. One of our great sages was Rabbi Eliezer Papo. And he lived between 1786 and 1828. And he was one of the leading sages in Bulgaria during his lifetime. And he authored a wonderful compendium of Jewish wisdom called Pele Yoets. Pele Yoets means wonderful advisor. It's from the ninth chapter in the book of Isaiah. And the work covers numerous topics that are arranged in alphabetical order. And his entry, dealing with money, begins by citing two passages from books that are written by King Solomon. So he basically launches right into his discussion about money by quoting two passages from different books written by King Solomon. One is from Proverbs chapter 10, verse 20, the book of Mishle, where Solomon writes, the tongue of a righteous person is like fine money. The tongue of a righteous person is like fine money. And in a second verse that he quotes is from Coelis. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 12, which says, in the shadow of wisdom is the shadow of money. In the shadow of wisdom is the shadow of money. We see here that Solomon compares money to both wisdom and to our tongue. How are we to understand this? What does this mean? So Raphapot, in order to explain this, cites two different passages from the Talmud to provide some insight. The first passage he cites is from Erechon 15b. And that passage of Talmud quotes from Proverbs chapter 18, verse 21, which says a very famous verse, life and death are in the hands of the tongue. Life and death are in the hands of the tongue. And on that verse from Proverbs, the Talmud says, if you want life, engage in Torah study. If you want death, engage in words of frivolity and indecency. And then Raphapot quotes a second Talmudic passage from Kiddushin 30b. And there it says that the wisdom of Torah can be a elixir of life or it can be a potion for death. The Torah itself, the wisdom of Torah can be both a potion for life or an elixir for death. So Raphapot explains that just like our tongues and wisdom can either be very positive or very negative, we saw that our tongue can either be for life or for death. Wisdom can be either an elixir of life or an elixir of death. That's why they're compared to money. Raphapot says that money as well is something that's double edged. Rabbi Elie Melech Lugensk, the famous Hasidic master, said that money is like fire. It can be used in positive constructive ways. We know that fire is actually the symbol of creativity. That's the Prometheus myth that soon after, that's why we light a fire as soon as Shabbat's over. Soon as Shabbat's over, Shabbat we couldn't create. Shabbat now is over, we can create. The first thing we do is we light a fire. And so fire can be used in a positive constructive ways to create, to do things that are positive or as we know, fire can be incredibly dangerous and destructive. That's the nature of money, just like fire. According to Exodus chapter 30, God wanted Moses to conduct a census of the Israelites after they left Egypt. But God instructed Moses that the people should not be counted directly. You shouldn't directly count people and we still continue that practice. We don't count individual people. God said rather a half Shekel coin, a half Shekel coin would be given and these coins would be used to determine the census. Now the Midrash Tanchuma, a very old rabbinic Midrash, said that Moses had a difficult time envisioning what this half Shekel looked like. Couldn't really get it. And so God showed him a coin made of fire and told him that this is what should be given. That's the Midrash, which is quoted by Rashi here. Now this is a very strange Midrash. When you think about it, it's very, very puzzling because it's not clear what was so difficult for Moses to understand about giving a half Shekel coin. When you think about it, Moses was the greatest prophet that ever lived. Moses was able to understand much more difficult instructions that God gave him. So what was so puzzling to Moses that God had to show him what this coin looked like? Rabbi Simcha Zissel, who was the head of the famed Chevron Yeshiva, explained what this Midrash is all about. He said that it wasn't as if Moses didn't know what a half Shekel coin was. He explained that what bothered Moses was how could it be possible for a coin which is the epitome of materialism to be used as something that's holy? That's what Moses couldn't understand. How could you use something as mundane and as materialistic as a coin and use it for a holy activity? That's what was puzzling to Moses. According to the Torah, the coins were not just a mechanism for counting, right? The coins were not only used to determine how many Jews there were. The Torah tells us that these coins also provided an atonement for the Jewish people. It was an atonement for their souls. And so this is what was puzzling to Moses. How could this holy purpose be facilitated by an object that is so mundane and so often crass? We often think of money as one of the crassest things in the world. That's what bothered Moses. And this was precisely what God showed him. What God showed Moses was that even an object that is so earthy and materialistic has the potential to be elevated to a supreme spiritual level. That was what God was showing Moses. Don't think that just a coin has no potential for something that's elevated. God was showing him no on the contrary. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew term that is used when God tells Moses to count the Jewish people, so the word for counting in Hebrew is kitesah. Kitesah literally means to lift up, to elevate. And so God taught Moses that this mundane coin can be like fire. Fire is spiritual. If you wanted any kind of a symbol of spirituality, it's usually not a coin. But fire, light is often in most cultures a symbol for spirituality in Kabbalah. The metaphor for spirituality is light is fire. And so God is saying to Moses that yes, this coin can be like fire. It can be spiritual. It has tremendous potential. It can be raised up. And it can raise up those who contribute it. If they do so with passion and enthusiasm like fire. That was the lesson that God was teaching Moses. We also see this idea of the tremendous potential both ways of money in the famous story of Jacob's dream. Everyone knows this story that when Jacob fled his home he came to a place and he lies down to sleep. And in Genesis chapter 28, we're told about this dream that Jacob has. And in the dream he sees an immense ladder. And the ladder is planted on the ground and its top reaches to the heavens. Now according to one interpretation of the Midrash, the rabbis have numerous interpretations. But I wanna share one with you that according to one of these interpretations what Jacob was shown through this dream were the two wealthiest people who came out of Egypt when the Jews were redeemed. One of these people was Moses. Moses became incredibly wealthy according to the Midrash because he was allowed to keep the precious sapphire dust that was the, I guess the leftovers of the tablets that were used to uned the Ten Commandments. And by taking that sapphire dust we're told in the Midrash Moses became incredibly wealthy. And he was someone that was able to ascend to the heavens. Moses went up spiritually to the heavens. The Midrash says that he had to end up debating the angels whether or not the Torah should even be given to the Jewish people. So Jacob in his dream is shown Moses who is symbolized by the top of the ladder reaching up to the heavens. Other person that this ladder represents was Korach. Korach was someone who was also fabulously wealthy and he became wealthy from the booty of the Egyptians taking both the riches of the Egyptians when they left Egypt and then at the Red Sea when the Egyptian army was drowned and all of their riches floated to the top he was able to become incredibly wealthy. But Korach's wealth went to his head and he ended up leading a rebellion against Moses. Moses as we know remained humble. He was actually the humblest person to ever live even with his wealth. But we're told that Korach led a rebellion and Jacob was shown Korach as well. Because according to the Midrash and the Torah itself Korach was swallowed up by the earth. And so when he sees this ladder with its head reaching up to the heavens that's Moses. But when he sees the bottom of the ladder planted in the earth that symbolizes Korach was swallowed up by the earth. Now the word in the Torah used here for a ladder is Sulam, Sulam. And Sulam, I mentioned before every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent. So the famous commentary Bal Hathurim points out that the numerical value of this word Sulam is 136. 136 is also the value of the word Mammon which we learned earlier tonight. Mammon is one of the words for money. Mammon is also 136. And it's also the numerical value of the word Oni, poverty. So this ladder that Jacob sees is a ladder Sulam that really shows you both wealth and poverty. And just like a ladder can be high or low. You can get the lowest part of the ladder or the highest part of the ladder. Money as well is able to elevate or degrade human beings. Money can be used for noble and holy purposes. Or it can be used for selfish and debased purposes. That's the nature of money. Money has this potential to be something which is wonderful or something which is terrible. And that's why Jacob was shown both Moses and Korach. One was lowered through their wealth and one remained on a high level. Now as we know, in his dream Jacob saw angels going up and down this ladder. And perhaps one of the lessons that we can learn from this dream, from Jacob's story, is that as we are climbing ourselves, as we ourselves are climbing the ladder of financial success, we should take care not to get corrupted, but rather we should strive ourselves to be like angels. Angels, as we know, exist in order to serve God. And that might be one of the messages, one of the lessons of this dream that Jacob has. From Moshe Chaim Luzato, the Ramchal, writing in the 18th century, in his famous book, the Mesilat Yisharim, Pathway of the Upright, a classic Musser work, writes in his first chapter that God placed all human beings in a world where life is a raging battle. Each one of us is in a life where our life is in the middle of a huge battle. And he says that everything in the world is here as a test for us. He writes that poverty can be a test on the one hand and he says that just as well, wealth can be a test for us too. There's a famous parable that's told by the Dubna Magid, the famous preacher, the Dubna Magid. He tells of a person that was very, very of modest means. He was someone that did not really have lots of income. He basically eeked by to support his family. He would sell trinkets to sailors who would come into the port. And he basically, you know, he got by. And one day he sees the sailors coming in on a ship and they are just giddy with excitement. The sailors are laughing and they're smiling and they're dancing and they're singing and he wants to find out why are they so happy? So he goes over to this group of sailors and he says, what's going on? Why are you so happy? So they say to him, you know, we just came back from an island where the entire island, every inch of it is filled with precious jewels. The whole island is diamonds and rubies and emeralds. This poor old guy is very, very excited. You know, maybe I can go there. And he begs them, can you please show me where this place is? And they say, you know what, it's pretty far away and it's not an easy trip, it's quite dangerous. We had a serious ship to go on. You know, it probably would do much better in the waters than whatever little boat you're gonna go on. But this fellow felt that he had to do it. He needed to really have more money for himself and his family. So after pleading with them, they finally drew him a map and they showed him, this is where this island is and lots of luck, hopefully you'll make it there in one piece. So he tells his family about his plans. He doesn't have a boat, but he scrapes together whatever money he has. He borrows a little bit of money and he gets a rinky dinky little row boat and he sets sail. And he tells his family, look, when I'm ready to come home, I'll send word. So he takes this amazing journey and it's very treacherous and he almost doesn't make it and the seas are very choppy. And finally he gets to where the map is pointing him, he gets to this island and he sees from not very far away that the sand is sparkling. There's something that's there that maybe they're right, these sailors. And he finally lands his little boat and what do you know, the whole island is full of jewels. Every inch of it is covered with precious jewels. This guy can't believe it, he faints. And he wakes up and he starts stuffing his pockets with diamonds, he's so excited. And he says to himself, you know what? I may not be so lucky on the way home. I may not make it back with my little teeny row boat and why should I go back in a tiny row boat? I can probably get a bigger boat and fill it with merchandise and diamonds and I'll be really wealthy. So his plan is to go to the local shipyard and to buy himself a boat. So he goes to the local shipyard and he sees what he thinks is a beautiful ship, beautiful boat and he says to the owner of the shipyard, I'd like to purchase that boat over there. And he pulls out a handful of diamonds from his pocket and he puts it on the table and he says, that should cover it. And the owner of this place says, are you out of your mind? Those things, those are useless here. That's not worth anything here. The whole island is filled with diamonds. And this poor guy, he's crestfallen, he can't believe it, oh my goodness. So how do you buy a ship? What do you do to be able to get a ship here? He says, well, I'll tell you, off the coast of this little island, there is a tiny little fish that is a tremendous delicacy. And he said, it's very hard to catch. This fish is very hard to catch. But if you can catch 1,000 of those little fish, I will sell you that ship. So this guy, he's all in. And he does his homework and he tries to do research and he tries different methods of fishing. And he goes out in his little rowboat and he actually gets quite good at catching these little fish. And he's catching them by the thousands. He loses track. He thought he only needed to get 1,000, but hey, I'm the greatest fisherman in the world here. So he's catching thousands and thousands of them. And he comes back to the shipyard and he gives them the 1,000 fish. And he says to himself, well, these are precious little fish. So I'm gonna load up the ship that I just bought with these little fish. And he sets sail for home. And he sends word to his family that I'll be back in about five weeks. So it comes the day. His family's probably been out looking for him for a few days already, but finally they see a ship that's coming in the distance. And this guy is sailing for weeks with these fish and he probably got used to the fishy smell. But as he got closer to the seashore, to the shore of his home, and his family can see him and they're waving at each other, they're wondering like, what is that smell with smelling from the boat? Anyway, he lands and he embraces his family. He greets them and they look at his ship and they say, what's going on around here? What did you bring back? And at that moment, this poor guy practically has a heart attack. He says, oh my God, here I'm in this island. I went there to get jewels and diamonds and emeralds and rubies. And I got totally distracted by the life there and ended up bringing back a boat full of smelly little fish. And fortunately, he still had a couple of diamonds in his pocket from his first day. So he was able to support his family comfortably. But what a tragedy it was. And Abdul-Nugget said, this person that we sort of smile at and we laugh at, he's all of us. Because Abdul-Nugget said that God sends each of us down into this world to collect diamonds. Each one of us was sent into this world to collect precious commodities. Each one of us can collect opportunities to do kindness to other people. We have opportunities to grow spiritually, to grow in wisdom, to study Torah, to get close to God. These are the kind of things that we're sent in this world to do. And what happens is, we end up getting distracted by these little green pieces of paper in the United States, they're green, I guess here are the different colors. But we get distracted by what's valuable down here in this world. And we end up filling our boat with money. And we neglect to fill it up with the things that we really came down into this world to do. We're a mere premmishlan, one of the great Hasidic masters would say that we have to make sure that our money is under our control and not that we are under the control of our money. That's the great test of money. When the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt after 210 years, God provided their nourishment in the desert by way of a special miraculous substance that fell from the heavens called manna. That was the diet of our ancestors when we came out of Egypt. And interestingly, the Torah describes this manna as a test. This manna was a test for us. Now, one way of looking at the test is to say that, look, the Jewish people had nothing. We didn't have any food on our own. There were no places to buy food in the desert. And so we had to have faith every day that God would send the manna down from heaven to sustain us. You could say that it's a test from poverty, meaning we had nothing. And we had to have faith that God would provide. But Rabba Vajasvarno, among other commentaries, says, no, it wasn't a test of poverty. It was actually a test of wealth. Because it was a test where every day we had a full refrigerator. Every single day, we were able to collect exactly what we needed in order to live, in order to sustain ourselves and nourish ourselves. We had, for 40 years, a full refrigerator. And the test was, would we continue to remember God as the source of our food? Because we could come to take it for granted. It's there every day. And maybe we're going to forget where the food comes from. In addition, as Vajasvarno says, that their food was coming to them, this manna came to us without any efforts on our part. It basically fell right at our tent door. Went out to the tent, picked up the manna, and that was the food for the day. And so the question was, they were like wealthy people with lots of free time on their hands. What would they do with this free time? Would they use their free time productively in the desert? What could they do in the desert? Well, they could grow spiritually. They could meditate. They could get closer to God. They could study Torah. They could do all the things that really came into this world to do as human beings. So we see in our literature that wealth is constantly a tremendous test. Wealth is always considered to be a tremendous test. As a matter of fact, what's amazing is that if you go to the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, in the very first verse, in the first chapter, Moses is recapitulating the history of the 40 years in the desert. And he speaks about the journeys that they took. And he mentions a place called De Zahav, De Zahav, which can be read as Die Zahav, enough gold. And according to Rashi, Moses was basically complaining to God that this place, De Zahav, according to the commentaries, is alluding to that debacle of the golden calf. And Moses was blaming God for the golden calf. Moses was saying to God, God, you basically set a stumbling block before the blind. Because you gave them so much gold when they came out of Egypt, so much gold that they themselves had to say, die, it's enough. And Moses said that's putting them in a situation where the test is so great. Moses says, you're responsible for the golden calf. That's how much of a test riches and wealth can be. When the Ramchal mentioned, I mentioned to you before, when the Ramchal mentioned the test of wealth, he quoted Proverbs chapter 30, verse 9, which says, lest I be satisfied and deny you and say, who is God? This is a constant refrain in the Torah that we're constantly warned that we are going to become satisfied with what we have. We're going to get filled up with what we have. And we're going to come to deny God. God warns the Jewish people in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8. He says, starting in verse 12, going to verse 14, lest you eat and be satisfied and you build good houses. He's saying, what's going to happen when you come into the land of Israel? And Moses warns them, you're going to eat and you're going to be satisfied. And you're going to build goodly houses and settle. And your cattle and sheep and goats will increase. And you will increase in silver and gold for yourselves. And everything that you will have will increase. And your heart will become haughty. And you will forget Hashem, your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery. But the danger the Torah always warns us of is that wealth can bring a kind of spiritual complacency, a spiritual arrogance, and the danger of forgetting God. You know, there's a very famous question that's asked about the Garden of Eden story, where after this terrible incident in the Garden of Eden where the snake gets Adam and Eve to basically disobey God and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so we're told that God cursed the snake. And the curse to the snake was that you will now no longer walk, you will now crawl on your belly, God says, and your food will be the dust of the earth. That's what God says to the snake. And the commentaries ask a very obvious question, what kind of a curse is that? If a snake's going to crawl on its belly and its food is going to be the dust of the earth, he's going to be swimming in food. Everywhere the snake goes there's going to be food in front of it. There's never going to be any lack of food. Why is that a curse? And the Cutscareby explains that's precisely the curse, that a person who's swimming in food never has to turn to God, never has to seek anything from God. They become very complacent. They don't need God. And it's a way of basically God saying to the snake, you know what, I want nothing to do with you. Here's your allowance for the rest of your life and you won't have to come back to me anymore. You can see that if you look out a window, you're able to see other people on the other side. That's one of the things we could do when you open up your blinds in the morning and look out your house, your apartment, and you can see people out the window. But we know that if you put a little silver behind that glass, what happens to it? It becomes a mirror and you can only see yourself. And that's one of the great dangers of wealth, of money is that it has, unfortunately, the temptation to get us to be very self-absorbed and to only see ourselves. Rabbi Yisrael Reisman in New York, a very wonderful teacher, a very popular teacher in New York, tells this incredible story. That he had a congregant who comes from a family that descend from the Noamele Melech, Rabbi Elemelech of Lugensk. And the family had an original copy of their ancestor's book, this famous book, The Noamele Melech. And there was a treasured item in this family and they would always take it to every wedding or any bar mitzvah or any time there was an engagement or a bris, any family celebration, they would bring this book as, I guess, a good omen. So one of the congregants, Rabbi Reisman's congregant was a litigation lawyer. And he was working on a case for years where if he won the case, he was bound to make about six million dollars. So on the day of the decision of the court, he asked his father, could you please give me the Noamele Melech, he put it in his Ateshe case, and he goes to the courtroom. And that night, he came back to the synagogue and Rabbi Reisman can see from his face that he did not win the case. And Rabbi Reisman went over to console him and say, I'm sorry, you didn't win. And the fellow says, you know what, Rabbi? Not only was it terrible that I didn't win this case, but my father really let me have it. Because when I came home and I spoke to my father, I said to him, daddy, it's not working anymore. They lost its charm. He said, you know what my father told me? My father said to me, did you ever bother reading this book? He had to admit he never studied it. His father said to him, you know what, at the very back of the book, his father has blessings for his descendants. And one of the blessings he gives his descendants is that none of them would ever become extremely wealthy. That was the blessing because extreme wealth can be a tremendous test to have to deal with in life. There's a malady that we refer to as affluenza. And the truth is that it's not a new malady. Solomon, who wrote the book of Koheles, Koheles, Ecclesiastes, he had affluenza. We're told in the book of Koheles, Ecclesiastes, that he had everything. He had houses, he had gardens, he had servants. He was the richest man in the world. And yet we see in the book of Koheles, Ecclesiastes, it didn't bring him any happiness or joy. That the more he had, the more pointless everything seemed to him. He famously said, hevel havolim, it's vanity of vanities. There's a famous story where the Hassam Sofar, a great European sage, was once a guest at the home of a member of the Rothschild family. And this host was not only very wealthy, but he was also a very pious Jew. And as the Hassam Sofar was preparing to leave, his host asked him what he thought of him. The host wanted to know, what do you think of me? He said, was there any aspect to my household that was not run according to the Torah? He wanted to get graded, like evaluated by the Hassam Sofar. And the Hassam Sofar thought for a moment and said, everything in your house is against the Torah. So the host was aghast and he nearly fainted. So the Hassam Sofar said with a smile, you know what? The Torah predicts that the Jewish people would accrue wealth and that they would rebel against God. That's a prediction of the Torah. It says in Deuteronomy, va'ishman ye'shurin va'ivat, that ye'shurin, another name for Israel, they grew fat and they rebelled, they kicked. And we see this throughout the Torah, as I read before on the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. And the Hassam Sofar said to him, your home is clearly an exception to this prophecy. You've passed the test of wealth. It's important for us to appreciate the almost supernatural lure that money has for us. Rufzalika Cohen of Lublin, the famous Hasidic master, wrote that the desire for money is greater than any other material drive in the world because it's the only one that is insatiable. He explains that there's a limit to how much food a person's able to eat. There's a limit to how many times a person can commit adultery. But there's no limit to how much money a person can accumulate. And the quest for wealth can be more obsessive than any other desire. The Katsgar Rebbe said the following. He said, when I was a young man, there was nothing I hated as much as money. And I refused to accept it from anyone. But once, a very wealthy man came and literally forced me to accept a gold coin. I couldn't stand up to his pressure. And finally, I took the coin into my hand. He says, I felt as if it were burning a hole in the palm of my hand. And since then, whatever money has been placed into my hand, it has failed to fill up that hole. It's impossible to ever satisfy our quest for money. It says in Kohela, Ecclesiastes chapter five, verse nine, one who loves money will not be satisfied with money. You can never have enough. The Midrush teaches the one who has 100 wants 200. There's a very cute Talmudic passage in Tamid 32b. The Talmud says that there was a meeting once between Alexander the Great and a group of rabbis. And he asked the rabbis to pay him homage. He wanted some honor from these rabbis. So he was referring to the Hebrew God and Alexander said to the rabbis, I too am a king. Your God is a king. I'm a king as well. And I'm also of some account. So give me something. Give me some honor. So what did they give him? They gave him an eyeball. They gave him an eyeball. And he placed it on a balance scale. And he put gold and silver on the other side. And no matter how much gold and silver he placed opposite the eyeball, he could not outweigh it. He said to the rabbis, how can this be? And they replied, it is the eyeball of a human being which is never satisfied. Now we all know that in the Shema, the famous declaration of faith that we recite twice a day, we say Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad, here are Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And then we say, we have to Es Hashem Elokechah b'chol levavchah, b'chol nafshchah b'chol meodechah, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all of our might. What does it mean with all of our soul? So the sages explain what it means is to love God with your whole life. That's what it means to love Him with your soul, with your life even if you have to give up your life. And what does it mean when it says with all of your might? What does it mean to love God with all of your might? b'chol meodechah. And the sages say what it means is with all of your money. You've got to love God with all of your heart, with all of your life and even with all of your money. Now, does that make any sense? You're already worshiping God and loving God with your whole heart and your whole life. And now, we have to be told and even with your money, you would think that that already has been subsumed. That's not as big a deal as even willing, willing to give up your life for God. And the Talmud says that the reason that it says after everything else, after telling us to love God with our heart and with our life, the reason it has to then say and even with all your money is because there are people in this world that love their money even more than their life. And I dare say even more than the life of their children because we know so many people basically spend all of their lives making money and they ignore their own families. There's no one on the planet that at the end of their life ever said, I wish I had spent more time at the office. People usually at the end of their life begin to regret that they didn't spend more time with the people they love. And so the Shema is telling us this. If you want an understanding of how tempting money is and what an overriding passion people develop for it, the Shema tells us that even someone that serves God with all their heart and all of your life, they've got to be told and even with all your money. Jack Benny told a story about someone who was once held up by a mugger. And the fellow says to him with a gun in his face, your money or your life. And the person says, give me a moment to think about that. But nonwithstanding, all the pitfalls that money has, we have to be mindful of its tremendous positive potential. In the Torah, wealth is considered to be a sign of divine blessing. In Genesis chapter 12 verse two, when God basically tells Abraham to go and to become the progenitor of the Jewish people, he's as lech lecha, go to the land that I will show you. God says to him in Genesis 12 verse two, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and I will make your name great. What does it mean when God says to Abraham, I will bless you? So Rashi explains, I will bless you with wealth. That's not a bad thing. God is blessing him with wealth. And similarly in the Birch House Kohanim, in the priestly benediction that in Israel is recited every day here in the diaspora, we only say it on the holidays. But in Numbers chapter six in the book of Numbers verse 24, we say, Yivarecha Hashem ve Yishmirecha. May the Lord bless you and safeguard you. What does it mean when we ask the priest, ask for God to bless us? So the commentaries explain it means to bless us with material prosperity. That's what the priests are doing. And why do the priests have to say and guard you and protect you? So according to many commentaries, it means to guard you from being corrupted by that material prosperity. On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, after completing the entire atonement service, the high priest would offer a special prayer for what? What do you think the special prayer of the high priest on the day of atonement is going to be? It wasn't for anything spiritual. The high priest prayed for the material success and the financial independence of the Jewish people. In Ethics of the Fathers chapter three, we're told, ain't kemach, ain't toro. If we don't have bread, we will not be able to have toro. And just like in our modern slang, bread is slang for money, it was basically slang back then as well. If you don't have money, you can't have toro. Meaning it's hard to dedicate yourself to toro and spiritual growth with financial stress in life. Financial stress tends to overtake people. And so the mission is teaching us that having money is a good thing because it allows you to have toro. And we know that we can do incredibly important things with money. The value of giving staka, what we call charity, it's not a good translation. Staka really means righteousness and justice because it's not something we do because we feel sorry for someone but we give charity because it's the right thing to do. But when we give people staka and in Biblically we're supposed to give at least 10%, up to 20%. It gives us a chance to be like God because what does God do in this world? God sustains us and God nourishes us. And so when we give of our resources to other people, we are basically not just helping other people, we are lifting ourselves up to the highest level. Business is called masa umatan. In Hebrew, the word for business, the expression for business is masa umatan. Literally that means to elevate and to give because what business does is it gives us the ability to elevate the money in our transactions by using it properly and by earning it honestly. And so it's not just money, it's something which itself can be elevated, the money itself can be elevated and we become elevated as a result. Maimonides teaches us rambam in his chapter, Hilchodeo chapter three. He quotes the book of Proverbs chapter three verse six. Bechol drachecha daehu in all of your ways you should know God. Maimonides writes that if you work with the intention, if you go to work with the intention of serving God to do business honestly, to give charity, to support your family, he says then the work is not just facilitating these noble activities. Maimonides says the work itself is considered of Odot Hashem, the service of God. The work itself becomes holy. The prophet Jeremiah famously wrote in his ninth chapter, verse 23, we should not glory in our riches. We should not take glory and honor and feel proud about riches that we have. He says only if we know God and do kindness. And I would say that one way of reading this verse in Jeremiah is that there's nothing wrong with the riches. And if you wanna feel good about it, it's only if you use your money to know God and to do kindness. The major test with money is to recognize where it comes from. Money again is a test in life, everything is a test. And when it comes to money, the major test is to never forget where it comes from. The Talmud and tractate Brachot basically takes two verses from the book of Psalms and shows that they seem to contradict each other. One verse in the book of Psalms says, Hashemayim, Shemayim, L'adonai, the heavens belong to the Almighty, the Haaretz Natan Levne Adam, and the earth he has given to human beings. However, another verse in the book of Psalms says, L'ashem Haaretz umalowa, the earth and its fullness belong to God. And the Talmud says, which is it? One verse says that the earth belongs to God. The other verse says that the earth he gave to human beings. How do you reconcile this? And the Talmud says, one verse is speaking before you've made a blessing. The other verse is speaking about after you've made a blessing, meaning that the world belongs to God simply because he created the world. Obviously, as the maker of the world, he owns it. But as soon as we acknowledge that God is the owner and we acknowledge the gifts that he gives to us, then he is giving it to us as a gift and now it's ours. But the reality is that there's no word in Hebrew. There's no word in the Bible for absolute ownership. There simply isn't a word that we have that you own something. If you wanna say I have in Hebrew, you would say yeish li, there is to me. Meaning that I happen to be at the present time in possession of something. But there's no word to say that I absolutely own it because everything is only given to us as trustees. We are stewards of the money that God gives to us. And so if we acknowledge the money that we receive from God and we use it properly, then we're passing the test of money. In conclusion, I just wanted to share a thought from the slalom of Rebbe, the holy slalom of Rebbe. And he notes that in the book of Exodus chapter 16 verse 32, it says that Moses was instructed to take the manna, to take some of the manna that fell to feed the Jewish people in the desert and to put it in a jar. And that jar was kept in the tabernacle and it was later kept in the holy temple in Jerusalem. And the slalom of Rebbe asked the question, why is it that there were many miracles that took place in the desert? Many miraculous things happened in the desert. Why of all the miraculous things that happened, only this was preserved as an eternal memento. And he says the reason is because the lesson of the manna continues in our lives today. That in the same way that God provided for 40 years to the Jewish people in the desert, God provided every single day to our ancestors, he does so today. Who is sustaining us today but God? In chapter 145 we say, Potaiach et yadacha umas bialochol hayrason. God opens his hand and he sustains all living beings with favor. And so our challenge, our test is simply to acknowledge this. Our test is to acknowledge and to be grateful to the gifts that God gives us.