Money and Life
Yaakov Avinu at the River
When Yaakov Avinu (Jacob) was returning to Eretz Canaan from Padan Aram loaded down with the wealth that he had acquired through hard work in the house of Lavan, a very queer incident occurred. The Torah records how Yaakov and his family reached the Yabok River and had to cross over in order to continue forward. Now, crossing a river can be quite a difficult job, especially when you’re traveling with a large family and you’re loaded down with sheep and cattle and servants and possessions – but Yaakov was up to the task.
Yaakov was a very strong person by the way. How do I know that? Because the Torah tells us that when he first came to Charan many years before he single-handedly took off the stone that was covering the well – a stone so heavy that many shepherds together couldn’t move it. Don’t think that tzadikim have to be weak.
Yaakov was exceptionally strong and so he got busy bringing his family over the Yabok.
It states in the possuk (verse) that Yaakov went back and forth, back and forth, taking his family and all his possessions across the river onto dry land. וַיַּעֲבִרֵם אֶת הַנָּחַל וַיַּעֲבֵר אֶת אֲשֶׁר לוֹ – And he took them across the river, and he also brought over everything that belonged to him (Vayishlach 32:24).
And then suddenly there’s a twist in the story: וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ – Yaakov was left alone on the far side of the river. Everyone knows the story of Yaakov being left unaccompanied and how he encountered the malach (angel) and wrestled with him up till the morning. But that’s not our subject for tonight – what we want to know is how it happened that Yaakov was left alone in the first place.
The Precious Pots
Our sages tell us what happened. Yaakov didn't intend it to begin with, lichatchila. Chazal tell us that “shachach pachim ketanim.” It means he forgot some earthenware vessels on the other side of the river. He had made it across with his family but then he reminded himself that he had left over a few inexpensive pots and he returned to fetch them (Rashi 32:25)
Now, that’s quite surprising to hear. He went back to retrieve a few small utensils?! After all, Yaakov was very wealthy and the sages describe the utensils as pachim ketanim; not only were they small but they were earthenware vessels. Klei cheress are a matter of a few pennies — maybe more than a few pennies, but surely they shouldn’t warrant Yaakov bothering himself to cross back. Even if it wasn’t dangerous to cross the river, why should he care if he left over some cheap things on the other side of the river?
Righteous Love of Money
About this story the gemara (Chulin 91a) says like this: ”Tzadikim chaviv aleihem memonam” – From the incident of Yaakov and his little inexpensive pots we see that the righteous people love their money more than they love their body; their money is more precious to them than their bodies. If Yaakov Avinu troubled himself to cross over the river just to get his pots that’s the model for a righteous Jew.
“Aha!” you’ll say, “Those greedy Orthodox Jews! I always knew it!” Oh no! We’re not talking here about Orthodox Jews – we’re talking about tzadikim. Not all Orthodox Jews are tzadikim but the ones that are, love their money more than their body.
Now that’s a statement that some people misunderstand and misuse, but it’s a true statement and therefore it’s necessary to explain it fully. Because on first glance, it’s the opposite of what we would expect. “Money?! says the tzadik, “Feh! Who needs it?” But now we see that just the opposite is true.
Chazal tell us that for the righteous money is most important. And if they ascribe this love of money to Yaakov our father, our model, so we should try to understand it. Because actually we can’t make sense of it. The wealthy Yaakov should care so much for his possessions that he would go back for some inexpensive pachim ketanim?
The Wealthy Pauper
The answer is Yaakov didn't go back for his pots – he went back to retrieve Hakodosh Boruch Hu’s pots! For the pots of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, even if they’re cheap earthenware, you go back across the river.
I’ll explain that. Here's a rich man sitting by the kitchen table counting his money when suddenly a quarter rolls off the table. So what does he do? He gets on his knees under the table and he’s looking for that coin. “I know it’s here somewhere,” he’s thinking. Now his wife walks into the kitchen and she’s standing there chuckling at him. “Sam? You, Sam?! You’re crawling on the floor for a quarter? What’s a quarter to you?!”
He says, “You don’t understand Chana; it’s not my quarter. It's the synagogue's money; it’s hekdesh money. I was elected treasurer of the synagogue and I’m counting the change that we made at our little rummage sale.”
He's a very rich man but he takes his responsibility with serious dignity – he knows that it’s not his money to waste.
A Loyal Custodian
Now suppose you’re a tzedakah gabbai and you left some of the charity money someplace; you accidentally left it on a counter in the store. You have to go back! It’s cold outside? Too bad! It’s not your money to leave. Your money you can forget about, but tzedakah money, nothing doing.
The true servant of Hakodosh Boruch Hu understands that even “his” money is not really his. He’s a loyal custodian for Hakodosh Boruch Hu and therefore even for his own property he has a special concern as if it’s tzedakah money - it’s Hashem’s money.
Now, Yaakov Avinu, not only did he say “My money is not really mine” – empty words, that anyone can do. But Yaakov actually felt it! Yaakov Avinu wasn’t wealthy – he was a pauper. “Whatever I have,” he said, “is not mine. It belongs to Hashem. I’m the gabbai, a treasurer who’s tasked with taking care of Hashem’s property; and therefore it’s not up to me to spend Hashem’s money according to my own desires or to be careless with property that He entrusted to me. It’s not my money. I’m merely a treasurer for Hashem.”
Every Man a Treasurer
Let’s say you’re Secretary of the Treasury for the United States of America; do you have the right to take dollar bills and throw them out of the window? Imagine you were passing by the Treasury Building in Washington D.C. and you saw dollar bills floating out of the window. You look up and you see the Secretary of the Treasury is standing by the window dropping bills from his office. They’d send policemen; they’d send a squad with nets to catch him and he’d be put in a cell right away. Everybody knows that the money is not his to waste.
Yaakov actually lived with the constant awareness that he’s just a Secretary of the Treasury for a certain amount of money and property that Hashem gave him to take care of temporarily. He had attained that awareness to such a degree that when little vessels were left behind, he was such a loyal custodian that he went back to fetch them; they weren’t his – he went back to get Hashem’s money.
That's how a great man understands his wealth. It's not mine. I cannot throw it into the street. I can't waste it. He doesn’t believe that he owns anything; he’s just a treasurer for Hakodosh Boruch Hu. If he’s a poor tzaddik then he’s the treasurer for the few dollars he has in his wallet and another few hundred dollars of savings hiding under his mattress. If he’s a rich tzaddik, he's been appointed as Secretary of the Treasury for Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Extravagant Wedding Spending
That’s part of the perfection of a man in this world – we’re expected to train ourselves in this awareness. When a man has such an awareness of the Creator, Borei Yisborach, that he feels that he possesses nothing and that he is merely holding it in trust for Hakodosh Boruch Hu then he has reached the pinnacle of emunah; it’s an awareness of the fundamental teaching that’s found at the beginning of the Torah, בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים – At the beginning, Elokim created.
This statement teaches us many things, but one of the primary teachings is that nothing in this world is hefker. Nothing is ownerless because Hashem created it. It’s His. That’s the first teaching. לַהַשֵּׁם הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ – ToHashem belongs the world and all that’s in it! Even your money, your pachim ketanim, it all belongs to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
When a man thinks that his money is his, he says, “What do you mean I can't spend $50,000 for my daughter's wedding? It's my money!” Such words mean that he has not yet attained this level of awareness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Reusable Disposables
That's why it is ossur to waste. It’s not only the few dollars; it’s a matter of remembering that it’s not yours – you’re wasting what doesn't belong to you. That’s why it has always been a virtue among Jews, don't waste. When the old mother a generation ago used to say to her child, “Eat it up; don't waste it,” it wasn’t just because they were poor – it was because they understood that nothing is ours.
Some people are wise enough not to throw away plastic dishes. In America, there’s a lack of that, but some people still wash out their plastic dishes and use them again and again indefinitely. Plastic forks and plastic knives and plastic plates. Why can’t you wash them out? I don’t understand it.
That’s why it’s a wonderful thing to see a housewife, she has a wet paper towel; it’s not dirty, it’s just wet, so she doesn’t throw it away. She uses it again. Not only because she's an eishes chayil and she’s trying to save her husband's money. He's trying to make a living and she’s trying to save pennies. But it’s not only to save the penny; he might tell her, “No need for that Chana,” but she does it anyway because she’s training herself to recognize that it’s really Hashem’s paper towels – she’s training herself to think like Yaakov Avinu.
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