Dvar Torah for Parshat VaYera

Based on Likutey MoHaran I, Lesson #60

If you are like most people, when you think about having money, why you need it, you usually run through the whole litany of expenses: the rent/mortgage, grocery bill, orthodontist for the kids, a present for the wife, taxes, and on and on. You’ve probably considered that it would be nice to have some extra shekels to take a vacation or paint the house. However, I’ll wager that you never, ever thought for a moment that it would be nice to have money so you could have a better understanding of Torah. (Most people will admit to this if you ask them privately.)

Rebbe Nachman points out that just as it is necessary to have a basic income in order to have a basic grasp of the Torah - “If there is no flour, there is no Torah” (Avot 3:17) - so, too, it is necessary to have greater wealth in order to come to a deep, comprehensive understanding of the Torah. The Rebbe brings the following proofs: [1] The Tribe of Yissakhar was noted for both its wealth and its Torah sages of outstanding acumen (Genesis 49:14; 1 Chronicles 12:33); [2] Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher), and each of the prophets, was extremely wealthy (Nedarim 38a); [3] each person whose role it was to transmit the Torah for posterity was extremely wealthy (Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi [the Prince], redactor of the Mishna, and Rav Ashi, redactor of the Gemara [Gittin 59a]).

Now that you know what money can really do, you are certainly more interested than ever in being wealthy. You want to know what the secret to such wealth is. The secret, Rebbe Nachman teaches, is to live a “long life.” A long life is not measured in years. It is measured in growth. Every day begins very small, very narrow, very constricted. There is so much to do and so little time! The solution is to start slowly, doing one thing at a time. Gradually, as the seconds tick by and the accomplishments snowball, you are adding more and more kedushah (holiness) to your life. The next morning you continue from where you left off, your higher plateau of holiness, starting slowly.

What one needs to live this “long life,” writes the Rebbe, is fear of God which prolongs life (Proverbs 10:27) and which is a treasure (Isaiah 33:6). The reason fear of God allows one to have a long life—and wealth—is because it protects from hevel hayofi, the vanity of beauty (Proverbs 31:30). Shlomo HaMelekh (King Solomon) writes, “On account of a whore, a man is brought to search for a loaf of bread” (ibid. 6:26). The more of oneself, of one’s time, that one invests in immorality, in whatever form and to whatever degree, the more he is removed from wealth.

(Rebbe Nachman points that the female figure itself, narrow at the top and wider below, can serve as a reminder: Be afraid of God so that the narrow day will become wider. See Berakhot 61a.)

Now, some readers will look up from the screen and say, “Wait a minute. There are many, many people out there who are quite wealthy who are far from being paragons of virtue!” True. However, does their wealth lead them to understand the Torah? Quite the contrary. The wealth they have, because it is not built on fear of God, does not shine with the color of holiness and leads them further and further away from proper understanding of the Torah.

Upon his arrival in Avimelekh’s kingdom Avraham Avinu (Abraham our Patriarch) realized that there was no fear of God there (Genesis 20:11). He attempted to rectify the situation by reinforcing his own level of holiness (ibid. v.2). He succeeded. He grew in wealth (ibid. 14-16) and enabled the inhabitants to have a “long life” (ibid. 21:34).

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!