Earning a Living — Earning a Life

To keep these essays going, despite our not being “connected” these days, we will present in the next few weeks quotes from Reb Noson’s Likutey Eitzot, (“Advice” in English) as well as quotes from Rebbe Nachman’s Sefer HaMidot (“The Aleph-Bet Book”). We continue with Likutey Eitzot on “MONEY and LIVELIHOOD.”

24) Craving for money puts power into the hands of the forces of wickedness — the domain of Haman the Amalekite, who constantly harries the side of holiness, the vital source of which lies in the wisdom of Torah. In direct opposition to this, the forces of wickedness constantly hunger after money, swallowing the sparks of holiness hidden in the money and rooted in the supernal colors. The more a person breaks his lust for money and draws closer to the wisdom of Torah, the more he releases the holy sparks from the forces of wickedness. The power to achieve this is drawn from the Tzaddikim, who are truly devoted to Torah. They have the power to humble the forces of wickedness and release all the trapped sparks and make of them Torah.

25) The deeper a person is sunk in desire for wealth, the less his understanding and the shorter his days will be. He will never hear the voice of the Torah, which calls on men constantly to return to God. He will be forced to toil for his living, and it will come to him only with great difficulty. But if he strives determinedly to deepen his understanding and think only thoughts of Torah, ignoring his desire for wealth completely, his livelihood will begin to come to him easily and he will hear the voice of the Torah calling and beckoning. The “voice of the Torah” is the good thoughts which rise constantly in a person’s heart with the idea of returning to God. In the end he will be worthy of returning to God in truth.

26) The depression which descends on a person when he has to struggle excessively for a living is the “filth of the serpent.” All the limbs of the body become heavy, and the vital spirit which pulsates in the body Ì the very basis of life Ì is weakened. The weaker it becomes, the heavier the limbs become, and they in turn weigh down the spirit even more. This vicious cycle can actually bring a person to the point of death. The root of the syndrome is the struggle for money, which is the source of anxiety and depression. But when a person sighs with longing for the holy, moaning out of yearning for God, it helps to rally his strength and revitalize the pulsating spirit within him, bringing new vigor and life. In the end he will attain profound understanding and hear words from Heaven itself.

27) Anger can be very harmful to a person’s livelihood. You should know that when the evil inclination starts tempting you to get angry, at that very moment a flow of blessing is descending from above with a certain sum of money intended for you. The evil inclination wants to thwart this blessing with the anger it tries to provoke in you. This is because anger is so damaging to the flow of blessing. Even a person who already possesses money can lose it if he becomes angry. Thus, anger can make a person lose his money. When a person gets angry he spoils the blessing of wealth which was due to come to him. He causes a stain upon his good name and, indeed, his very soul. But when a person holds his anger back and behaves patiently even in the most trying of circumstances, he attains wealth, a good name and an unblemished soul. All the other souls yearn to be merged with his soul and he can succeed in drawing many souls closer to God. Through this the glory of God is revealed.

28) The prohibition against robbery is very serious because a person who robs another robs him of his very children. Even if the victim does not have any children as yet, the robber can bring it about that he never will have. And if he does have children, the robber can cause him such damage that the children will die, God forbid, as a result of his having robbed him of his money (69).

29) One who robs another will end up having all kinds of sexual temptations.

30) At times the thief himself can end up losing his wife because of his crime, and at times he can cause the victim to lose his wife.

31) A person can come to possess stolen property without even physically stealing it himself. It is possible to rob one’s neighbor merely by being jealous of what he has. This is why the prohibition against envy and covetousness is so grave. Through envy alone one can rob one’s neighbor of his money and the soul of his sons and daughters, just like an actual thief.

32) Giving charity can make amends for any money which has come into one’s hands improperly because of envy. But for money which has literally been stolen there is no remedy except to return it to its rightful owner, or, in cases where it is impossible to return it to its owners to devote it to the public good, as our Rabbis explained (Bava Kama 94b).

33) If a person finds the money he has to live off is too little for his needs, the best thing to do is to make it into charity. Charity is the tikkun for material possessions. In the end he will have plenty of money.

34) A person who marries a woman for money is a fool and an idiot, as our Rabbis said (Kiddushin 72). He will lose whatever intelligence he may have had, and his children will turn out to be no good.

35) The lust for money creates enemies. The stronger the craving, the stronger the enemies become. If the craving becomes excessive, it will create enemies who hate one for nothing.

36) The more a person craves for money, the more turbulent and confused his mind becomes. Eventually he turns into a fool.

37) When a person is meek and humble no one can “shift him from his place” in the sense of impinging on his livelihood.

38) When a person conducts his business with faith and honesty, he thereby fulfills the commandment to “love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and his income will be sent him without worry and toil.

39) Business activity is wholly Torah. Therefore during the time a person spends on his work he should bind his thoughts to Torah alone, and in particular to the laws which are clothed within the activities in which he is engaged.

40) A person who fails to bind his thoughts to Torah in the course of his business activities will eventually be punished by having to come before the judges in a law case based on Torah law. The outcome of the case will depend on the degree of his previous neglect. Sometimes the punishment is merely having to undergo the case at all, and the person in question wins his case. But where people have allowed their business activities to diverge too far from Torah teachings, it usually happens that they lose their case.

41) The time a person spends working is a time of battle. The battle is against the forces of the Other Side, and the goal is to sift out the sparks of holiness and elevate them. Sifting out the sparks is the main purpose of all business and commerce. One has to be literally perfectly honest. Every word he speaks should be true. His “yes” should be “yes” and his “no” should be “no.” He must also bind his thoughts to Torah. When he is working, only the exterior aspects of his thoughts should be concentrated on the work itself, the inner thought should be bound to Torah. Through this he can sift and elevate many fallen holy sparks. All the worlds are elevated and awesome tikkunim (rectifications) are achieved, just as they are through prayer.