Earning a Living — Earning a Life

Essay #14

This week’s Torah reading relates the story of the Great Flood. Somewhat very similar to our earning a living, in that we can get overwhelmed by the “changing tides” that surround us from all sides and do not let us breathe. Rebbe Nachman teaches that our refuge from the Deluge lies in the Teivah (“Ark”) for the Hebrew word for a word is teivah. By taking our words and expressing them in prayer before God, we have the ability to survive a deluge and effect the mitigation of decrees, n order to bring down bounty and blessing.

As we are still on the road, we will to continue with quotes from “The Aleph-Bet Book.”

101) Leaving food crumbs [to be trampled on] brings poverty.

102) Wealth is a masculine aspect, whereas poverty is from the feminine side.

103) Soreness of the eyes is a sign of impending harm.

104) Whatever you want, be it wisdom, wealth or children, you should first strive to attain it through natural means and then plead for mercy that these means prove successful.

MONEY – Part B

1) A year which is economically prosperous is also a year of physical health.

2) A person with a burning desire to work the land will come to one of three things: bloodshed, leprosy or drunkenness.

3) Fearing God and acting kindly to others saves one from being harmed by fire and brings him his livelihood.

4) Wherever there is a decline in the practice of Torah Law there is a decline in prosperity. On the other hand, [adherence to Torah law increases prosperity].

5) Supportive proofs from the Torah for Rabbinical enactments bring abundant prosperity to the world. This is because there are a number of teachings which have no explicit verse in the Torah upon which they are based and the Rabbis labored to find some supportive reference [for their enactment].

6) The Holy One will occasionally boast to Satan about a righteous gentile. [By distracting Satan in this way,] God is then able to provide the Jews with prosperity free of any opposition [from Satan's forces].

7) When a person yearns to be buried in the Land of Israel, he is blessed with a livelihood of plenty.

8) A person should take part [in the preparations] for a meal which is being held in honor of some mitzvah, even if it means that he has to chop fire wood. While chopping, he should keep in mind that he is splitting and separating the bad from the good which exists in the Tree of Knowledge. By doing so, he will merit earning his livelihood.

9) By returning to God in repentance, you will be able to earn your living easily.

10) One who fulfills, "Your neighbor's money should be as precious to you as your own" (Avot 2:12), merits praying with an attentive heart.

11) So great is the value of living from the fruits of one's own labor that a person who does so can recognize God's glory in a way which even the angels cannot.

12) The blessing which descends from Heaven alternates in form; at times appearing as fire, at other times as water, stone or any of the other forms. These changes are in accordance with the changes which take place amongst the angels: sometimes they are sitting and at other times standing, occasionally they are feminine and at other times masculine. All these changes affect both macrocosm and microcosm. Man's will also alternates according to these changes. At times he wants one thing and at other times he wants some other will.

13) A person prospers financially in accordance with [the holiness which he exercises in] sexual matters.

14) The quality of a generation's elders determines its economic well-being.

15) Taking usury causes one to lose his fear of God.

16) One who takes usury for lending money will not find anyone willing to speak favorably of him.

17) A person who guards against transgressing the prohibition forbidding coveting is saved from anger and haughtiness, and the lack of faith which comes as a result of these two evil traits.

18) Conducting one's business affairs faithfully nullifies curses.

19) One who is obliged to borrow from others is comparable to an animal.

20) When an agent of an important individual tries unsuccessfully to convince an ordinary person to sell some object to his client, he should pray for the ordinary person to accept the offer and agree to the sale.

21) If a person rules over his evil inclination, his children will not follow evil ways and because of this he will prosper monetarily and not be put to a test.

22) Travel brings a person to slander, idolatry, licentiousness and bloodshed. These sins diminish one's livelihood.

23) Because of the charity given to the poor people of Eretz Yisrael, a person prospers monetarily.

24) Fires rage in the world in order to consume the wealth of idolatry.

25) When a new king or minister takes over, he brings with him a revival and improvement in the standard of living.

27) A person who causes a rift between a man and his wife, talking to the husband about how beautiful his wife is and telling the wife degrading things about her husband, will, because of his actions, find it difficult to earn a living.

28) A person is sometimes spared having to rend his garments in mourning because his merchandise and property are spread around and not in one area.

29) The biggest businessman in a town is its light.

Have a good week, Chaim Kramer