Earning a Living — Earning a Life

14) You should realize that it is nothing but a “fool’s game” when people make money dishonestly or refuse to give any of their money to charity. (Our Sages laid down that we should give between a tenth and a fifth of our net income to charity in lieu of the priestly tithes.) It is a “fool’s game,” because the money plays with them as one amuses a little child with coins. And in the end the money itself kills them. The Tikkuney Zohar speaks about this game of the fool. “Who is the fool? It is the ‘other god,’ the child’s croop. It smiles at them with the allure of wealth in this world, and then it kills them. Why is it called a ‘child?’ Because those who are trapped in it do not have the sense to escape from it” (Tikkuney Zohar 140a). The way to escape the allure of wealth is through the purity of the Covenant and by drawing closer to the Tzaddik, who is the embodiment of purity and of whom it is written, “He who is good and walks before God will be saved from it” (Ecclesiastes 7:26). The Tzaddik possesses true wisdom and understanding, and knows how to escape this trap. Even the greatest of men need deep wisdom and understanding if they are to escape the pain and toil which can be involved in trying to earn a living. Most ordinary people suffer terrible bitterness all their lives because of this. They lose both worlds, this world and the World to Come. There is no limit to the bitterness of this world. As the Holy Zohar says: “Were it not for salt­ the world could not endure the bitterness” (Zohar I, 241b). Were it not for the strength of the Tzaddikim, who observe the Covenant with absolute purity and who are called the “eternal covenant of salt” (Numbers 18:19), the world would not be able to endure at all because of the terrible bitterness caused by the desire for wealth. The closer a person comes to the Tzaddik, the more he can sweeten this bitterness. But those who are far from the Tzaddikim and from personal purity, and especially those who are actually opposed to the Tzaddikim, will be the victims of the full force of this bitterness. How many are sunk in this! Pay heed to these words and perhaps you will escape. (Salt has the property of neutralizing bitterness.)

15) With every step that a person takes and every word he utters in his efforts to make a living he should have in mind that his purpose in making a profit is to be able to give money to charity. Charity is the tikkun for business activity.

16) Only a person who “hates covetousness” (Exodus 18:21), which means that he absolutely hates materialism, can acquire true wisdom and understanding and thereby reach a perception of Godliness. And so the opposite.

17) When a person conducts his business honestly and with faith, his soul — his mind and intellect — is renewed through this faith. Through the business activity itself he can develop spiritually and draw fresh wisdom and a new soul from the light of God’s countenance. Not everyone is on such a level of Torah scholarship that he can grow intellectually in Torah through his business. But even so, simply by virtue of conducting his business in faith and honesty, a great tikkun is brought about, and a second Jew whose soul is drawn from the same root as his own can benefit greatly, because his intellect is refreshed and expanded through the honest dealings of the first and he is inspired with new energy to learn and devote himself to God.

18) The whole body of Torah law dealing with business affairs is relevant to practical business activity. Anyone who wishes to conduct his business with faith and honesty must be expert in all the laws of business in order not to slip up in any of them .

19) A person who genuinely wants to conduct his business with faith and honesty must guard his faith very carefully from any possible flaw. He must be as scrupulous as Rav Safra, (see Makkot 24a) and he must “speak the truth in his heart” (Psalms 15:2). Even if he merely decided something in his heart, he must not change it later on. If he guards his faith carefully his soul and intellect will be refreshed and renewed through his faith.

20) When a person conducts his business with faith and honesty, it is as precious as the daily offerings and incense brought in the Holy Temple, which caused the husks to fall away and all the sparks of holiness trapped within them to ascend. His mind is elevated and refreshed, and it is accounted as if the Holy Temple had been rebuilt in his time.

21) The main reason for the economic hardships which have hit the Jewish people in recent generations is that many of the shochetim, the ritual slaughterers, have not been worthy. The blessing which a worthy shochet makes at the time of slaughtering is a powerful influence on the livelihood of the whole Jewish people. The blessing elevates the living soul which was incarnated in the animal. But there are shochetim who fail to concentrate properly on the meaning of the blessing and harbor improper thoughts. A shochet like this, standing with the knife raised ready to slaughter the animal, is no better than a murderer. What pain this living soul experiences at this moment. She cries with a bitter wail, because the blessing this shochet makes will do nothing to elevate her from her incarnation. On the contrary, she will be cast down even lower than before and she will have “no rest for the sole of her foot” (Genesis 7:8). Woe to such a shochet! Woe to the soul he has killed and given over to the hands of her enemies. The result is that people’s livelihood is hit, and the little that is available can only be acquired with great toil and exertion. Shochetim like these cause the soul to be enslaved by the materialism of the body, and physical lusts and desires gain strength. When the shochetim are worthy the soul is elevated and the grossness of the body is crushed and humbled. The body is the seat of animalism, folly, darkness and death, forgetfulness, harsh justice and alien ideologies. In their place, soul and form are elevated. These are the roots of all that is truly noble in man — understanding, light, life, memory, lovingkindness... in short, the wisdom of Torah. Through them the world is blessed with abundance and prosperity.

22) A person should always feel contented with what he has. He should take no more from the world than is absolutely essential. He should not live in luxury like so many people do today because of our many sins. People who lack this sense of contentment are referred to in the saying that “the belly of the wicked shall want” (Proverbs 13:25), because they are always in need of something. A man should be contented with what God has given him, and even out of this minimum he should still contribute a portion to charity. This brings about great unification in the worlds above, and the world is blessed with abundance.

23) The effect of trade and commerce is to cause all kinds of goods and materials to move around from one set of hands to the next. All the complex movements backwards and forwards depend entirely on the sparks of holiness within the objects themselves. There are times when a certain object has to pass from one person’s hands to another’s and then return to the hands of the first. The determining factor is the Divine sparks within the objects and their relation with the Divine soul and spirit of the individuals concerned.

May you all be written into the Book of the Righteous with good health, emotional stability, financial success and, of course, spiritual growth. Amen.

Have a good year, Chaim Kramer