Spirituality and Affluence

Thank you very much. I begin on perhaps an unusual note. I begin by thanking you for coming. It’s not something which I take for granted the night after Selichos. I think we’re all hopefully exhilarated from the opening Selichos but probably also with a little bit of a hangover of fatigue facing the prospect of an early morning tomorrow morning. So I don’t take anyone’s presence for granted tonight and appreciate very much your coming. I thank you and I appreciate it especially because I think we need each other. All of us, everyone in the room, I think we need each other to prepare ourselves for the Yamim Noraim to be able to do Teshuva. And this is so for two reasons. First of all because we need to do Teshuva collectively. In yesterday’s Krias HaTorah we had the pasuk in the parshiyos mechubaros Nitzavim and Vayeilech together as they were yesterday. So the pasuk is right before Sheini:

הנסתרות לה' אלקינו והנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת.

This pasuk is subject to a dispute of Machlokes Tannaim in Masechet Sanhedrin. This pasuk establishes the principle of Arvus, of mutual responsibility and interdependence amongst Jews. And there is a very fundamental dispute whether or not this principle applies exclusively to actions which are done in public. Everyone agrees that there is Arvus, that we are responsible for each other if one Jew sins publicly and all other Jews are silent. No one seeks to influence the person. If appropriate, no one protests when the protest is appropriate. So then we’re all liable. The principle of Arvus. The Gemara derives this as well from the pasuk of V'chashlu ish b'achiv. The Gemara in Shevuos darshens וכשלו איש בעוון אחיו: a person stumbles over the sin of his fellow Jew. According to some opinions this principle of Arvus, however, applies not only when a Jew sins publicly but even if a Jew sins in private. Even if a Jew goes into an inner room of his home and locks the doors, pulls down the window shades, and whatever the Aveirah may be which he transgresses, so then all of us collectively are responsible for that and are held liable for that. The obvious difficulty with that, and it’s a difficulty with which the Maharsha already grapples in Masechet Sanhedrin, is isn’t that an unfair expectation? If the Torah expects us to respond to what I see in public, okay, so that I understand. I’m aware of it. The Torah expects me to respond. But if someone is filling out his tax return in private and I have no way of knowing whether he’s fudging the figures, how can any of us be held liable for the fact that this person is not being honest in filling out his taxes? How can that be? And yet it’s a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Nechemya, but yet some maintain that the Torah does hold us to this standard. How can that be? So Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal offered a very beautiful explanation. And he said that when a person, even when a person is in private and he’s not consulting anyone, he’s not even allowing anyone in on his own personal deliberations, nevertheless we’re influenced by what we sense to be the mores of the society around us. If I’m doing my taxes and I’m tempted again not to report some income, I’m tempted to try to pay a little less than I’m supposed to, so consciously or subconsciously I am affected, I’m influenced by what I anticipate would be the reaction of my community if I were to be exposed. So the community influences me, it impacts me even without being drawn in, even without directly being invited into my deliberation because if I am aware that the community would condemn this in the harshest terms, that that it would be considered just totally, totally out of bounds, then that would influence me in my private struggle even if no one is given the opportunity to whisper in my ear and tell me not to do it. So when we do teshuva, so we do teshuva collectively as well in terms of what kind of influences have we as a society created for each other? So that's one reason why we can't just stay at home each of us in the privacy of our own living rooms, but we need each other to think about teshuva, to think about what we can correct and how we can correct in these days leading up to the Yamim Noraim. But even when we speak of doing teshuva on a personal level, and of course we do teshuva not only collectively and communally, but we do teshuva individually as well because we're judged also as individuals. When the Mishna says that on Rosh Hashana that everyone passes before Hakadosh Baruch Hu kivnei maron, that we pass before Hakadosh Baruch Hu like sheep, so the meforshim explain that when the shepherd wants to count the sheep, so he has them pass by one by one, and in that way he can get an accurate count of the sheep. So too when it says that on Rosh Hashana we pass before Hakadosh Baruch Hu kivyakhol kivnei maron, so it means that we're also judged individually. So certainly again we have to do teshuva not only collectively, not only as a community, but also as individuals. Each one of us is an individual, but even on that level, even on that plane, we help each other, we need each other when we come together to think about inyanei teshuva. So what Chazal tell us on the pasuk in parshat Bechotai, the Chazal comment on the pasuk ורדפו מכם חמשה מאה ומאה מכם רבבה ירדפו, that when the Jewish people are faithful to the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so five Jews will chase, will send into a panic a hundred of their enemies, and a hundred Jews will have the same effect on a horde of ten thousand enemies. So Chazal noticed that the ratio was not the same, but that the ratio was increasing. Five to a hundred, so it should have been a hundred to two thousand, right, if it's going to be a ratio of one to twenty. And yet the Torah ups it to a hundred will chase away, will send into a panic ten thousand. How is that? So Chazal comment that

אינו דומה מועטים העושים רצונו של מקום ממרובים העושים רצונו של מקום.

If you only have a group of five who have devoted themselves to carrying out the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so they don't have the same shiur power as when you have mrubim, as when you have a larger group who are עושים רצונו של מקום. So for both those reasons again I repeat my opening comment. I thank you each and every one of you for coming and allowing us tonight to reflect on teshuva collectively, and even as we reflect individually to be part of a group of hopefully be'ezrat Hashem of מרובים העושים רצונו של מקום, of a larger group devoting themselves, their time, and their energy to doing the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Rabbeinu Yona writes in two places in the Sha'arei Teshuva that there is a special obligation to do teshuva on Yom Kippurim. That above and beyond the mitzvah of teshuva which is operative year-long, according to the Rambam, the source for the mitzvah again was in yesterday's keriat HaTorah when the Torah said ושבת עד ה' אלהיך. So according to the Rambam, that's an imperative, it's not only a havtacha, it's not only a promise and a prophecy, but it's also a mandate for teshuva of ושבת עד ה' אלהיך. According to the Nonetheless Rabbeinu Yona says there's a special and added mitzvah to do teshuvah on Yom Kippur. Rabbeinu Yona says that the pasuk in Achrei Mos, right, which we say in the davening on Yom Kippur, כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם, on this day, through this day, through the kedusha of this day, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will grant you atonement, and then we conclude the pasuk with the words lifnei Hashem titharu. So Rabbeinu Yona says lifnei Hashem titharu, before HaKadosh Baruch Hu you will purify yourselves again, is not simply a promise, but it's rather a mandate, it's an imperative. Lifnei Hashem on this day, bayom hazeh, before Hashem, the Torah speaking to each and every one of us says titharu, that we have to purify ourselves. Now the question is, so what is added with this special mitzvah? If there's a mitzvah to do teshuvah all year long, so what's new? What added dimension is contained in the special imperative on Yom Kippur? So there's several answers to this question, but the one which is pertinent to us this evening, I think if I'm not mistaken, is offered, is one of the answers, I think it's offered by Rav Hutner in his Pachad Yitzchak. And Rav Hutner says, I believe, I think it's Rav Hutner who suggests this, that whereas all year long the mitzvah of teshuvah is, if I am aware of having sinned, I am aware of cheit, so then I'm obligated to respond, I'm obligated to do teshuvah. I can't simply be complacent in the face of awareness of cheit, of sin. But on Yom Kippur the mitzvah is to take an inventory, to engage in introspection and to look for the aveira, not to wait until the aveira presents itself to me, not to wait until I am overtaken by awareness of cheit, of sin, but on Yom Kippur the mitzvah is to search and see and see whether or not I've committed any infractions of word by word or by deed, but to take the initiative of inventory and introspection. And in this context Rabbeinu Yona says it twice, the second time he refers to the special mitzvah,

החיוב נוסף אף על פי שנתחייבנו על זה בכל עת,

even though we're obligated to do teshuvah anytime, החיוב נוסף ביום הכפור. The chiyuv, the obligation, there's an additional obligation on Yom Kippur. And what is that? So in the previous line Rabbeinu Yona refers to the pasuk in Megillas Eichah, נחפשה דרכינו ונחקורה ונשובה אל ה', right, one of the final psukim in Megillas Eichah, Yirmiyahu HaNavi writes nachpisa dracheinu venachkora. So that's the mitzvah. The mitzvah all year long is if I'm aware of cheit, I have to respond by doing teshuvah. On Yom Kippur I have to search for cheit, I have to take an inventory, I have to introspect to try to find the cheit. And the model for that is the pasuk of nachpisa dracheinu venachkora. How do we translate it? The Navi uses two verbs, both nachpisa as well as nachkora. So how is it to be translated? So nachpisa should be translated as to scrutinize, and nachkora to investigate. What's the difference? To scrutinize means to look at details. When the Gemara talks about Bedikas Chametz, the Gemara describes Bedikas Chametz as a process of chipus. By Bedikas Chametz we're not just looking for large chocolate cakes, we're looking for small, little small pieces of bread, of chametz as well. Nachpisa means to scrutinize, it means to scrutinize everything I've done, everything I've said, and to see, to see does it measure up to the Torah standards or not? That's nachpisa. So what's left for nachkora? What does nachkora imply? Nachkora implies, we know that Chazal tell us, commenting on the psukim in Sefer Devarim, that there's a mitzvah to subject witnesses to chakiros, the same verb, nachkora, vedarashta vechakarta. the Chakiros involve, Chakiros in in case of testimony means that the witnesses are cross-examined and they have to be able with with precision to tell us the zman and the makom, time and place of whatever it is they're claiming to have witnessed, they have to be able to tell us time and place. What's time and place? Time and place tells us context, right? The time and place in where a person lives, it's the context of one's life. Nachpisa dracheinu means scrutinize, scrutinize. Let me play back today. Let me play back my week. Let me play back my my year. Let let that reel run on on a mental screen, let me scrutinize every action, but then v'nachkora, let me look at the principles, let me look at the context, let me try to see what values, what orientation was driving my life during this past year. And let me look not only at all the trees, but let me look at the forest as a whole to try to understand again what values, what values have been my orienting principles this year. That's what v'nachkora is. Elul is a time to take advantage of Yom HaKippurim. You know, I remember as a child, so the in in Boston, the Rav used to give a drasha every every Motzai Shabbos. And this time of year, he would be talking about the Yamim Noraim and and he'd be talking about teshuva. And when he used to talk about Yom HaKippurim, so he used to involuntarily, unconsciously, just just begin to wax lyrical and talk about what a wonderful and beautiful day it was. And I didn't know what he was talking about. Yom Kippur for me was, you know, you look at your watch every 15 minutes and you try to do the math as to how many hours until you can break your fast. And then you sort of think if only the chazzan would hurry up, maybe time would would pass faster and I didn't know what he was talking about. Yom HaKippurim is the most wonderful and unique opportunity that we have. It's it's the one day in the year again not only is it dirshu Hashem behimatzo that Hashem makes himself so accessible to us, that's true all ten days of aseres yemei teshuva, but also Hashem says on this day, on this day so we can atone, we can atone for a year of misdeeds, for a year of lack of focus, we can transform everything on this day, כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם, such a beautiful and wonderful day, but to take advantage of it, we have to prepare for Yom HaKippurim and that's what chodesh Elul, that's what the 40 day preparation beginning Rosh Chodesh Elul is all about. So since the mitzvah of teshuva on Yom HaKippurim, the mitzvah of teshuva on Yom HaKippurim again is to question, not just to respond to chatoim of which I'm already aware, but to question, to probe, to search, so that means that Elul is a time for questioning. That's what chodesh Elul is, a time for questioning and certainly as the month passes and as we come closer and closer to the Yamim Noraim, that search, the questioning has to become more probing, more relentless. And and that's what I'd like to spend a few minutes together tonight doing. The question which I'd like to explore together is one which I I confess that I personally grapple with. It's not one, it's not one that I chose for your benefit, it's one that I chose for my benefit. The question of spirituality and affluence and at what point there arises a clash between the two, at what point the two become irreconcilable. Now a word of clarification. I don't mean to imply that only wealth confronts us with a nisayon. That's not at all the case, right? We know the Mesillas Yesharim in explains in the opening of his sefer, the Mesillas Yesharim says that all of our life is a struggle. That at every, at every point in life, a person has to struggle, and whatever a person's circumstances, and this is true in terms of economic strata as well, so each of the economic strata poses its its nisyonos. I don't mean to suggest that wealth poses nisyonos, whereas other economic strata don't, but on the other hand, it is true that our generation is unusual and somewhat unique in facing the nisayon of affluence, of wealth. For the most part, throughout the course of Jewish history, so we as a people have had to confront the nisayon, the challenge of oni, oni in in both senses of the word, poverty and persecution. In the United States, what our grandparents, our great-grandparents referred to as the Goldene Medina, the golden country, so we've graduated, we've graduated to the nisayon, to the challenge of affluence. And thus it behooves us to try to define what challenges affluence poses and presents to a life of Avodas Hashem, to a life of quest for ruchniyus, for spirituality. Our generation isn't unique in being challenged. Every generation is challenged, but our generation is does face different challenges and unique challenges. One or two other words by way of introduction. Again, the topic, in focusing attention on the possible tensions between affluence and spirituality, again, that doesn't suggest that spirituality and wealth and being in a certain, again, economic stratum, that these are absolutely and necessarily incompatible. That's not the the implication, not at all. The Gemara in Avoda Zara tells us that Rabbeinu Hakadosh, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who compiled the shisha sidrei mishna, was exceedingly wealthy. He was fabulously wealthy. As a matter of fact, the Gemara darshans the posuk when Rivka, carrying twins, goes to to the Beis Medrash of Shem Ve'Ever to understand why she's having such a turbulent pregnancy, so Shem Ve'Ever tell her Vayomer Hashem Lah, Hashem in this context not referring to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but referring to the Neviim, that shenei goyim bevitnech. Right? So the simple interpretation is that there are two two nations who are going to emerge from your womb. So the Gemara in Avoda Zara darshans אל תקרי גוים אלא גאים, that it it doesn't mean only two nations, it also means two again fabulously wealthy people, and it refers to respectively Antoninus and Rebbe, Antoninus from the Roman Empire and Rabbeinu Hakadosh, both of whom they were contemporaries, both of whom were fabulously, fabulously wealthy. Now, about this same Rabbeinu Hakadosh, the Gemara in Kesubos on daf kuf daled tells us that when Rabbeinu Hakadosh was on his deathbed, so the Gemara tells us that

זקף עשר אצבעותיו כלפי מעלה. אמר רבונו של עולם גלוי וידוע לפניך שיגעתי בעשר אצבעותי בתורה ולא נהניתי אפילו באצבע קטנה.

It's revealed before you Hakadosh Baruch Hu that with my ten fingers I toiled assidiously at Torah and I didn't didn't benefit even the amount of an etzba ketana, of a small finger. Chazal again return to this theme, that there's no inherent, automatic, necessary contradiction or incompatibility between the blessing and challenge of wealth and genuine ruchniyus, genuine spirituality, in a famous passage of the Gemara in Yoma with which you're all familiar. The Gemara describes Tanu Rabbanan: עני עשיר ורשע באו לדין, l'asid lavo when all of us stand before the throne of judgment, so there will be people who are poor, there will be people who are rich, there will be people who who who were wicked, and each one will seek to absolve himself from responsibility by invoking his personal personal circumstances. אם אומר עשיר אומרים לו in בית דין של מעלה, so the wealthy person will be asked, מפני מה לא עסקת בתורה? Why weren't you preoccupied with Torah? Right? Not just peripherally involved, la'asok b'divrei Torah, right? And we say in the morning, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לעסוק בדברי תורה, it means the mitzvah is not just some peripheral involvement or connection to Torah, but to be preoccupied with Torah. To be preoccupied with Torah.

מפני מה לא עסקת בתורה? אם אומר עשיר הייתי וטרוד הייתי בנכסי.

I had to manage a tremendous portfolio. עשיר הייתי וטרוד הייתי בנכסי. You think it was easy to manage that portfolio? אומרים לו כלום עשיר היית יותר מרבי אלעזר? Were you more wealthy than Rabbi Elazar? Who is Rabbi Elazar?

אמרו עליו על רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, רבי אלעזר בן חרסום,

the following is reported of him:

שהניח לו אביו אלף עיירות ביבשה וכנגדן אלף ספינות בים.

When his father died, he bequeathed to רבי אלעזר בן חרסום a thousand cities. He was the he he owned everything in a thousand cities and corresponding he had a thousand ships laden with with merchandise in the ocean. ובכל יום ויום, what was רבי אלעזר בן חרסום's daily routine? ובכל יום ויום נוטל נאד של קמח, the Gemara says, al kseifo. He would take a little leather skin full of flour to sustain himself for the day and then what would he do? מהלך מעיר לעיר וממדינה למדינה ללמוד תורה. And he used to wander seeking teachers of Torah. In fact, the Gemara tells us remarkably, pa'am achas, once he was wandering within one of his own cities, incognito of course, ומצאוהו עבדיו ועשו בו אנגריא. And they took him and told him, you know, this city belongs to רבי אלעזר בן חרסום and we're demanding that you have to, because of your indebtedness to him, you have to go work for him. So he says to them, בבקשה מכם הניחוני ואלך ללמוד תורה. Please, let me go, all I want to do is study Torah. They said to him,

אמרו לו חי רבי אלעזר בן חרסום שאין מניחים אותך.

By the life of רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, they're talking to him, right, but they don't know it, by the life of רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, no, we're not letting you off the hook. הלך ונתן להם ממון הרבה, so he he went, he procured funds and said, here, I'll give you whatever you want, just leave me. ומימיו לא הלך וראן, and and his whole life he didn't attend to it, אלא יושב ועוסק בתורה כל היום. The Gemara concludes that רבי אלעזר בן חרסום mechayiv es ha'ashirim, that the example of רבי אלעזר בן חרסום obligates obligates us that we can't invoke wealth and the the responsibilities of managing it as as justification for neglecting our avodas Hashem. So there's a double message here. On the one hand, Chazal reassure us again that the challenge, the bracha, the challenge, every bracha carries with it challenge. There's no such thing as bracha without challenge. That the bracha, the challenge of wealth, is certainly not insurmountable, but on the other hand, because it's not insurmountable, it won't be accepted as a justification for why we didn't realize our potential in our service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And finally, before we proceed to a discussion of the topic, not only in the eyes of Chazal is wealth not necessarily opposed to a life of ruchniyus, to a life of avodas Hashem as glimpsed by the example of Rebbe, of רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, but the truth is there's a remarkable Gemara in Eruvin, remarkable. remarkable Gemara in Eiruvin, and the Gemara says Rebbe mechabeid ashirim. Rebbe used to accord special honor, special respect to wealthy people. He didn't chanfeh them. He didn't chanfeh them, but he accorded them special honor, special respect, ad kedei kach that the Gemara describes that he would even raise the bar and would even accord greater respect according to the person's wealth. And the Gemara says Rabbi Akiva used to do the same, Rabbi Akiva mechabeid ashirim, that when they would meet a person who was blessed with wealth and used that blessing to do chesed, used that blessing to be a philanthropist, to give people jobs, to give tzedakah, to support mosdos of Torah, so not only again is the blessing and the challenge of wealth not understood as necessarily and automatically incompatible with one's avodas Hashem, one's ruchnius, but on the contrary, it was something which can be used as an instrument in one's avodas Hashem. So the issue then, the issue which we need to examine is not wealth, but rather our attitude towards it, what we seek to do with it, what kind of lifestyle we live and to what kind of lifestyle we aspire. That's the real question. Our attitudes towards wealth, are these conducive to avodas Hashem? Is it conducive to a life of spirituality? Are they consistent with avodas Hashem, with a life of spirituality? But maybe, I don't know, maybe the topic is not so appropriate. I don't know. I keep mentioning wealth. I mean, how many Jews are there and again, how many, let's say, in the Orthodox community, in the Fortune 500? I assume not too many, right? I assume not too many. I don't know if there are any. So what are we talking about? So maybe, I don't know, maybe the whole topic is not really germane. But I think that question itself is an excellent starting point for our discussion because it's symptomatic of a major part of the problem. Let me try to explain what I have in mind. I think we all distinguish between necessities and luxuries. I think if one, if you look at your checkbook and you look back at expenses, so I think that we can divide things and classify some as this was spent on necessities and this was spent on luxuries. When we talk about an affluent lifestyle, so what we mean is a lifestyle which is beset with luxuries and all kinds of forms of indulgence. The question is, where do we draw the line between the two? What distinguishes, what should be defined as a necessity and what a luxury? So let's get the Rambam's take on this issue. The Rambam writes in Perek Aleph of Hilchos De'os in presenting his famous golden mean, the Rambam writes

הדרך הישרה היא מדה בינונית שבכל דעה ודעה מכל הדעות שיש לו לאדם

that with regard to all dispositions, with regard to all character traits, a person is supposed to chart a middle course

והיא הדעה שהיא רחוקה משתי הקצוות ריחוק שווה ואינה קרובה לא לזו ולא לזו

and that middle course is equidistant from both extremes and it doesn't approach either extreme. Keitzad? The Rambam says, let me illustrate that for you. לא יהיה בעל חמה נוח לכעוס a person shouldn't be so volatile, so easily angered, but lo kemeis. לא כמת שאינו מרגיש, he shouldn't be so apathetic that he's Rachmana Litzlan like a person who's dead and doesn't feel. Ela beinoni. A person should go along the middle path. He should chart a middle path. לא יכעס אלא על דבר שראוי לכעוס עליו. A person should only manifest anger on something which really warrants that kind of moral outrage and even then his motivation could be כדי שלא יעשה כיוצא בו פעם אחרת to try to deter this from happening again. Okay, so that's one example of what the Rambam considers the middle path, moderation. Now let's listen to the next two examples. The Rambam says

וכן לא יתאווה אלא לדברים שהגוף צריך להן ואי אפשר להיות בזולתן

or lichyot bizulatan k'inyan shene'emar צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו. A person should only desire those things which the body needs to be healthy and which again without which a person can't sustain himself and be healthy and strong, k'inyan shene'emar, as the pasuk says, צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו. Again, just to sustain his soul. Second example. וכן לא יהיה עמל בעסקו. A person should work in his business how much?

לא יהיה עמל בעסקו אלא להשיג דבר שצריך לחיי שעה

k'inyan shene'emar tov me'at latzaddik. Just to take care of the most minimal expenses, right? Tov me'at latzaddik, for a tzaddik what's best is what's minimal. A few days before Rosh Hashanah is a time to ask ourselves a question that perhaps we shy away from posing at other times of the year. I think we all enthusiastically embrace the Rambam's doctrine of moderation. But what about the Rambam's definition of moderation? There's no question that the passage in the Rambam which we just studied together, the Rambam's definition by our materialistic inflated standards is very austere. What would the Rambam say about our lifestyles? About our conception of basic expenses when it comes to vacations, when it comes to clothing and the like? It's difficult, no not difficult, Erev Rosh Hashanah is not a time to soft-pedal things. It's impossible to avoid the conclusion that what we describe as modest and moderate living by the standards of the society in which we live, in reality by Torah standards is often elaborate and extreme. One of the most pervasive influences and powerful influences is that it's human nature to measure ourselves relative to the society in which we live. But if the society in which one lives has lost its moral compass, that is no longer an accurate way of measuring ourselves and making a determination as to whether or not we live modestly and moderately. And we should make no mistake about it, we pay a steep price for this lack of balance in terms of the the lack of modesty and moderation of our lifestyle. First of all, the first cost which we incur. It's undoubtedly a mitzvah to work and earn a livelihood. There's no question about that. The sources in Chazal are abundantly clear, they're overwhelmingly clear. The time that we spend working, the time that we spend in pursuit of livelihood is not time diverted from Avodas Hashem. On the contrary, it's part of a balanced life of Avodas Hashem. גדול הנהנה מיגיע כפיו. Great is one who benefits literally from the work of his hands. However, to the same degree, as true as it is that it's a mitzvah, it's not diverted time but on the contrary, it's time well spent to pursue a livelihood, it's equally true that it's not a mitzvah to support an affluent lifestyle. And to force oneself, and this happens to some of us, to work long hours in an especially demanding position to pay hefty mortgages, to subsidize expensive vacations and the like is a tremendous cost, and it's a cost that we in our communities are bearing and paying. Time spent earning a livelihood is time spent serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Time spent in maintaining or trying to establish an affluent lifestyle is time diverted from Avodas Hashem. It's time diverted from Talmud Torah, it's time diverted from Gemilas Chasadim, it's time diverted from Tzorchei Tzibur. And time diverted, there's this very simple equation: is life wasted? Because life consists of time. Ultimately, that's what it is. Yemei Shnoseinu Bahem. Life is defined in terms of units of time: years, days, hours, minutes, seconds. Time diverted is life wasted. Our definition of modest and moderate lifestyle is badly skewed, clearly heavily influenced by the culture of the Goldene Medina and very much in need of correction, very much in need of re-establishing balance. I believe it's the father of the current Gerer Rebbe, I think he was known as the Lev Simcha. In his generation there were three brothers, but I think it was he. During his tenure as the Rebbe of Ger, he forbade his young Chassidim upon getting married to buy apartments and live in Yerushalayim. He told them, 'You cannot move to Yerushalayim upon getting married.' Why? Because he saw. He saw that the price of apartments in Yerushalayim was beyond their means. He saw that it's okay to take a mortgage on one's house. It's okay, it's fine. Okay, you have to ask a Rav, make sure the bank is not majority-owned by Jews, there can be questions of ribbis, but you ask the Rav that question, so that we know how to take care of. It's okay to place a mortgage on one's house, it's not okay to place a mortgage on one's time. And he demanded that his Chassidim not settle in Yerushalayim. That's where the center of Ger is, the center of Ger is in Geula, it is in Yerushalayim, and he said no, he sent them out to Ashdod, I believe. We have to ask ourselves, we have to ask ourselves, unquestionably Chazal say it, the Gemara in Sukkah, and I certainly don't mean to eclipse that Gemara. Chazal say that a dirah na'ah is מרחיבה דעתו של אדם. That a person lives in a nice house, it gives them harchavas da'as. It, it, it, it widens, it expands his horizons to live, again, in nice, clean, somewhat spacious surroundings, gives a person harchavas da'as. With harchavas da'as, a person sits down at night, learns a little bit. A person has time to think, "What can I do to help in the community? What chessed needs to be done?" Harchavas da'as is very important. And, and certainly we need the harchavas da'as, and arguably what gives us harchavas da'as is going to be more elaborate than what provided harchavas hada'as in earlier generations. Undoubtedly so. But there's a line. There's a line that we cross from what we legitimately need for harchavas da'as and for what we pursue as part of our affluent lifestyle. The second cost, however, is an even more steep cost. Let's say a person has, by whatever means, by whatever means, let's say a person has the resources to, to fund, to finance the affluent lifestyle, and it doesn't involve mortgaging one's time. It doesn't even involve mortgaging the house. A person has those resources available. There is a second cost and, and this point is perhaps the most central and, and the most critical in our discussion of spirituality and affluence. And that is, and please rabosai, let's, let's listen carefully and let's, let's think, let's think honestly about it. It's not a painless process, by no means. A life of affluence or indulgence, and again, as defined by the Torah, not by Western society in the twenty-first century, forges and forms a materialistic personality. Why is that such a steep cost? Why is that cost one which it's unacceptable for any of us to pay? One finds as a leitmotif in all sefarim, you can go across the gamut. I'll give you two examples, one from sifrei chasidus, one from sifrei mussar. The Me'or Einayim, he was from the circle of the תלמידי הבעל שם טוב, talks about in the beginning of, of Parshas Lech Lecha. He has a phrase, I think my father zichrono livrachah said the source of the phrase is in a Yerushalmi in Zeraim. The phrase nahama d'kissufa. Nahama d'kissufa literally means bread, nahama is bread, d'kissufa of shame. And the idea is, says the Me'or Einayim, that in truth Hakadosh Baruch Hu can allow us to bask in the splendor of His radiance without coming down to Olam Hazeh.

ידוע כי הנשמות נהנים למעלה מזיו השכינה רק שהוא נהמא דכיסופא.

But if we don't earn it, right? A person, a person feels, you enjoy when, when you work and it's your paycheck that put the food on the table, the food tastes better than if it's given to you. Hu nahama d'kissufa. As long as the neshamah stays in upper worlds, in the upper realms, doesn't come down into Olam Hazeh, doesn't by, by living a life of kedushah and taharah, of dedication, devotion to Torah and mitzvos, as long as the person doesn't do that, whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives our neshamos in the upper worlds, says the Me'or Einayim, it's nahama d'kissufa, it's bread of shame. We didn't earn it. It's like your whole life being an adam of kest. כי מאן דאכל לאו דיליה, the person who's eating it, it's not his. ולזה הוריד השם ברוך הוא הנשמה למטה, for this reason Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends our neshamos down to this world, בכדי, so that,

שבטוב בחירתו שתעבוד אל השם ישולם לו שכר פעולתו ולא יהיה נהמא דכיסופא,

so that by our choosing to do good, to study Torah, to be mikayeim mitzvos, to live a life of kedusha ve-tahara, of holiness and purity, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu can give us, and then Hakadosh Baruch Hu can say, you can truly enjoy it because it's no longer a nahama de-kisufa, it's no longer a bread of shame. The same idea, switching genre, going back in time to the Mesilas Yesharim, to the genre of sifrei musar, Mesilas Yesharim says, הנה מה שהורונו חז"ל, what Chazal have taught us, she-ha-adam lo nivra, why was man created, אלא להתענג על השם, to take pleasure, to take delight in our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, ve-lehanos mi-ziv shechinaso, and to enjoy again the splendor of His Shechina, she-zehu ha-ta'anug ha-amiti, this is the real ultimate delight in life, והעידון הגדול מכל העידונים שיכולים להימצא, and this is the greatest enjoyment that a person can have, ומקום העידון הזה באמת הוא העולם הבא, and what happens, that doesn't play itself out in this world, Rabosai, but in the world to come. What's the point? The point is, as the Mesilas Yesharim proceeds to quote the Mishna in Pirkei Avos, we all know it from Perek, the Mishna says that העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור לפני העולם הבא, that this world is an ante-chamber, it's a corridor leading to Olam Ha-ba. התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתיכנס לטרקלין, the Tanna tells each and every one of us, prepare yourselves in this world, why? This isn't the ultimate. This isn't the ultimate. התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתיכנס לטרקלין, so that you'll gain admittance to the banquet hall. You know, when a person undergoes training, let's say basic training in the military. So what's the underlying philosophy? The underlying philosophy is to try to anticipate and then simulate the type of situations with which a person may be confronted. So they try to simulate all kinds of scenarios which the soldier may encounter in a battle on the battlefield. The training, the preparation for astronauts, so again they try to simulate the effect of being in outer space, they try to simulate the potential claustrophobia which one can experience by spending days again in such a small restricted area with several other people. Because the point is that if you're training someone for a mission, so you have to try to form and forge the personality that they'll be ready to deal with that type of situation. If you're going to send people out to do battle in the deserts of Iraq, so then they have to be subjected during the course of training to those types of conditions so they'll be able to deal with it. And clearly any other philosophy in terms of preparation is folly. That's the only, only cogent and only correct philosophy of preparation. So if Chazal tell us that העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור לפני העולם הבא, that we live here, we all ask, we all beseech Hakadosh Baruch Hu, right, le-chaim tovim va-aruchim. How long is le-chaim tovim va-aruchim? I don't know, I think nowadays we would say 90 years, maybe again with Baruch Hashem people living longer and longer, so maybe we're even more hopeful. But Olam Ha-ba is eternal. Olam Ha-ba is eternal. So as long as we live in Olam Ha-zeh, the point is... When the Ribono Shel Olam says that the time is up, that our personality, that we should have formed and forged a personality that we're ready for that transition. If I live my whole life in an indulgent way, if I allow the bent of my personality to be materialistic, so what kind of preparation is that? Is that responding to the call of the Tanna of התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתכנס לטרקלין? Now make no mistake. Yahadut is centered on Olam Hazeh in the following sense. And those of you who are familiar with the Rav's essay Ish HaHalacha will hear echoes of this now. Yahadut is focused on Olam Hazeh in terms of hayom la'asosam. That in this world is the world of attainment. This world is the world of achievement, and in that sense this world is one's primary existence because in this world as we're told the Vilna Gaon crying on his deathbed, the talmidim ask him why are you crying? Why are you crying? And the Vilna Gaon says because this world is such a wonderful place. For a few kopeks with Chol HaMoed Succos, for a few kopeks you go and you buy a lulav and an esrog and you have the incomparable zechus, the incomparable privilege of fulfilling a mitzvah. In Olam Haba for all the money in the world you can't fulfill a mitzvah. Hayom la'asosam. So make no mistake rabosai, Yahadut, the Torah is oriented on Olam Hazeh as the world of the place for attainment, achievement, for opportunity. But in terms of where one's permanent residence is, in terms of what type of personality we have to try to form and forge, so that's what all the sefarim tell us, that's the metaphor of Succa, right? The Gemara says in Succa on daf beis that the mitzvah of Succa is tzei midiras keva, right? Go out of your what you perceive as your permanent abode, your home with its sturdy walls and its impenetrable roof, צא מדירת קבע ושב בדירת עראי and go dwell in the booths, in the Succa, and as all the sefarim explain, all the sefarim explain it's a metaphor that a person is supposed to recognize, yes, this is the world of attainment and achievement, but it's only a diras arai. It's only a temporary abode, it's only a temporary abode. Right? We're all familiar with the story of the Chofetz Chaim. Someone came and saw he had no furnishings. All he had was benches in his home. He asked the Chofetz Chaim where's your furniture? So the Chofetz Chaim said I'm passing through. In a train station you have benches. No, make no mistake. In my living room you'll come visit, you'll see I have a sofa. I'll invite you to sit down, make yourself comfortable on the sofa. I'm not saying that it's within our reach, within our grasp to achieve this, to—the sofa only sits three so don't all come at the same time. I'm not saying that it's within our grasp to achieve this, to attain this on the level of the Chofetz Chaim, to the degree of the Chofetz Chaim. But we cheat ourselves. We indulge ourselves, we cheat ourselves. The more we indulge ourselves rabosai, the more truthfully we cheat ourselves. Because that's not what the type of existence of Olam Haba is. Olam Hazeh is—again, that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said listen to my mitzvos. What I want to do, what I want to do is I want to bestow Olam Haba on you. Some of the sefarim say as a matter of fact how do we know logically that there has to be an Olam Haba? So they say look at this world. Look at all the suffering, look at all the pain and—and unfortunately ours is a generation when it's all over the front pages Rachmana Litzlan. This can't be the ultimate. This isn't one's ultimate address. One's ultimate address is in Olam Haba. So one has to be—the military training has to be geared to what the battlefront situation is going to be. So our training has to be geared to what our permanent abode will be, where our permanent residence will be. And the affluence and indulgence— we do ourselves a disservice. Now I'd like to just add one or two I'm sorry it's a little bit late one or two other quick comments and then maybe some other time we'll discuss some other elements and applications. The cost we pay is not only one which is charged to our own bill, but it's one which affects our children as well. You know every choice that we make in life in terms of establishing our homes and what kind of household we establish has repercussions for our children as well. When Chazal say, Chazal, the Pasuk says,

חנוך לנער על פי דרכו גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה,

train a child when he's young because those habits will stay with him for a lifetime. The habits formed in youth are the strongest, most firmly entrenched habits. So if we train our children, we train our children again to be happy, to be content again in terms of materialistically with muat, with a little bit and we imbue them with a passion for Torah, a passion for Mitzvos, so גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה, we've done our best. It doesn't eclipse the child's free will, absolutely not, but we've done our best as parents to put the child on the right path. But the power of habit is true even if the habit is not the best habit. I've met bedidi hava uvda, I've met people who just Chazal have an expression masiach lefi tumo. Masiach lefi tumo means that the person is just conversing casually and doesn't even realize that one is interested in this particular topic and will just say offhanded, well you know, just to make a living nowadays you have to earn $200,000 a year because otherwise he just can't cover the basic expenses. So where do our children get that idea from? They get that idea from us. They get that idea from us. If there's a certain level, again, a certain lifestyle that we define as modest and moderate and therefore our children can't imagine living below that line because living below that line, the way we've trained them, seems to be like living below the poverty line. גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה. So if we want the best for our children, are we doing right by them? Are we doing right by them in setting them and steering them on such a path? And one final comment, and there are many other elements of this topic that we haven't touched upon. Yet another fallout from the lack of moderation and the lack of modesty that we sometimes display in our lifestyle. You know when we have occasion Baruch Hashem to make a simcha, so again, even if one's pockets are deep enough, so we often make lavish expensive weddings. The result is that other members of the community who don't have the resources for that feel obligated, either out of a sense of shame or a sense of feeling an obligation to reciprocate everyone who invited them, so they also feel this obligation to make a 400, 500, I don't know how many hundred people simcha. And again, not just anywhere, but it has to match what everyone else is doing because otherwise I'm shortchanging my child, because if everyone else gives this to their daughter when they marry off that daughter, then I'm shortchanging my child. And people go into debt to finance a simcha and nistaros yes nistaros, did we tell them to do it? No, we didn't tell them to do it. But remember Rabbosai, let's remember what Rav Moshe Feinstein said. We didn't have to tell them to do it and we don't even have to have but to the extent that the mores of the society influenced them and we created them, so then then we're responsible for that. The Gemara in Kesuvos tells us that where'd the minhag come from that when a person Rachmana Litzlan l'acharei me'ah v'esrim that a person is buried in the simplest of shrouds? It's because it used to be that that the richer people were were buried in in fancier tachrichim and it placed an impossible burden on the poor until Rabban Gamliel left as a tzava'ah that he should he should be buried again in simple simple tachrichim of pishtan and then that became the norm. So that's also something we have a responsibility for. We also have a responsibility again to see what is the cost for ourselves of our lifestyle, what's the cost which we impose upon our children, and what's the cost that we impose upon others. A gut yohr, ksiva v'chasima tova, shnas chayim v'shalom.