Rabbeinu Bachya says (Shemot 20-s.v. "Itai") about the verse "You shall not make with me the gods of silver and the gods of gold": When you stand in prayer "with me," do not think of the silver and gold that is with you, for if you do so, I will raise you up as if you had made gods of silver and gods of gold. When a person stands in prayer before his Creator, and not only then, but at every moment of his life, he must know that silver and gold are worth nothing, and that the only assets he will take with him to his home will be the Torah and good deeds.
The Gra Mann recounted a wonderful incident that happened to Maran the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, shlita. "The story was told on Chol Hamoed Sukkot 5768 by an important rabbi in London, who called the Gra's house and presented him with the following question, and from him we can learn about the true value of the Torah and the mitzvot, as opposed to the insignificance of money," said the Gra Mann. We were dealing with two brothers, one of whom lived in Switzerland and the other in London, England, and their paths parted not only because of the distance between their apartments, but also because their way of life was completely different. While the London brother was a Torah scholar who worked hard and toiled in his Torah day and night, and lived with great pressure, the brother in Switzerland was not observant and was known as one of the richest people in the country. One day, the Talmud in London receives an urgent phone call from Switzerland, asking his brother's family to urgently come to his rich brother's house. The brother in London did not know what it was about, but decided to comply with his brother's family's request, and went to Switzerland. When he arrives at the street where the rich man lives, the Talmud notices police and security personnel around every corner. He tries to find out where his brother lives, and passersby inform him that 'it is very difficult to enter that gentleman's house'... Eventually, it became clear to the Talmud from London that his brother lived in a real palace, surrounded by security personnel all the time, and he had no idea of the extent of his brother's wealth, or how far it would go.
After presenting documents indicating that he was the rich man's brother, the guards brought him into the palace, and he was brought to the owner's room, not before he was amazed to see the palace in its beauty and splendor. When he entered the room where his brother was staying, he learned that the brother was critically ill and that his days were numbered. The brother hinted to him that he should approach him, and then he whispered in his ears that the doctors had informed him that his end was near. With the rest of his strength, The rich man goes on to tell his brother, the Talmud, "You have no idea how many transactions I have made in my lifetime, and you cannot even dream of how much money I have accumulated for myself." The sick brother emphasized that these were astronomical sums of money. The brother from London listened, and still didn't understand what his brother wanted from him, and why he was called so urgently. The rich man's voice fell silent for a few minutes. It seemed that he was doing some soul-searching about his lifetime. He then turns to his brother and tells him: "Despite the large amount of money I have accumulated, I feel that I have nothing!! I leave the world in nothingness and chaos, and I feel a terrible emptiness in myself. All the millions lying in my bank account are worth nothing in my eyes!! "And what do you want from me?" The Torah scholar asked impatiently. "The last deal of my life I want to make with you. Would you be ready for that? The rich brother asked. His surprised brother did not know how to answer such a question; "Until I know what it is, how can I answer?" He said. 'I want to make an agreement with you and Zevulun, and transfer to you half of all my assets, on condition that you transfer to me half of the rights you have from Torah study,' said the rich brother.
The Talmud buried his face in the ground. He did not expect or prepare for such a deal. Despite the great excitement that gripped him due to the special status of the situation, the brother from London calmly weighed the matter and did his soul-searching with considerations of "profit and loss," until he decided to repay his brother in the negative. "I am not ready for such a deal," he replied to his ailing brother. The rich brother, who thought that perhaps his brother did not know the size of the assets in question, began to detail to him the many millions that awaited him, followed by an agreement to transfer half of his rights. But the Talmud insists on his refusal, and is not willing to carry out the transaction. A few days later, the wealthy brother passed away.
And it came to pass after his death, pangs of conscience began to prick the heart of the Talmud, thinking that perhaps he had not behaved properly. He raised these questions with his rabbi in London, who called the house of Maran Rabbi Kanievsky and asked what the Torah thought on this matter was. The Grach replied that 'this is an explicit Gemara in Tractate Sota'... The Gemara (on page 21) says there about the verse; "If a man gives all the wealth of his house out of love, they will despise him," Rashi explains there that Hillel the Elder engaged in Torah all his life "out of great poverty," and that Banna, who was his brother, came to him at the end of his life and asked for a share of the rights. And about this Bat Kol came out and said, 'If a man gives all the wealth of his house'... The Rav Chayim thought that the Gemara intends to teach us that the agreement between Issachar and Zevulun cannot be carried out at the end of the process, that is, after the Torah has already learned his Torah. One who wants to be a partner in the rights of Torah study must make the agreement with the Torah before he begins to study, and not at the end. The case that the Gemara deals with is the case of the two brothers, and therefore, the Grach said, 'the transaction between the two would not have been useful at all, because in such a case, the rich brother would not have received the rights of the Talmud.'
Let us learn from this story how much we should value our Torah more than thousands of gold and silver, and not exchange it for any of the pleasures of this world.
