Avraham Avinu’s Coin
-Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pinkus, zt”l
Avraham was elderly. (Bereishis 24:1)
What was [stamped] on the coin of Avraham Avinu? An elderly man and woman on one side; a young man and woman on the other side. (Bava Kama 97b)
What was the meaning of the images stamped on Avraham Avinu’s coin? Simply speaking, Avraham Avinu was a king, and it is the way of kings to put out currency bearing the icon of the king. Avraham’s currency bore on one side the image of an elderly man and woman, who were Avraham and Sarah, and on the other side, a young man and woman, who were Yitzchak and Rivkah. They were the royal personages.
Besides the simple meaning, we could say Avraham wished to teach the people a lesson about kosher money. Avraham Avinu’s outstanding trait was chesed. The Torah recounts the amazing chesed he did with his angelic guests. On the other hand, Yitzchak’s outstanding trait was yiras Shamayim, as the verse says, Pachad Yitzchak. The message on the front of the coin was that money is given to us so we may do chesed and tzedakah with it, as represented by Avraham and Sarah, the paragons of chesed. But this is only half the message. The back side of the coin showed Yitzchak and Rivkah, who represent yiras Shamayim. This teaches that we need to make sure our money is free of theft and other sins. Some people think that if they give nice donations to the shul and to other good causes, then it is not so terrible if their business dealings are less than 100% clean and pure. And it is forgivable if they forget to pay some little debts, or neglect to pay them on time. Avraham Avinu came to teach us that this is not so. A coin is kosher only when it bears the stamp of Yitzchak Avinu on it, when it is marked by yiras Shamayim.
This lesson is pertinent to everyone, including those who spend most of their time in the beis midrash. There is an amazing story from the days of R. Chaim Volozhiner. One of the bachurim in the yeshivah fell ill, and thus traveled home, and on the way, he stopped to stay overnight at an inn. In the morning, the bachur realized that he lacks seven pennies from the amount the innkeeper had set as his fee. The innkeeper said he will rely on him to take care of this small debt when he gets a chance. And when the bachur got home, he gave his friend seven pennies with which to finish up the bill. However, the friend forgot to give the money to the innkeeper.
After a short time, the sick bachur passed away. One night, when R. Chaim Volozhiner was walking down the aisles in the yeshivah after midnight, he saw with his own eyes the deceased bachur walking up to him. R. Chaim said shalom to him, and asked him, “How did your Heavenly judgment go?” The deceased bachur replied that when he came before the beis din shel malah, he was found free of all sin and misdoing, and the sentence was issued that he may enter Gan Eden. But when he came to the gates of Gan Eden, the Satan was standing at the gate and did not let him come in, due to his sin of theft, as he owed the innkeeper seven pennies. It made no difference whether he was guilty of negligence or not, because after all was said and done, he didn’t pay his debt. He owed the money, and that’s it.
The Heavenly court thus decided that he will be given permission to appear in the world as a living person and ask his Rav to take care of the debt, so he will come to rest. R. Chaim Volozhiner instructed the forgetful friend to pay up, and since then, the bachur did not appear again.
This is quite a lesson about kosher money. Even if it involves just a small amount, and even if we have good excuses, a debt is a debt. It must be paid. (Nefesh Shimson)
