Wealth and Poverty Are Superficialities
We tend to ascribe titles to people in society according to their superficial circumstances—their attitudes and comportment—rather than their reality.
For example: A person who has lots of money in the bank isn’t always called an עושר. This title tends to go to a person who acts the part. He’s a balebatishe person who’s generous and lives well.... There are many people who have the trappings of wealth—cars, homes, vacations, etc.—but they happen not to have a penny to their name.... Society gives titles to people based on their attitudes and behavior and style.
This is indeed in line with the Chazal, בחלקו השמח עשיר איזהו, who is wealthy? One who’s satisfied with his lot. Chazal understood that an עשיר, a truly wealthy person, is one who walks around with the feeling that he has everything... he lacks for nothing. This is a feeling and an attitude rather than a reality. It is a type of נפש that we call an עשיר.
How Should We Feel?
If wealth and poverty are arbitrary and dependent on attitude, let us ask the following question: What is the proper feeling a Yid should always have? One of wealth or of poverty? Regardless of how much money a person actually has, what should his inner feeling in his nefesh be?
One school of thought says that a Yid must always have the feeling, “I am the most fortunate and luckiest person in the world, and I have everything I need.” But there’s another mehalech—that a person should always feel like a pauper...like he has nothing... as he approaches the Ribbono shel Olam. “I come to the Ribbono shel Olam like a pauper at the door... because I have nothing.”
What the Sages Say
When we look into the sources, we find competing viewpoints among our Chachamim.
On the one hand, we have the Chazal saying בחלקו השמח עשיר איזהו, and this means to feel wealthy and content—learning to think we are wealthy. Indeed, we make the berachah regarding this sugya every day: צרכי כל לי שעשה. Every day, a person must feel that Hashem has given him everything. We walk around with the greatest joy and feeling of wealth: “I lack for nothing.”
At the same time, Dovid HaMelech tells us in Tehillim that one must always feel like a pauper. לעני; תפילה he always comes to the Ribbono shel Olam with a feeling of poverty, as though he has nothing. The Tomer Devorah tells us that we must learn this from Dovid HaMelech: Even a wealthy person should accustom himself to approach Hashem like the greatest pauper who is dependent on the constant Heavenly compassion. He should humble his heart and impoverish himself.... Dovid HaMelech conducted himself with this measure... אני ועני יחיד כי.
“Wealth” and “Poverty” Complement Each Other
And the answer to this seeming contradiction is this: Precisely by feeling the לעני תפילה, a Yid can also feel the feeling of השמח עשיר איזהו בחלקו.
If the feeling of wealth or poverty were dependent on how much money lies in one’s account, the two would be a contradiction—for how can one be wealthy and poor at the same time?! But we’re talking about an inner feeling that has nothing to do with money or anything external. Thus, it is no contradiction to feel both a feeling of wealth and of poverty at the very same time. To the contrary, they complement each other.
Praying Like a Pauper
Let us explain:
The approach and the attitude of a Yid must always be that he essentially has nothing. Everything that he ostensibly has lies in the hands of the Ribbono shel Olam, and we are dependent on ה' חסדי at every moment.
The feeling must be like that of a pauper at the door, awaiting a donation... he sees that the person takes out a large bill—but he still grips it in his hand.... He can still put it back in his pocket. The pauper is surely grateful, and he exclaims: “I surely didn’t expect that I would receive so much.... I thought you’d give me a small donation.” At the same time, he feels keenly that the money can be withdrawn at any moment, and he can leave with nothing.
This is how a Yid must feel every moment, with everything that he possesses. The Ribbono shel Olam has given it to me, and I am deeply grateful—but He can withdraw it at any moment, and I may remain with nothing.
The Foolishness of Forgetting
In the sefer Imrei Pinchas, it is brought in the name of the Heiliger Ruziner regarding the Chazal לו שנותנים מה המאבד שוטה איזהו, who is a fool? One who destroys what is given to him. Who is a fool? One who destroys the feeling of ",לו "נותנים that everything is given to him! The greatest foolishness is to forget that nothing is yours, and that everything has been given to you.
We can add to this that when a person forgets that everything he has is on loan from Hashem, this actually causes him to lose what has been given to him—that is, he causes his shefa to dry up, R”l. Conversely, one who’s cognizant of where everything came from will cause the shefa to swell and increase.
Constant Care
Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that this is the meaning of וישמרך ה' יברכך, Hashem should bless you and protect you. The blessing refers to money, but at the same time, a person requires tremendous שמירה—for Hashem to guard and protect his shefa. For if Hashem doesn’t protect our shefa constantly, it may, chas v’shalom, dry up. Even if a person already has parnassah, it can vanish in an instant. We require constant protection from Above.
With this, he explains the tefillah that we recite on Yamim Nora’im לאכול לחם לנו ותן וכלכלה לפרנסה וזכרנו, remember us for livelihood and sustenance and give us bread to eat. Isn’t this a superfluous prayer? If we have money and livelihood, do we still need to ask for food?! But the truth is that a person may have plenty of money and wealth—but he still requires Heavenly blessing so that the food will reach him. We may never forget this—for if we don’t remember this yesod in emunah, we may, chas v’shalom, lose our shefa.
The Spoon to Eat
The Rebbe Rav Mendele of Rimanov was once sitting at the table of his Rebbe, Rav Elimelech of Lizensk, when he said to himself, “Why do I need to daven for my food, when I am regularly fed at the Rebbe’s table?”
But at the next meal, the attendant in charge forgot to give Rebbe Mendele a spoon, and so he was left with a plate of food in front of him—but without a spoon with which to eat it! At that moment, Rav Elimelech told him, “You see? Even if we already have food, we must still daven—without Hashem’s help, we won’t have a spoon to place it into our mouths!”
Never Forget That You’re Completely Dependent
This story illustrates that even the greatest tzaddikim needed reminders when they fell back from their lofty levels of bitachon. We also learn that Hashem constantly nudges us to grow in our bitachon and not become complacent in it. We accomplish this by thinking constantly, “My shefa can vanish at every second. I am not secure even for the next second. I am constantly dependent upon the largesse and generosity and kindness of the Ribbono shel Olam.”
When we live with this awareness, we don’t become worried or feel despair—to the contrary, we do what we need to do, and we rely on Hashem completely. Just as a person who knows that his money can be stolen doesn’t walk around constantly worried... he simply takes the necessary steps to keep it safe. The same applies to the ba’al bitachon. He knows that everything can be lost in an instant—and he understands that we must constantly daven to Hashem, like a pauper with his hand outstretched.
This is also true when it comes to spiritual gifts from Hashem. When a Yid forgets that his madreigos in ruchniyus are also gifts from Hashem, the shefa may dry up. Suddenly, his mind doesn’t concentrate as well during learning... his davening isn’t with the same feeling... because he forgot that this, too, is a gift from Above.
Remembering the Truth
The ba’al bitachon who feels that everything he has is a gift wakes up every morning and says, “Baruch Hashem that I’m still healthy! Baruch Hashem, I haven’t gone into debt overnight. Baruch Hashem, my children are alive and well!” He feels that everything has been given to him all over again, as a gift. He says נשמה אלוקי and the השחר ברכות with great joy, because he has been given priceless gifts.
This attitude also causes the person not to feel haughty about the things that he has, because he feels embarrassed to do so: This isn’t mine. Someone gave this to me... how can I possibly be haughty?
It’s just like someone who’s walking around with a pack of crisp, newly minted 100 bills, and someone tells him, “Wow, I am so happy you have so much money.” But he says, “Nah, it’s not mine. Someone asked me to hold onto it for a few days until he can deposit it....” This person isn’t haughty about it, because he knows that it’s only a temporary deposit.
This is the way every Yid must live every day. “Now I have the money, but I don’t know if I will have it in a minute from now. I daven and I hope for the future, but it may be that Hashem will decide otherwise.”
This thought brings a person to be humble and not haughty with the possessions that he has.
The Feeling of Poverty Leads to Completeness of the Nefesh
Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin points out that there’s a great difference between “poverty of the soul” of a Yid, and that of a non-Jew. They are two completely different things. The feeling of poverty crushes a non-Jew, while this very same feeling elevates a Yid and leads him to completeness. He mamash feels closer to the Ribbono shel Olam by feeling that he has nothing—just as Dovid HaMelech constantly expressed throughout Tehillim. Haman, says Rav Tzadok, was the polar opposite. He counted his wealth and took pride in it. This was his downfall and his demise, for he had untethered himself from the Source of shefa.
The sefer Kad HaKemach (authored by Rabbeinu Bachya) says similarly that when Dovid HaMelech prepared thousands of talents of gold and silver, the pasuk says הכינותי בעניי ואני, despite my poverty I prepared.... Dovid HaMelech considers himself impoverished because he understood that although the money happened to have passed through him, he is a pauper. He has nothing. The tefillah of every Yid must be with this attitude and approach: I have nothing... the Ribbono shel Olam must help me and sustain me for every moment of my life.
