(Mishlei 6:30). A man who is hungry and has no money to buy a roll enters a grocery store and steals. The store owner catches him eating the roll and asks, "Why are you stealing?!" The hungry man responds, "Sorry, but I haven't eaten for three days." Will the store owner call the police on him?! Certainly not! It is heart-breaking; the poor man hasn't eaten in three days. He didn't do the act simply to fulfill his desire!
In contrast, the robber steals in order to hoard more and more. Why does the ant hoard food?! It says, "Maybe Hakadosh Baruch Hu will extend my life." And if its life is extended, it can continue to move around and gather food for that extended period of life! Why hoard?! It turns out, therefore, that hoarding itself brings theft!
The only place in the world where there’s no stealing? The sea! Down there, no one hoards and no one cheats. There’s no “Power to the Buri” or “Power to the Nile” movements down there – no savings plans underwater! Every fish gets its daily portion straight from Heaven: it opens its mouth, and the smaller fish swim right in – in reverse!
We learn, therefore, that this world is called חָ לֶד – and why? Because there is a mole – which is a symbol of hoarding and saving. David HaMelech says (Tehillim 49:18):
כִּי לֹא בְמוֹתוֹ יִקַח הַכֹּל לֹא־יֵרֵד אַחֲרָיו כְּבוֹדוֹ׃
For when he dies he can take none of it along; his goods cannot follow him down.
When a person passes to the next world, he takes nothing with him! It is told about a very wealthy man, who divided his will into two parts. In the first part, he requested that after his death, he be buried with socks, and that the second part of the will be opened after the seven days of shiva were complete. After his passing, the children came and tried to talk to the Chevra Kadisha: "Our Father requested to be buried with socks." They shot back quickly, "Stop driving us crazy! It isn’t possible to do such a thing!" "Please, do us a favor – you will receive any amount you demand; our father requested it in his will!" "Here we only dress in shrouds; if you want to dress him with socks – take him home with you!" The children returned home broken and exhausted. After the shiva, they opened the second part of the will, and it read: "Indeed, I requested to be buried with socks. But in the end, they did not agree, did they?! I wanted to show you that from all the wealth I had in this world, I could not even take a pair of socks with me to the Olam Ha’Emet – the World of Truth!"
כִּי לֹא בְמוֹתוֹ יִקַח הַכֹּל לֹא יֵרֵד אַחֲרָיו כְּבוֹדוֹ – For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.
If so, why do you bother saving?! Chazal tell us that the judgment of the Dor Hamabul was sealed because of robbery! And what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do to them? He washed them away with water! And why specifically with water? The Sefat Emet tells us that water is a domain unto itself – a domain where there is no robbery. There, they know that each one receives the food that is allotted to him daily!
There are people who open their businesses 24/7, heaven forbid – why do you open your store on Shabbat when Shabbat is the source of blessing? What profits do you seek on Shabbat, a day where bracha is mentioned three times?! You say, it’s the strongest day of the week for foot traffic? My dear, go learn from the fish – it doesn't eat a grain of what it truly wants to eat, but it eats what Hakadosh Baruch Hu pushes into its mouth! You think you're drumming up and generating business?! Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bring you business from what He chooses!
Chazal instituted for us to remember Noach and his ark in the Tefillot of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Hoshana Rabbah – and also each and every day in the words of Shema:
לְמַעַן יִרְבּוּ יְמֵיכֶם וִימֵי בְנֵיכֶם עַל הָאֲדָמָה – That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied upon the land.
Reb Yossele tells us to eat fish on Shabbat – why? Because they are the only ones who did not sin! They are the purest creature, on the purest day!
May Hakadosh Baruch Hu grant us the strength in faith that a person cannot take anything from another, only what the Creator gives him, and in this merit, may we be worthy of the complete redemption and the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu speedily in our days, Amen v’Amen! ◊
