וְכִ י יִרְ ּבֶה מִ ּמְ ָך הַּדֶ רֶ ְך ּכִ י לֹא תּוכַל ׂשְ אֵ תֹו ּכִ י יִרְ חַק מִ ּמְ ָך הַּמָ קֹום אֲׁשֶ ר יִבְ חַר ה' אֱֹלקֶיָך לָׂשּום ׁשְ מֹו ׁשָ ם וגו' (יד, כד)
And if the way is too long for you, that you are unable to carry it, for the place which Hashem, your G-d, will choose to establish His Name there is far… (14:24)
The Noam Elimelech explains this pasuk as follows: “If the way is too long for you” – if it appears to you that the ways of Hashem are too great and lofty for you and it is too hard for you to serve Him. “You are unable to carry it” – if it seems too heavy a burden for you to bear. “For the place which Hashem, your G-d, will choose to establish His Name there is far” – if it seems far-fetched to you that you will ever be able to serve Him properly.
If one has this problem, he should know that it is because “Hashem blessed you” with money and an excess of possessions. “And you shall turn the money” – the solution is that you should not be busy thinking about your money all day.
The pasuk tells us how to deal with this situation by saying: “V’tzarta hakesef b’yadecha.” (You shall bind up the money that is in your hand.) The Noam Elimelech explains these words by citing the Gemara (Bava Metziah 47B) that says: “One may not redeem ma’aser sheini on an asimon (a coin with no image); rather, one should do so on a coin that has a tzurah (image).” Thus, the pasuk is saying that one should stamp a holy image on his money that is in his hands.
The pasuk continues: “And you shall go up to the place” – you should use your money to uplift you to follow Hashem’s path. “And you shall turn that money into whatever your soul desires” – you should use the money for the things that your pure neshama really wants, rather than using it for the type of things that the earthly body wants. This means that one should use his money for tzedakah and chesed.
The pasuk then tells us how one can fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah, and thereby uplift his soul to serve Hashem: “With cattle and sheep” – one should give tzedakah to both the simple people of the nation (who are referred to as cattle), and to the holy people (who are referred to as “holy sheep”). “And with wine and aged wine” – this is a reference to talmidei chochomim, as the Gemara says (Yoma 71A): “If one wants to bring nesachim of wine on the Mizbeach today, he should fill the throats of Torah scholars with wine.” “And with whatever your soul desires” – the same applies to all matters. One should always ensure that he uses his resources for the things that his neshama wants, and not for what his earthly body wants.
When one does this: “And you will eat before Hashem” – he will be able to serve Hashem in the ways of tzadikim.