A friend met me this week and told me, “Do you want to get rich? I have a secret revealed by one of the wealthiest people in the world — whoever acts upon it will make a lot of money.”
It just so happened that on that day I learned about Chazal’s secret to wealth, and I decided that this was a sign from Heaven that I should share this secret with you.
The secret ingredient for a person who wants to get rich, Chazal tell us, is “seichel.”
A person who wants to be rich needs to have seichel.
Rabi Elazar said: “Anyone who possesses de’ah will end up becoming wealthy” (Sanhedrin 92a).
What is this seichel?
The Maharsha explains that de’ah, as used in this gemara, certainly doesn’t refer to what people normally call seichel, for it says, “The wise will not necessarily have bread.”
Rather, Rabi Elazar’s words about seichel are based on the words of the Gemara (Niddah 70b):
What should a man do to become wealthy? He told them: He should engage exceedingly in business, but he must do so honestly. They told him: Many people tried that method and failed! Instead, he should pray to the One to Whom all wealth belongs.
The Gemara concludes that one needs both — business dealings and prayer.
And here the Maharsha reveals the secret of wealth: A person who has the desire to be wealthy starts to make business deals and “engages exceedingly in business.” He tries to open a business, invest in real estate, and tries all sorts of other ideas.
But then he starts to see that not everything goes according to his plans and dreams. He didn’t calculate right, there are no buyers, the market is down, and many things totally didn’t enter his mind.
And then he gets it.
The “secret” they told him for how to get rich doesn’t really work, and he begins to see the real secret.
And this secret is prayer – “He should seek mercy from the One to Whom wealth belongs.”
This is exactly what Rabi Elazar said: “Anyone who possesses de’ah will end up becoming wealthy,” meaning, someone who truly understands that wealth is only in the Hands of Hakadosh Baruch Hu – he is the one who becomes rich.
With all his hishtadlus in increasing the amount of business dealings he had, he knows and understands that the wealth is really in the Hands of his Father in Heaven.
And he who davens a lot and asks for parnassah and wealth – becomes truly wealthy.
Gut Shabbat
Pinchas Shefer
