Why Were Tzaddikim Repulsed by Money?
“The Wallet Belongs to Someone Else”
A Yid once walked into shul and said to his friend, “Do you want to see something?” He took out a wallet and showed him twenty thousand dollars in cash in one flap—and another thirty-thousand in the other flap. Seeing that his friend was amazed, he said, “It’s not mine. The gevir went to the mikveh and asked me to hold onto his wallet.”
The Chovos HaLevavos is teaching us that the ba’al bitachon feels exactly the same way when he holds onto his own money! His heart remains the same as the heart of his poor neighbor, because he knows that the money is only a deposit in his hands.
Tzaddikim elaborate on the danger of money, telling us that it has the ability to remove the נשבר לב, the broken heart of a Yid—and it is only the ba’al bitachon who is saved from this.... The ba’al bitachon isn’t changed by his money; it will not remove his נשבר לב, which is such an important tool in our avodas Hashem.
The Tzaddik Who Was Fearful of Wealth
In the sefer Nifla’os HaSabah Kaddishah on the Radoshitzer Rebbe, zy”a, the following incident is related:
In his youth, the Rebbe and his family suffered from dire poverty and hunger. One day, the Rebbe went into the street and saw a gentile boy standing there with a jug filled with gold coins. The boy offered to sell the entire jug to the Rebbe for ten coins. The jug had enough money therein to ensure wealth for the Rebbe and his future generations.
Being so poor, the Rebbe only had five coins with him, and he negotiated with the boy to sell him the jug for five rubles.
But a moment went by, and the Rebbe said to himself: “Berl, Berl, the yetzer hara was victorious over you! From now on you will no longer need to daven!”—So fearful was the Rebbe of losing one iota of his bitachon! In that moment, the Rebbe decided that he didn’t want the money; the Ribbono shel Olam would help him without it.
But the Rebbe wanted the money to benefit another Yid, so he instructed the boy to offer it to a certain poor Yid in the town who would surely agree to the bargain. That Yid did indeed agree to purchase the entire jug of coins—and he and his family were notably wealthy for generations to come.
Rebbe Yisasschar Ber of Radoshitz (1765-1843), a talmid of the Chozeh of Lublin and the Koznitzer Maggid.
It is incredible to contemplate such a level of bitachon. The tzaddik lived on such a lofty level of bitachon, and he was fearful of losing one iota of his dependence on the Ribbono shel Olam. He felt that the money will impede this dependence, his heart will be a little bit less broken than before. Thus, he gave away the entire wealth that he could have had—only to retain his level of bitachon.
The Chofetz Chaim’s Bad Dream
The Chofetz Chaim once observed a חלום תענית, a fast that one observes after having a bad dream. When asked what the dream was, the Chofetz Chaim replied, “I dreamed that I became wealthy.”
The people of his household wondered, “Is this such a bad dream that one would need to fast?” And the Chofetz Chaim replied, “Either way, I must fast. If it is a true dream, and it is ordained that I will become wealthy—then I must fast to fend off the gezeirah of wealth. If it has not been ordained, and I have simply been thinking thoughts about wealth during the day, then I must fast for thinking such thoughts!”
The Chofetz Chaim recognized that if a person has thoughts of money—believing that if he has money he will be set for life—it contradicts trust in Hashem.
Ehrliche Yidden had a terrible fear of money—because they experienced amazing pleasure from being dependent upon the Ribbono shel Olam! They felt the deep connection with the Aibishter that emanates from a broken heart, and they didn’t want to lose it!
Such a story is very distant from our level. But we must still know that such stories transpired so that we will understand the essence of a true ba’al bitachon who would rather have a נשבר לב than money.
The Kotzker Rebbe Was Disgusted by Money
It is said that when the Kotzker Rebbe came to his Rebbe, the Rebbe Rav Bunim of Peshischa, he was experiencing dire poverty. Meanwhile, they heard that the well-known philanthropist Temer’l of Warsaw was on her way to Peshischa, and she was known for supporting talmidei chachamim. Therefore, the Kotzker Rebbe’s friend, Rebbe Shraga Feivel of Gritza, told him, “Don’t worry. Soon, the wealthy Temer’l will be here, and she will bring money.”
When he heard this, the Kotzker Rebbe cried out, “Money?! Feh! (a Yiddish expression of disgust).” Rav Shraga Feivel later related that he was so impacted by the Kotzker Rebbe’s reaction, and he developed such a disgust for money, that for weeks later, whenever he heard mere talk about money, he would begin to vomit....
Money Changes the Heart
When we hear such stories, we can’t even relate to them. It sounds like a nice vort, and we smile and move on when we hear it. But let us try and understand the depth of it: Why indeed were tzaddikim so disgusted by money? After all, money can be used to build shuls and batei midrashim, yeshivos and Torah institutions.... Money can be used to help the poor and buy lulav and esrog, and it can accomplish so many great things! When did money become so abhorrent?
The answer is that the tzaddikim understood that something changes in the heart of a person when he accesses money. In the moment that money comes into his possession, his heart can, R”l, become closed off from the kesher to the Ribbono shel Olam.
When a Yid feels assured because of his money, it is as if he is telling the Ribbono shel Olam, “I gotta run. I’ll come back later... we’ll yet meet, im yirtzeh Hashem.” The tzaddikim sensed and understood this, and for this reason they abhorred money—developing a disgust and a hatred of money. Because money can cause a barrier to develop upon the heart, preventing us from feeling dependent upon the Ribbono shel Olam.
