And Yaakov was left alone (32:25)
Rashi explains that Yaakov Avinu went back to retrieve small jugs that he had accidentally left behind. Rashi elaborates that being that tzaddikim do not profit from theft, their money is extremely valuable to them, even more than their wellbeing since their money is holy, as it is not derived from theft.
The Mishna (Avos 6:5) enumerates forty-eight requirements that a person must have in order to properly acquire the Torah. One of the qualities is serving the chachamim, שימוש חכמים. The Zera Shimshon writes that each one of the forty-eight requirements teaches a person something which is important in order to properly be able to study Torah. The requirement of serving the Chachamim is necessary to learn how to properly deal with money. The Zera Shimshon cites the following Gemara to illustrate this idea.
The Gemara relates (Gittin 61a), that R' Kahana was on his way to Hutzal and he passed an individual who was cutting branches from a palm tree and throwing them down to the ground. As the branches hit the ground, dates would detach from them, and R' Kahana picked up a few dates and ate them.
The commentaries give a few explanations why R' Kahana did so. Initially it appeared to R' Kahana as though the individual only wanted the branches, and did not want the fruit. The halacha is that if one is knocking off fruit from a tree with the intention to collect those fruits, and the fruit fall under the tree, although he did not halachically acquire the fruits, the chachamim instituted that it is considered theft to take them. The reason for this is to keep public peace since the person knocking the fruits off the tree feels as though the fruits are already his from when he knocks them off the tree. Therefore, although these fruits were not halachically acquired yet by the person knocking them off the tree, the chachamim instituted, for public peace, that it is forbidden for anyone else to collect these fruits. Here however, this individual seemed to only desire the branches, and therefore the fruit that fell off were not even considered his for peaceful purposes. This was R' Kahana's reasoning.
The Gemara continues: The individual called out to R' Kahana and said, “Master! Take note that I intentionally picked the fruit with my hands and only then threw them to the ground. Thus, I fully acquired the fruit.” This added piece of information now made it forbidden for R' Kahana to eat the fruit.
When R' Kahana heard this, he proclaimed, “You must be from the town of R' Yoshia, the tzaddik who is the foundation of the world.” Rashi explains that R' Yoshia would teach the masses halachos, and that is why this individual knew what R' Kahana's reasoning was and was able to address why R' Kahana was wrong, instead of reacting like the average person who doesn't know the halacha and start screaming, "Thief!".
The Zera Shimshon learns from here that the benefit one has from being around Torah scholars – that the Mishna enumerates as a requirement to properly acquire Torah – is because they learn how to deal properly with money. Included in this, is the fact that those who practice shimush chachamim also learn how to stay away from any trace of theft in their monetary dealings, from the influence of the chachamim they are around.
