The More Bitachon We Have, The More We Internalize That Money Is Only Ours on Deposit
Bitachon Saves Us From Worshipping Avodah Zarah, R”l
Previously, we learned that money is the great barrier between a Yid and the Ribbono shel Olam—because a person then depends upon his money and not the Ribbono shel Olam, and that is, in essence, acknowledging an entity other than Hashem. The lust for money means that we’re reliant on that entity, chas v’shalom, instead of upon the Ribbono shel Olam.
Therefore, says the Chovos HaLevavos, the ba’al bitachon will have a tremendous benefit in that he will not have this barrier between himself and his Creator.
Why is this? Because when you study bitachon, you will learn to view money in the proper way. One will even be able to have lots of money and still remain close to Hashem, because he will feel that the money is only on deposit with him, and he is only its custodian. He won’t become attached to or reliant upon his money.
The More Bitachon; the More Proper Is Our Attitude Towards Money
But since it is a very lofty level to have money and still remain reliant upon Hashem, tzaddikim taught their adherents to know that having money is no simple matter. It is not always the greatest gift—for it can sometimes have the effect of separating a person from Hashem, R”l. The ba’al bitachon understands this, and he learns to have a certain suspicion towards money—because he recognizes the potential to become distant from HaKadosh Baruch Hu through it. He has the proper view of money.
The Feeling That Money Is on Deposit Is an Indicator of Bitachon
The Chovos HaLevavos—right out of the gate, in the introduction to the Sha’ar HaBitachon—puts us to the test, saying, If you have the feeling that the money isn’t yours, then you have grasped what bitachon is! If you still think it’s your money, then you haven’t begun the process of bitachon.
There are many levels in this feeling, to be sure. There are people who aren’t capable of giving away a penny, and there are those who are extremely generous with their money—but the ultimate test as to whether a person is a ba’al bitachon is directly related to whether he sees the money as not being his own... but rather as his being only a custodian of that money.
In this vein, we recalled the stories of tzaddikim who didn’t want to be anywhere near money. They would say, “Keep it away from me! I don’t know if I can pass this test. Better I shouldn’t have the money at all!” They didn’t want to lose their dependence upon the Ribbono shel Olam, and they were fearful that having money would remove their “broken heart,” which is so essential to serving the Ribbono shel Olam.
Davening for Salvation, Not Necessarily Money
The Ribbono shel Olam Doesn’t Need Our Advice
With these introductions in mind, a Yid can understand why it’s so essential to learn and study the sugyah of bitachon—so we can fill our minds with the knowledge of emunah and thus merit that the “mind rule the heart.” That is, that the heart should be taken over with strong feelings of bitachon.
But there’s one tool that everyone can begin with in order to become accustomed to the feelings of bitachon—and that is to stop giving advice to the Ribbno shel Olam on how He should help us and bring us salvation. Our salvation doesn’t necessarily have to come through money, and we must not tell the Ribbono shel Olam how to help us. We must daven for a yeshu’ah...for the Ribbono shel Olam to help us however He sees fit.
When a Yid approaches Hashem in tefillah, it must be with the appreciation of the fact that he doesn’t know the proper way for his salvation, and he doesn’t know what’s good for him. He knows that the Ribbono shel Olam can help him in so many ways, and he relies upon the Ribbono shel Olam to help him in the best way. Therefore, he always davens for “revealed good,” and he doesn’t venture into giving the Ribbono shel Olam ideas or advice for how to help him.
Money Is Not Always the Salvation
When we see these stories of how tzaddikim ran away from money and denigrated money, even if we can’t fully relate to it, we can all emulate it in some measure—and that is: when we ask Hashem for our needs, we shouldn’t necessarily ask for money; rather, we should ask that Hashem send us a yeshu’ah, and provide us with our needs. Our salvation won’t necessarily come through money.
Very often, a person needs a yeshu’ah in a certain area—but the salvation doesn’t necessarily come through money. For example, when a person needs a lulav and esrog, it can come to him as a gift rather than through money. When a Yid needs to marry off a child, there’s the possibility that the mechutan will pay for the entire wedding from A to Z. There are unlimited scenarios as to how the Ribbono shel Olam can resolve our problems without sending us money directly—and so, we shouldn’t daven for money per se.
Bitachon Can Lower Our Expenses
Furthermore, there are some expenses and some “needs” that a person feels that he must have. But once he masters the art of bitachon, he comes to realize that he doesn’t need them after all; his bitachon helps him see more clearly that he already has what he needs.
There were tzaddikim who had tremendous energy not to need many hours of sleep—because they drew strength and chiyus from their bitachon in Hashem. The same can happen for any Yid who lives with bitachon: the bitachon causes his expenses to go down, and he won’t need that much money in the first place. He will find that his grocery bill is cheaper, for whatever reason, etc.
When an average person compiles his monthly budget, he enters extra expenses that always tend to crop up. There are appliances that break, or the house must be renovated, and so forth...many expenses come up which a person hasn’t expected. He must enter surprise expenses into the budget, because he must be realistic.
But if a Yid has bitachon, it can be that many months will go by without things breaking or without these extra expenses coming up. Of course, it doesn’t always work this way... the point is that, through bitachon, a person can be helped from Above, and not necessarily through a surplus of money.
Davening for Needs, Not Money
A Yid with bitachon can begin to feel a taste of what the tzaddikim felt: One minute! “Who said that money is the answer to my problems?! Who said that I need davka this vehicle (money) to solve my problems?! If the Ribbono shel Olam will give me money, I will accept it and do good things with it. But this doesn’t mean that I must daven to davka be helped through money!”
Such a person makes the following cheshbon: It’s not necessary to bother the Ribbono shel Olam: “Give me more money...,” because he is so confident that the Ribbono shel Olam will fulfill his needs. After all, we are assured that חסדו! לעולם כי בשר לכל לחם נותן But we must take care of the aspect of tefillah, the vehicle that brings the shefah. Therefore, I daven that He should give me my needs in whatever way He wants, so I should be able to serve Him properly. But the shefah is not necessarily money. Sometimes it’s through money, and other times it is through other means that the Ribbono shel Olam sends the shefah down from Above.
Mockery of Avodah Zarah: An Effective Tool Against This Yetzer Hara
Mockery Toward Avodah Zarah Is a Mitzvah
There’s another tool in our arsenal against the yetzer hara of being too dependent upon money, and that is זרה, דעבודה ליצנותא laughter and jest toward avodah zarah. As we have learned, the lust for, and the dependence upon, money is the same yetzer hara as that of avodah zarah. And which tool is effective against the yetzer hara of avodah zarah? Mockery and jest! (See Sanhedrin 63b.)
It is brought in the name of the Arizal (Siddur Arizal, Hilchos Derech Eretz, Ch. 14) that, not only is one permitted to jest about avodah zarah—it is a great mitzvah to do so!
Other Tools May Take a While to Work
The reason it is important to laugh off avodah zarah is that, in general, a person doesn’t have a way to reach, affect, and change his own heart quickly. There are no controls... no switch that can just be flipped, and his heart will be changed.
The only way is through the mind—הלב, על שליט מח the mind rules the heart—to slowly and steadily talk to our minds until it will influence and change our hearts. Then there is the eitzah of taking action. As we have discussed in the past, actions change attitudes, which also affect our feelings and heart. By giving generously, for example, a person will become generous.... By giving generously, one will lose his lust for and attachment to money.
But these paths to the heart take some time to be effective. They require consistency, and constant toil in order to affect the heart. We must learn and study, and take much positive action, for it to affect our hearts.
Mockery Reaches the Heart Directly
But mockery, jesting, has an incredible power to reach directly deep into the heart. It takes just a second for leitzanus, jesting, to enter the heart and remain there forever.
This is why it is so severe to mock holy things—because the effects are far reaching and long lasting. With one joke, one can destroy the mounds of yiras Shamayim he had accumulated. We are taught, אחת ליצנות תוכחות, מאה דוחה one joke has the power to push away one hundred teachings of mussar. The power of jest is indeed extremely powerful—it’s a shortcut to the heart. Leitzanus has the power to destroy so much mussar that a person has acquired through the traditional ways of reaching the heart. And for this reason, tzaddikim ran from leitzanus like from fire.
Mockery Helps Push Away the Lust for Money
Says the Arizal, we must utilize this power to push away the ta’avah for money. We have a heart that is waiting anxiously to become saturated with emunah, free from the lust for money—but the heart is also constantly bombarded by messages that tell it to want money, and that money has great worth and value.
Therefore, we must ensure that the leitzanus about avodah zarah will destroy these messages. We must constantly reiterate our desire not to be so connected to money. And the best tool to get there is through laughing and jesting about the avodah zarah of lust for money.
And the best way to laugh off money is to think about where this lust and desire have taken people we know ... what depths it has dragged them into. It is a rachmanus on these people. It is something that doesn’t even need to be explained, it is so obvious.
The Unfortunate State of a Person Obsessed with Money
We must simply ponder the difference between someone who pursues money and a person who is happy with his lot. Look at the two people. One of them is happy and fortunate, and the second person is always miserable and dissatisfied. Because money does not bring happiness. Only when a person has bitachon will he be truly happy.
Meditating upon these concepts work on a person so that he will gain a true appreciation and understanding that money cannot help us. We don’t get our needs from money, only from Hashem.
Then, when we go to shul, and we hear a person say, “I want to learn Chovos HaLevavos, Sha’ar HaBitachon because it’s a segulah for money,” the ba’al bitachon among us shakes his head with pity and thinks: Hashem should help that somewhere in middle of learning this, you should realize the deep error that you’re living in! Hashem should help you truly attain true bitachon to understand that money is not what can help you. The bitachon you learn will help you detach from this very attitude with which you started out.
All our needs are provided by Hashem, and Hashem has countless ways to help us.
