A Heavenly Assurance
The Navi tells us (Yeshaya 33:15) ועצם עיניו מראות ברע הוא מרומים ישכן מצדות סלעים משגבו לחמו נתן מימיו נאמנים, One who closes his eyes to wrongdoing will live on high. His refuge will be strong rocky fortresses. His bread will be provided, and his water will be secure. That is, one who shuts his eyes against evil will merit all sorts of successes.
Rashi explains further that when we’re assured that our bread will be provided, it means that it will come to us directly from Shamayim, and we won’t need to rely on loans or handouts from others... the source of our shefa will never dry up; we will always have everything we need.
This is an incredible promise. A Yid who guards his eyes will never have to rely on others; he will have as much parnassah as he needs. The Dzikover Rebbe (Imrei Noam, Bereishis) points out that the last letters of ועוצ'ם עיני'ו' מראו'ת' בר'ע' comprise the word מעות, money. When a person guards his eyes properly, he will have enough money.
A Sharp Contradiction
The Chida (Yosef Tehillos, Tehillim 101) teaches that when a person distributes tzedakah, it brings him incredible shefa—for when a Yid gives shefa to others, the Ribbono shel Olam is mashpiah to him. But what happens to a Yid who is indeed generous with others and he deserves shefa, but he doesn’t guard his eyes, R”l, which is a cause for him to lose the shefa?
Says the Chida, the pasuk tells us (Tehillim 101:5) גבה עינים ורחבב לבב אותו לא אוכל, One with haughty eyes and a proud heart — I cannot tolerate. This Yid raises his eyes and looks around at things that he shouldn’t... but his heart is wide open to the needs of his fellow Yid. He’s a living dichotomy! On one hand he deserves shefa, but on the other hand, he acts in ways that cause him to lose it.
Two Paupers
When we think about it, we will see that there are two types of people who struggle financially. There’s a pauper who doesn’t have any money, because he simply doesn’t earn anything. He has no shefa to speak of. But then there’s a person who earns a nice salary, but he can never seem to make it; he always seems to have debts and expenses, and he’s always “in the red.” The money comes in, but it goes straight out, and he remains with nothing.
Explains the Chida that to hold onto shefa, we must first acquire money, but then we must ensure that it will remain in our possession, so we can enjoy it.
Bringing Blessing
If a person wishes for the shefa to reach him, he must become a vessel to acquire it. He must have the proper emunah, he must deal honestly in business, and he must be mashpiah generously to others. This arouses the heavenly conduct of ה' צלך, Hashem is our Shadow and conducts Himself towards us as we do towards others. Indeed, Chazal tell us (Gittin 7a), “If a person sees that his parnassah is restricted, he should make tzedakah from it.” That is, if there’s a blockage in the flow of his livelihood, he must unclog it by becoming a better, more generous conduit to others.
Tzaddikim would say, פותח את ידך ומשביע לכל חי רצון, when a person opens his hand to give tzedakah generously, then Hashem will surely satisfy him with abundant parnassah. If you will give, you will surely be given.
When the Shefa Is Here, We Must Hold onto It
These efforts of emunah and tzedakah are all measures that fashion us into vessels into which to draw down the shefa, but once we have acquired it, we must make sure not to squander it mindlessly.
When the Ribbono shel Olam sends us shefa, it doesn’t come down only in the form of money; it comes in all varieties of shefa to make us successful and blessed. Sometimes with one type of outer layer, and at other times in another levush—always according to the needs of the person.
Sometimes, the shefa presents itself such that your child won’t struggle with his learning, and you won’t need to shell out thousands of dollars for experts and tutors to help the child. Other times, the exact opposite will happen; a person will earn nice money, but he will have enormous financial obligations to cover the problems in his life. In such a case, the shefa may be delivered to him in the form of funds to cover these obligations. There are all kinds of heavenly cheshbonos, none of which are our concern.
All shefa, however, comes from the same Source—but it takes on different forms as it comes down to This World. Now, when a person takes pleasures for himself that he should not, he has now channeled the shefa into an improper expression and outlet...and now it no longer remains. This person had emunah and bitachon, he gave tzedakah, and through this he aroused shefa from the Source—and it indeed arrived at his doorstep. But when he channeled it in the wrong direction, he squandered it.
Draining One’s Bank Accounts
A Yid may walk around filled with complaints: “I performed all the segulos, I said Parashas HaMahn, I learn Shaar HaBitachon, I gave ma’aser... why don’t I have parnassah?”
If a Yid has done all the above remedies but subsequently didn’t guard his eyes, he may lose everything. The shefa came to him! It was in his possession... but he squandered it and channeled it in the wrong direction—because he has taken for himself foreign and improper pleasures.
It’s like depositing money in a bank account, but a day later it’s no longer there, because this person has spent the entire amount on pleasures. Pleasure costs money!
Every improper pleasure that a person engages in is derived from the shefa that was sent down to him. If he hadn’t been sent the shefa from the Source, he wouldn’t have been able to engage in pleasurable pursuits. One cannot take pleasure for oneself as a loan or when there’s no capital there; it comes directly from the Heaven-sent shefa. We must be sure not to squander it.
Two Conditions for Holding onto Shefa
The pasuk in Yeshaya lists a litany of acts that one must do in order to merit shefa—but they are divided into two categories: He must conduct himself with emunah and honesty and integrity... this will surely open the faucets and conduits for the shefa. But then there’s another condition: don’t divert the shefa for wrong and improper things. He must “shut his eyes against evil.” If he doesn’t engage in frivolous pleasures, he will be blessed with abundant shefa.
This pasuk provides us with the simple answer to the question that one may ask regarding why his shefa doesn’t seem to last. If a person is mired in struggles of shemiras einayim, there can be no question why the shefa doesn’t stay with him. Where did this pleasure come from? It doesn’t come from nowhere; it emanates from the shefa that he has been given. The Ribbono shel Olam gives us shefa with generosity; but we must channel it properly.
If We Take, There May Be Nothing Left
This yesod is, in fact, rooted in the Gemara (Beitzah 16a) which tells us “the entire livelihood of a person for the year is designated to him during the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; however, if he diminishes, his portion will be diminished, and if he adds, his portion will increase.” Rashi explains (ibid.) that one should be careful not to make excessive expenditures, for his portion will not be replenished.
What constitutes an “excessive expenditure”? When the Ribbono shel Olam gives a person shefa, and he squanders it improperly! One example may be to utilize it for extras and luxuries, and another example may be when a Yid looks where he shouldn’t and thus squanders his shefa on those pleasures. The Ribbono shel Olam will ask him: Why did you take it yourself? I gave you everything you needed. Why did you squander it on foolishness?
Luxury Flowers with Borrowed Money
This is no different from a person who approaches his child’s wedding, and he really doesn’t have the money.... In the end, his family and friends came together to assist him with many thousands of dollars, and the wedding day arrives—only for it to turn out that this man spent thousands of dollars on extras.
If, at a subsequent simchah, this Yid will come to borrow from his relatives again, they will likely not be so generous. “We gave you the money, but you squandered it on improper things!”
The Shefa Is Here, Don’t Give It Away
The same plays out in all our lives. The Ribbono shel Olam gives us plenty for our needs, with great generosity and breadth—but we often squander it on foolishness. This means that when people struggle to make their child’s wedding, it may be because they took improper pleasures along the way....
The Ribbono shel Olam tells us clearly, “I am giving you plenty of shefa; use it for good things!” There’s no need for out-of-the-way segulos... yes, give tzedakah, strengthen your emunah and bitachon, but remember: Don’t waste it—because you have already been given all the shefa that you will need.
Not a Reward
This is how the world works, and we can see it with our own eyes. There are thousands of people who can attest that they work to overcome their struggles
