Shabbat Parshat Eikev– July 30/31

Money

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you're okay...
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team
                                           -Pink Floyd

This week's Torah portion seems to focus quite a bit on the effects of being prosperous and the balance between our physical desires and our spiritual quests. The Jewish people are reminded of how all of their needs were met while they traveled in the desert. They didn't have to worry about food or clothing and it was quite the pure spiritual existence. The Torah then describes their soon-to-be new environment, the land of Israel, in very lush terms. It is a good land with streams, mountains and valleys. We even get a description of the types of foods that will be found there - wheat, barley, grapes, dates, figs and the new superfood, pomegranates!

Along with this imminent prosperity comes a warning that they should not get too full of themselves and conclude that "my strength and vigor has made me all this power and wealth!" and end up forgetting where it all came from. This warning is very appropriate as too often we see the ill effects that wealth has on the ego where those who have succeeded deem their success to be based solely on their wisdom or intelligence when their fate could have just as easily gone the other way.

People often dream of being wealthy. They fantasize about winning the lottery and how it will bring them happiness and joy. Yet study after study shows that many of those winners have had their lives spin out of control and end up becoming worse. They no longer know who to trust, who their real friends are, or they quickly fritter it away and find themselves back where they were to begin with.

The main error people make when they dream of becoming mega-wealthy, and the same can be said of those who indeed find themselves in such circumstances, is that they think they will still have the same mindset as when they were making their regular middle-class salary, and this is just not the case. Once your net worth is so many millions more, you look at life and opportunities very differently. Your trip to the mall becomes a completely different experience. Whereas you used to pass the jewelry counter at Nordstrom's, glance and admire the collection of watches, rings and the like, and then keep on walking by, now, as a millionaire, you actually stop to consider which of those articles to purchase. And once you indeed buy that gorgeous piece, you go back soon after to buy something else as you soon grow tired of what you have which is now so yesterday. The same is true as you visit the Jaguar or BMW showroom and then conclude that you need to step it up a notch and check out Bentleys. Additionally, many other areas of life that were once off limits suddenly become available and open for exploration such as political influence, homes in other countries, private jets, boats, etc. The list is endless; as one attains each new plateau the next one opens up - and on and on it goes.

The rabbis in the Talmud had an acute understanding of this phenomenon and, as they often do, were able to sum it up in a very succinct fashion. "He who has one hundred wants two hundred, and he who has two hundred wants four hundred, etc." They appreciated that once one attains one level of material success, it does not end there but continues on in an endless pursuit.

Perhaps the antidote to this syndrome that too often afflicts many of us, no matter what wealth level we found ourselves in, is found in this week's Torah portion as well. To ensure that one does not get lost in this endless game of material pursuit, the Torah reminds us that "Not by bread alone does man live, but rather by all that comes from the mouth of God does man live." This summarizes the balancing act between the spiritual world and our want for more. We are told that physical needs, manifested by its most basic component - bread, will never suffice. By it alone we cannot ever expect to find satisfaction or satiation. Only when bread is combined with the spiritual - that which "comes from God's mouth" - then and only then can one truly have a fulfilling life.

When we take this lesson to heart, no amount of media nor societal influence will penetrate a healthy perspective and lifestyle of balancing the physical with the spiritual.