The Debt Disease
Breslev Israel is delighted to introduce Rabbi Shalom Arush's amazing new guide to financial freedom, B'Gan HaOsher...
Part 1 – The Debt Disease
Today’s generation suffers from a problem that has reached epidemic proportions – debt.
So many people owe money. Many of them shrug their shoulders and claim, “It’s beyond my control. It’s a part of life.” They act as if debt is an evil decree that can’t be rescinded. More and more people are in debt today. Few are the prudent individuals who actually manage to stay out of debt and to live within their means.
Some families are destitute, and they simply don’t have enough to eat. One could understand how the poor seek to borrow money when they fail to make ends meet.
Debt would also be an understandable consequence in the case of the idle and the lazy who fail to assume responsibility for themselves. With constant whimsical and irresponsible borrowing and a “who needs to sweat, I can borrow” mentality, one gets buried quickly under a mountain of debts.
Amazingly enough, many of those who suffer from debt today are neither poor nor idle. They’re serious, responsible, and frequently on the upper end of the economic scale. We often see that people with tremendous paychecks owe exorbitant sums of money.
Debt resembles a virus in that it attacks everyone that’s not properly inoculated – the rich and the poor, the diligent and the lazy, the old and the young. From a spiritual standpoint – which we’ll further elaborate – debt is the spiritual result of a transgression. One that lives in the shadow of debt suffers on all levels, losing peace of mind, marital bliss, physical and emotional health. Life becomes a purgatory of stress and anxiety. In effect, debt is a disease.
Seeing families fall into the deep pit of debt is a tragedy. Their time and energy are squandered on trying to cover their bills. They run from bank to bank, from one loan fund to another, and from person to person trying to find new loans to pay off old debts in attempt to juggle their finances. They never seem to have enough. Like the proverbial short blanket that leaves either their heads uncovered or their feet uncovered, so are their finances that fail to cover all their debts. These unfortunate souls, among them owners of large corporations and businesses, barely keep their heads above water. Even though they work relentlessly from dawn to dusk, they are unable to escape the quicksand of financial ruin into which they are sinking deeper and deeper. Is their no hope?
With Hashem’s loving help, The Garden of Bliss will teach you both how to avoid debt and how to free yourself from debt if you’re in a situation where you owe money.
First, let’s define our concept of debt: A person in debt is a person who has taken out a loan that he is incapable of repaying.
But, if a person has taken out a loan that he is capable of repaying, he is not considered as “being in debt”. For example, if a person needs to take out a mortgage or to borrow money to purchase a new home, and he can afford the monthly payments just like he can afford to pay rent each month, he is not considered as “being in debt.” Also, if he borrows money but has sufficient collateral to cover the debt, he is not considered as “being in debt.”
According to Jewish tradition, a person should never go into debt (which once again means taking out a loan that he can’t repay) for anything, even for a mitzvah.
To be continued.
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