Passive Income 

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter.

Is There Easy Money To Be Had In This World? 

We all dream of making an easy living – not work much but make a lot of money. And even better if we wouldn’t have to work at all – having what is called today “passive income”: You don’t have to do anything, and the money just flows into your bank account. For example, a few apartments in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv managed by a company could provide us with twenty to thirty thousand shekels a month, with no effort required on our part.  

Anybody who wants to attract people to a course or get money easily from people, promises them these two magical words, “passive income”, thus attracting customers like flies are attracted to fly paper. 

Most of these promises are, of course, at best false, or intentional deceit, or, in the worst case, a cruel sting, because in this world it is rare to the point of impossible to obtain anything without exerting oneself. 

But two things are very clear: one is that human nature yearns for an easy life, that is, to work for as little time as possible or with as little effort as possible – and to make as much money as possible. The second thing is that there is such a reality in which you don’t work very much and make lots of money, because we all see that there are those who work all day in hard and difficult jobs and earn pennies, and there are those who work less hours, as well as less hard, and earn more.  

So, there is definitely room for our hopes that we can work less and earn more, that is, be willing to work seriously, but also wisely and efficiently, with a proven method and a business model that will enable us to maximize our profits and make the most of our money’s potential, our skills and our time.   

Two Hundred Thousand Percent Profit 

Our sages say that the Torah is also a form of merchandise, better than any other. In other words, one should also approach Torah learning with a business-oriented mindset, in order to make the most of the time, the abilities and the resources, and earn as much as possible in this real, deep, and eternal property. And indeed, we can see two avreichim learning the same number of hours: one is growing and advancing, acquiring knowledge, completing books and remembering a lot, while his fellow avreich is getting nowhere and feeling empty and frustrated.  

This is true also in serving Hashem and observing the mitzvot. A wise Jew knows where to invest. For example: a man might be, of course, learning and observing mitzvot, but also investing a considerable amount of time in kiruv, in bringing other people close to Judaism, because he knows that his profits from this will be much greater than the profits from his own mitzvah observance. The Jew whom he draws closer will learn Torah and observe mitzvot, and with Hashem’s help will have a family and his children, too, will observe mitzvot – and everything will be written down on his account, without detracting, of course, from the reward of the one who was brought back to Judaism himself.  

So, if you really want some spiritual “passive income”, make the simple calculation that even if you invest a hundred hours a month in kiruv and influence only one person – you will now have a whole life of Torah and mitzvot that will be deposited in your “spiritual bank account”; a whole life for one hundred hours of work is definitely a worthwhile business. 

This means thinking in a business-like and effective way in your service of Hashem. And of course, we do not do kiruv only for the sake of the reward, chalilah. We are obligated to engage in disseminating Judaism and in kiruv because that is our obligation and responsibility. And it is the greatest joy for the Creator of the World when His sons and daughters do teshuva. But what our sages tell us about the reward is just coming to show us what is considered a correct investment in the service of Hashem. In other words, it is what we should be placing the emphasis on in our daily activities, and so that we will understand and internalize that when we take time from learning Torah in order to bring people closer to Judaism, we are not losing but rather the opposite: we are gaining much more, beyond proportion.  

A Million Times More Than Kiruv 

The point of this essay is that it is the same with ahavat Yisrael – love of fellow Jews. Ahavat Yisrael, too, brings you immense spiritual “passive income”, in other words, you receive immeasurable merit just from loving. Because love is connection. If I connect to my friend’s electrical system, I receive electricity from him and enjoy having it in my house, and he pays the bill.  

With ahavat Yisrael – you connect to the mitzvah reservoir of all Jewish people and you have a part and a reward in all of those mitzvot. But unlike the electric bill – it does not take away anything from the owners of these mitzvot.  

The following is a wonderful, novel thought from Rabbi David ben Baruch Hacohen Azug, may his memory protect us, one of the tzaddikim of Morocco, and here is the quote from him: 

“Whoever observes the mitzvot of “you shall love your fellow like yourself” profits greatly, because all the mitzvot that any Jew does, it is as if he did them himself, because they are connected, and considered like one body, and since one part of the body did it, it is enough”. This comes out to be millions of times more than even kiruv! 

He adds that ahavat Yisrael not only profits you, but also saves you and atones for you, even if in the meantime you transgress, chalilah, because you are connected to all the tzaddikim, and their merits protect you, as he goes on to say: “And even if he will worship idols, since he is like one with the tzaddikim and loves them – he has a part in all the mitzvot that the tzaddikim do, and those mitzvot protect him, because they are like one body.” 

He says there something amazing: even a rasha (wicked person), who really deserves harsh and bitter punishments, will not be able to be punished if he loves the tzaddikim and those who observe the mitzvot, because his love connects him to them, and so their merits and all their mitzvot protect him. But if he, chalilah, disconnects himself from the tzaddikim and detests them, then he disconnects from the big body of the Jewish People and then he is in real danger.  

I Have No Time To Get Rich… 

As we learned, true passive income is an investment, but an extremely profitable one. To achieve ahavat Yisrael one must invest, but one can see the immense and infinite profits of whoever invests in the right places.  

This is a winning argument against all those who think that spending half an hour a day in order to pray for the Jewish People that they should merit having ahavat Yisrael, is too much. They argue that it’s hard to do, and it’s a lot of time, and they don’t have enough time, and they are learning Torah and doing mitzvot, and they don’t want to miss the Torah learning in for the sake of praying for the Jewish People etc. 

But according to Rabbi David ben Baruch, the profit you’ll make from true ahavat Yisrael is millions of times more than what you would be able make from doing something else during those half-hours. So you can understand that it doesn’t just pay – it pays tremendously! 

So we find that ahavat Yisrael is a great mitzvah in its own right, and not just any old mitzvah, because if the sages say that one mitzvah brings about another one, so the mitzvah of ahavat Yisrael brings about an infinite number of mitzvot that can be observed only through ahavat Yisrael, because one who loves his fellow Jew, gives to him, and helps him and does chessed with him, and, of course, does not cause him any damage or distress, and doesn’t speak lashon hara about him, and judges him favorably, and sees only good in him.  

But according to the Rabbi David ben Baruch, it’s much more than that: because the mitzvah of ahavat Yisrael brings with it all the mitzvot of all the Jewish people, entering them directly into your bank account, and also protects you so that your transgressions won’t cause you damage! 

Huge profits plus life insurance for the same price! 

Parashat Mishpatim deals with the laws of the Torah and with a great many mitzvot.  

A single Jew cannot perform all the mitzvot; if only he could do the mitzvot that he is obligated to do! But now we have a wonderful piece of advice on how to observe the entire Torah and merit many more mitzvot, as Hashem wanted to merit the Jewish People. The advice is to pray for half an hour every day that all Jewish people will obtain ahavat Yisrael to the point that we will all be connected in true ahavat Yisrael, together with the entire Jewish People, and so we will have a part and a merit in all the mitzvot and merits of all the tzaddikim, as well as of each and every Jew.