A Foreign Master

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody
 
 
Borrowing money is something we want to avoid. At any rate, one may permissibly (both from a Halachic and a hashkafa standpoint) borrow money if he has the capability of paying it back. No one should take a loan if he does not know how he’ll pay it back. Saying, “Hashem will help me,” is misplaced emuna and probably presumptuous for that particular person’s true spiritual level. Why? If he had true emuna, and if he were really happy with his lot in life while living within his means, and if he really did trust in Hashem, then he wouldn’t have needed to borrow money in the first place.
 
One shouldn’t take out a mortgage unless he can afford the monthly payback. But, deliberately diving into debt is a jump into icy waters. Here’s why:  Someone who owes people money is subservient to them. He walks around with the covert fear of what might happen if he won’t be able to pay back the loan. Jail? Starve? Sleep on the sidewalk? Be assaulted by loan-shark thugs? It is this misplaced fear that is one of the causes of destitution.
 
If you fear One, you fear no one. With no fear of One – Hashem – a person has many foreign masters and plenty of things to be afraid off, such as debtors, the IRS, one’s boss, and many more.
 
Financial losses, problems, and deficits all stem from a lack of trust. With complete trust in Hashem, a person has nothing to worry about because he knows that Hashem has always provided and will continue to do so. The prophet therefore declares (Jeremiah, 17), “Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem; Hashem should be the source of his trust. He shall be like a lone tree in the plain… and in the year of drought will not be anxious.”
 
One of the main things necessary for achieving complete trust in Hashem is having the proper type of fear. Proper fear refers to fearing and being in awe of nothing and no one else but Hashem, what is known in Hebrew as yirat shamayim. The barometer of this is the extent that one believes that everything comes from Hashem. If he does, then the only one he fears and is in awe of is Hashem. If he believes any other power or human exerts any degree of control over his life, then he fears that man or power and thus has the wrong type of fear and awe. The prophets allude to this point as well: “I will trust and not fear” (Isaiah, Ch. 12); “In Hashem I have placed my trust; what can any man do to me?” (Psalms, 56). A person who lives by these eternal truths fears no one. He isn’t worried in the slightest about what he will eat tomorrow.
 
Without the trust that results from true emuna, every day brings with it the worry of “How will I manage to make it through today? How I will I be able to support everyone?” The harder a person works and the more money he makes—which he falsely believes is the answer to his problems—the more worry and anxiety he has, because now he has to figure out a way to maintain this new level of wealth. Our sages rightfully teach us in Ethics of Our Fathers (Ch. 2) “Increased wealth, increased worry.” Again, this pain and suffering comes from a person’s misplaced fear—trusting anything other than Hashem. Woe to such a person.
 
A person with complete trust in Hashem simply has no fears or worries. Hashem is capable of anything and all wealth stems from Him. If Hashem wants a person to be rich, then he will be—regardless of how much effort he puts into his job. All he needs to do is find a job in order so that Hashem can bless him in a hidden manner. No one will be able to touch this person either. No matter how determined they are to take his wealth away from him, they will not be able to.
 
The primary reason that people find themselves in poverty is due to misplaced fears. These fears are the outcomes of one depending on sources other than Hashem for sustenance. People create foreign masters for themselves that bring upon them nothing but excess worry and stress. Moreover, once someone finds himself in such a situation, he is liable to fall into a downward spiral in which he digs himself deeper and deeper into the ground by borrowing more money that does not belong to him, and adding more stress, God forbid.
 
The way to overcome the stress of debt is simply to strengthen emuna. Begin speaking to Hashem for an hour a day, and start by thanking Him. Anytime we need Hashem is an opportunity to get closer to Him. Once we truly get closer, the debts just disappear. Fear One, and fear no one. May Hashem give you a pleasant and adequate income, amen.