Anger and Financial Loss
Rebbe Nachman teaches that it would be proper for all of Israel to have wealth, but there is one negative trait that causes them to lose the Divine abundance that’s...
“The Essential Rebbe Nachman”, Part 3
Don’t Lose Out Because of Anger
It would be proper for all Israel to have wealth, but there is one trait that interferes and causes them to lose it. The trait in question is a very bad and lowly trait from which it is very difficult to escape. Sometimes a person wants to escape this trait out of a desire for wealth itself, so as not to lose money, but even so this evil trait attacks him from childhood, causing him to lose the money he should have had.
The evil trait that causes a person to lose the money he should have had is anger. The reason for this is that at its very root and spiritual source , wealth is in the same category as anger. Thus when the evil one sees a flow of influence descending to bring wealth to a person, he turns it into anger, because , at their root , anger and wealth are in the same category: they both descend from God’s mighty powers, deriving from the same place. “From the north comes forth gold” (Job 37:22) and “The evil will start from the north ” (Jeremiah 1:14 ) .Wealth is a “wall” ( ch O mah ), while anger ( ch EY mah ) ruins the wall. Thus when the evil one sees that a flow of wealth – chomah , a “wall” – is being sent to a person – he turns this flow into anger, sending something to make the person angry. Thus the “wall”, chomah , is ruined because of the anger, cheymah . Since anger and wealth are at root one category, the evil one can easily turn the flow of wealth into anger.
And know that even if the descending influence has already reached a person and turned into actual wealth, a “wall”, the evil one can still sometimes tempt the person to become so enraged that he loses even his existing money and wealth. One might have thought that after the blessing has already reached him and turned into wealth, it would be impossible for the evil one to turn it back into anger. The wealth should have been a “wall” protecting him from the evil one and preventing him from succumbing to anger, which is the opposite of a “wall”. Yet the evil one has the power to attack a person with such great anger that he loses even the money he already has.
May God guard and save us from this despicable trait! Amen. (Likutey Moharan I, 68)
Bind Your Thoughts to the Torah
All business dealings are really Torah. For example, the law relating to a person who exchanges a cow for a donkey is Torah, and when a person actually performs such a transaction this is certainly Torah. Accordingly, when engaged in any business transaction, you must bind your thoughts only to the Torah teachings and laws contained within the transaction in question.
When a person uproots his business dealings from the Torah, relating only to the externality of the business transaction itself without binding his thoughts to the Torah within it, he is later punished by having to go to a Torah court of law. He must then review all his thoughts and deeds from the start of the transaction to the end and bring them back to the Torah. He must tell everything to the judges, who then determine the Torah ruling in the case.
This way everything relating to the business transaction is turned back into Torah. This is the Torah’s vengeance against the person for having separated the transaction from the Torah laws contained within it and falling to the level of the business deal itself as if no Torah were present within it. By having to come before the court and tell the judges everything related to the matter, turning them into Torah, he comes to see that all business activity is Torah. Everything is relevant to the case, even the person’s thoughts – for if he omits a single word or thought, the Torah ruling will be defective. Everything must be put before the judges, who turn it into Torah.
Everything depends on the extent of the flaw. There are cases where the person’s only punishment is that he has to go to court but, although he wins his case, he is shown that he failed to attach his thoughts to the Torah in the proper way. However there are cases where a person uproots his business activities from the Torah to a far greater degree, and his punishment is greater because he does not win the case.
In truth, when engaged in business you should focus only your external mind on the transaction in itself, while your inner thoughts should be bound to the Torah contained within it. (Likutey Moharan I, 280)
“The Good Old Days”
People are always saying that things are not as good today as they were in the past.
They say that in the “good old days” everything was much less expensive than today, even though people did not have as much money as they have now. Even ordinary people, even those who live off charity, spend more today than wealthy people did in the past.
But the truth is the opposite of what people say. God now runs the world better than ever! (Sichot Haran #307)
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