28 Aug Material Wealth in the Modern Era
The opening section of Parshat Ki Tavo is
framed by the encounter with financial success.
Having cultivated a successful harvest,
a person presents his finest fruits to the Mikdash
amidst fanfare and festivity. The Mishnah
describes actual parades which spontaneously
assembled to accompany rural farmers
on their celebratory journey to Yerushalayim.
Exquisitely decorated baskets carrying succulent
Israeli fruit were hoisted upon happy
shoulders as a religious “carnival” erupted.
Another year and another successful harvest
promised a comfortable winter period with
the availability of well-stocked resources.
Yet a strange recital sits at the heart of this celebration
– the recital of the four verses known
as “Arami Oved Avi”. These four verses – recited
during the Pesach Hagaddah- succinctly
summarize the story of our Exodus. This brief
section delineates the descent to Egypt, followed
by the harsh enslavement, our prayers
for rescue and, ultimately, the verses describe
our miraculous Divine Redemption. Their
recital on Pesach- the actual night of our
Exodus- is appropriate. Their recital during
the ceremony of Bikkurim is more curious.
Amidst the euphoria and joy surrounding
financial success the ancient history of Egyptian
redemption is reviewed!!
Rabbi Soloveitchik described this historical
context as a strategy for avoiding the egotism
and self-absorption which often follows financial
success. Our commitment to a broader
historical agenda assures that our personal
triumphs serve some larger and more dignified
purpose. By invoking Jewish history and
the struggle of a Jew, personal comfort is lent
a more “idealistic” function. If we are granted
health and prosperity we can dedicate greater
energy to a historical and religious community
and its tasks. This week many Americans
mourned the death of former Senator
John McCain. Many have cited a quote of
his about living a life of idealism: “Nothing
in life is more liberating than to fight for a
cause larger than yourself, something that
encompasses you but is not defined by your
existence alone”. For a Jew, the most compelling
“cause” and the one which best liberates
us from our egocentrism is the history of a
people challenged to both represent God in
our world as well as broadcast His message
from the land of Israel. By returning to the
genesis of Jewish history and the first phase
of this multi-generational struggle, a Jew
casts financial wealth or affluence within this
‘larger cause’. Material comfort is transformed
from a potentially hedonistic and self-serving
condition to a state which enables the dedication
of resources toward that grander cause.
The insertion of the Exodus story within the
Bikkurim celebration unshackles us from our
own selfish interests and casts our monetary
success in the context of a larger historical
narrative. Divinely-enabled financial success
carries expectations. In adopting those duties
and expectations, wealth is merely an additional
“tool” or resource to advance Jewish
History and to amplify the Divine presence in
this world.
Our generation has been awarded unprecedented
financial comfort. Most of the past
2000 years of Jewish history has been characterized
by poverty and financial instability.
Constant expulsion and the accompanying
forfeiture of financial wealth repeatedly depleted
Jewish financial abilities. Remarkably,
in the aftermath Holocaust and the shocking
plundering of Jewish wealth, we have, by and
large, recovered our communal wealth. Understandably,
we have little to no “tradition”
of how to integrate this experience of affluence
within our overall religious experience.
We have no books or seforim which provide
guidelines for living with wholesale affluence.
The sustained condition of communal wealth
was unimaginable to previous generations
and to their thinkers. Some, today, are bashful
at the prospect of wealth, almost ashamed to
acknowledge affluence in light of the financial
struggles of previous generations. Others
completely divorce the experience of wealth
from religious consciousness and moral considerations.
This dangerous “disconnect’ often
can lead to a slippery slope and yield morally
inappropriate behavior. Wealth can certainly
fuel behavior which, if not in violation of actual
Jewish law, certainly contravenes both
our Jewish value system and general human
moral instincts.
Our wealth, in part has been delivered to
advance our stage of Jewish History- the resettling
of our land. It is hard to imagine a
more impressive international philanthropic
project than the rebuilding of our State. Over
the past 150 years how many funds and how
many resources have been directed to our
beloved State from Jews across the globe?
Rabbi Herzog, the original Chief Rabbi of
Israel, once overheard an anti-religious person
mocking the “kollel” culture of depending
upon the financial support of others. He
rebuffed that “the entire State of Israel is one
large Kollel” highlighting the financial dependency
of the fledgling state. For years the
entire country of Israel resembled one large
“Kollel” being supported heroically by the
combined funds and resources of an entire
people. B”h we have witnessed the development
of Israel as a financial superpower but
without question this evolution was fueled
by phenomenal Jewish philanthropy. Who
would have imagined that the post-Holocaust
generations would be capable of accomplishing
the ambitious project of constructing a
modern Jewish State?
Additionally, our wealth must be cast in
broader historical terms – even broader than
the construction and refurbishing of our
Modern State. As History surges to its conclusion
we anticipate and expect the general
improvement of the human condition. We
believe that religious
experience and human
welfare overlap,
and if we dream of
a world of universal
recognition of Divine
authority we expect that world to enjoy general
human welfare. Without question the
past 400 years have witnessed significant improvements
in almost every sector of human
experience: from politics to the economy and
from science to medical treatment. These
events – which have become more dramatic
over the last century- cannot be “regarded”
independent of a historical framework. The
advance of human experience should echo
the religious evolution toward a state of universal
recognition of one God.
If these “universal” improvements to humanity
at large augur the end of history, the
progress in the Jewish world should certainly
indicate that history is coursing toward its
inevitable conclusion. As the vanguard of humanity,
our national trajectory both reflects
and impacts the general unfurling of the human
spirit. The Jewish world has never enjoyed
the type of financial capabilities it currently
possesses. For the first time in centuries
Jews can afford to build robust institutions
and stout communities. Moshe Moshkowitz
– a member of the original Israeli pioneering
generation, and a living legend in Israel has
been instrumental in spearheading the revival
of Jewish population in Yehuda and Shomoron
(along with initiating dozens of other national
projects). He steered the establishment
of the city of Efrat and launched Yeshivat Har
Etzion (where I teach). Forty five years ago, as
the palatial Beit Midrash of our Yeshiva was
being constructed he was challenged: “Why
are you installing marble floors, vaulted ceilings
and a fish pond? Is this a movie theater or
a museum?” To which he replied in surprise:
“A museum deserves such majesty and a Beit
Midrash doesn’t”? For centuries, economic
constraints and socio-political discrimination
prevented us from building truly spectacular
palaces of study and worship. We have now
achieved these capabilities and we honor religion
by fashioning these “monuments”; their
construction reflects our newly-achieved
economical ability and, of course, our reconstructed
Jewish pride and freedom. Instead
of shying away from our financial success we
should interpret it as a historical warrant and
as an indicator that we are living through a
transitional period in history with newly formulated
opportunities and responsibilities.
Our wealth can either be turned ‘inward’ to
selfish and self-aggrandizing experiences or
can be employed to advance history and our
people. Our Parsha and the framing of material
success within Jewish History should
inspire us to accept our luxury, but view it
as a challenge and a demand rather than an
indulgence merely for personal gratification.