Judaism has never looked askance at acquiring wealth. Without livelihood there can be no Torah, our Sages declare, recognizing the absolute necessity of material comforts as a prerequisite for spiritual growth. Jewish law insisted that both our political and spiritual leaders (the King and kohen gadol) be wealthy as impoverished leadership is undignified leadership and for better or worse people tend to have much greater respect for those who possess wealth. We daven three times a day for material blessings and the Torah abounds with promises of material prosperity if we follow the Torah laws.
We all know that money more than anything else has the potential to and so often does, create friction and discord. We have recently observed the most tragic holiday of Tisha b’Av. We continue to mourn and fast seemingly oblivious to the fact that we have – despite the many difficulties- a thriving Jewish state, strong, proud and one affording every religious opportunity. However our Rabbis understood that sinnat china’am – benign indifference to the plight of other Jews - was the root cause of our exile, a feature that is all too common to Jewish life today. Interestingly the Palestinian Talmud adds a nuance to this famous teaching, namely that “they loved money and hated one another in causeless hatred”. The cause of friction between people was, and is, caused by love of money. Money is crucial and a wonderful blessing but only as a means to an end, to enable us to focus on the more spiritual side of life and the creation of a just society based on Torah values.
We are bidden to love our neighbours, converts, our spouse and above all G-d. When one loves an object such as money, it, by definition must take the place of love of people. The Babylonian Talmud in a parallel statement posits that Jerusalem was destroyed because people insisted on strict justice – too many disputes ended up in court- and were not willing to act beyond the letter of the law. This despite the fact that our monetary policy was developed strictly within the framework of Torah law. Society can not endure unless people are willing to relent on money that may be due them. While money may be the root of all evil its proper use is the harbinger of redemption.
