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Date Posted: 21:55:30 11/07/12 Wed
Author: d
Subject: fb260


#632 Personal Wealth Is Spiritual

Wealth and success in any area of material endeavor are not virtues that become part of a person himself. There is no intrinsic value added to a wealthy person that a poor person lacks. People are basically the same regardless of how much or little they have. As the popular saying goes, "My wallet can be embarrassed from his wallet. But I myself will not be embarrassed from him."

Contrast this to spiritual matters, such as Torah study and doing good deeds, where the more we grow, the more we ourselves are elevated.

(Bais Halevi - Vayaishev; Gateway to Happiness, p.127)


See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"




23 Cheshvan

In 164 BCE, following the victory of the Maccabees, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was purified and rededicated. The stones of the Temple's altar which had been defiled by the Greeks were removed and placed in a storage chamber on the Temple Mount. In Talmudic times, this day was celebrated as a holiday.



23 Cheshvan

For this thing (observance of the mitzvos) is extremely close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it (Deuteronomy 30:14).

Given the 365 restrictions and prohibitions of the Torah and the demand for performance of 248 mitzvos, how can Moses say that it is not only easy to observe, but that it is extremely close to you; i.e. extremely easy to do?

The answer lies in one simple word that is repeated no less than fourteen times in this short (forty-verse) portion of the Torah: "Today." Moreover, the word appears superfluous; every verse could read just as well without it. The Torah must be telling us that if we concentrate on today's challenges and leave tomorrow's for tomorrow, then this challenge is extremely easy to accomplish.

I have seen this message in my own work. When people who have abused alcohol for decades come for treatment of their alcoholism, they can be extremely frightened by the prospect that they will never again be able to take a drink. Giving up alcohol for life appears to be virtually impossible. The method that works best in overcoming alcoholism is that advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous: since you can do nothing today about tomorrow's sobriety, don't worry today about how you will stay sober tomorrow. You will have ample opportunity to concern yourself tomorrow about tomorrow's challenge. Today, just take care of today.


Today I shall ...
... try to concentrate on those things that are within my capacity to do today, and avoid worrying about challenges that are not within today's range of action.

See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com

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