Miller's Musings Parshas Vayishlach: It's Not Much...But It's Mine

בס''ד

The picture we often have of a Tzaddik is of one who has shunned the necessity of much of our material needs and pursued a life free of the trivialities and inconsequentialities of possessions.  Yet when Yaakov fought the angel, we are told that the reason he was alone at that moment was because he had retraced his steps to retrieve some small jugs that he had left behind.  This is brought as a proof to the adage of Chazal that to righteous individuals “their money is more precious to them than their own bodies”.  This is surprising indeed, for surely no one would truly be willing to sacrifice their bodies for their property, least of all one so devoted to matters of the spirit, rather than that of the body.

A correct perspective of our financial situation requires one to first understand that the allocation of resources in this world is precisely arranged according to exactly what everyone needs for their personal and totally unique role in realising G-d’s plan for existence.  Every item that we own is therefore individually specified to be given to us by Hashem and is a gift from Him to us, and only us.  Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita explains that the concept of what we own being more cherished than our body, does not mean that we would give up our lives for them, but that we would give up all our efforts and endure strife and even suffering to our bodies, in order to protect these precious blessings bestowed upon us by Hashem. 

It is a cruel irony that so many of the negative character traits that we possess, not only bring us no ultimate long-term pleasure, but are often destructive forces against the very happiness we convince ourselves they will bring.  The vice of jealousy is one such example.  So much of our life is spent thinking about how much we want what the other person has, when if we were to reflect upon the nature of our existence, we would see clearly that there is absolutely no gain in desiring that which is entirely useless for our personalised task in this world.  The folly of the manner in which we covet another’s belongings is laid bare by the Mesillas Yesharim which decries jealousy as bringing no benefit to the one who is jealous, no loss to the one he is envious of and only harm to oneself.  To live a life always looking at what everyone else has and longing to fill the perceived gaps in our own reality, is to live a life never happy, always unsatisfied and pursuing an existence that was never meant to be ours.   

*May this Shabbos bring the acceptance of our perfect individual reality*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

לרפואה שלימה לשרה יעל בת ברכה אסתר