Why Do the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer? - Parsha Ki Savo - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

[Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening and welcome tonight's class is dedicated by David and EDA Schottenstein in honor of their newborn nephew Menachem Mendel Schottenstein iris yeoman roshanda meet Elvis our main you know they tell the story about this very wealthy aristocratic woman living in Beverly Hills who's leaving her 16 million dollar mansion and as she's coming out dressed very fancy a poor man a homeless beggar approaches her ma'am he says you know I haven't eaten in three days and she looks in him and she says wow I wish I had such willpower the difference between wealth and poverty is not just as we know a practical financial difference but also a very profound difference created from a psychological point of view between those who have and those who don't have or those who have less you're all familiar with the statement that famous proverb the rich get richer and the poor get poorer where did that come from well if you go into Wikipedia you'll see that it's attributed to some famous political speeches given in the 19th century the truth is however that the statement is found in the Talmud written more than 1500 years ago the Talmud gives us this insight and it's this insight we want to explore this evening from a legalistic practical but also psychological and then spiritual point of view a little background is necessary the weekly portion of cassava relates the mitzvot of Baku rim you can open up your curriculum to source number one the second verse of partially survey reads the Licata mauritius capri Haddam assertivv may arts aha ashram allocation Ison love assumptive Atena volatile emoji mushy if Hashem Allah Kerala shocking SH maíam meaning a Jew living in the holy land owning an orchard a field the farm was obligated that when the first fruits became ripe he took a basket he filled the basket with the choicest new fruits which fruits the fruits known as the shiva Sam in him the seven species with which Eretz Israel was praised in the Torah and a curved wheat barley grapes figs pomegranates olives and finally dates he fills the basket with these new fruits brings it to Jerusalem and presents it as a gift to the calling to the priest in the base hamikdash in the sanctuary this was done each year with much joy and festivity an expression of gratitude of the Jew to Almighty God for giving us the land and for giving us our wealth our a flow and our sustenance the Torah clearly specifies two words Vasanta patina placed the fruits in a basket indeed this is essential to the laws of bickering of bringing these fruits to the temple open up source number two in your curriculum the Rambam says in houthis bakr and parody maharaja zion happy quorum to onion Kaylee the Baku rim the right fruits which you bring to the temple require a vessel a baskets and Emma have a Santa but tender place it in the basket even if you want to just bring it in your hand no place it in a basket now we come to source number three Zog Begum Auriemma sector Baba kama da da de cabeza medallas o Marlena Valera Babar Maury Rove is said to his colleague Rob of the son of Marie mean no harm ill Saddam lien she buzzer and EOS Lonnie you sir what is the source for this common saying by people that basarat' Nia as Lana used Sephardi follows the poor what is the source for it if it's a common saying in the world there must be a source for it or other wants to know what is the source that the poor get poorer poverty pursues the poor male rob of the son of Mary responded to her over the tenon it's a clear mission er there's a mission in tractate Bakr Impaler gimel mission US has three aides of the mission I shared in Vivian be Korean be closer shells official kesef rich people bring their ripe fruits in baskets of silver of gold or of silver Vania Miss Sally nits are inshallah avec loofah poor people on the other hand they bring their fruits in baskets made out of willows are over these are willow baskets made of the twigs of peeled willows house island vibe be cool him nice name Lachlan and in that case the Mishna says the poor people give the priests the baskets and the bickering versus the wealthy people who only give the fruits but take back the basket what is the meaning of this the poor people the Mishna says who bring their beaker him their fruits in willow baskets they end up giving the Kohanim not only the fruits but also the baskets the rich people who bring the fruits and baskets of gold and silver they deliver the fruits to the Kohen and then they take back the baskets for themselves this then is the source and the Mishnah for the common saying the rich get richer the poor get poorer poverty pursues the poor in the words of the Gomorrah the rich person who's rich he ends up going home with better baskets and the poor person ends up giving the Cohen not only fruits Brussels basket why what is the reason for this Rashi says they're instructed by become a 92 Zack Rashi that the rich people don't want to give their baskets will you have an expensive basket of gold extremely rich extremely expensive or silver you know wanna give the best they only want to give the fruits the mid-semester give the fruit they don't want they want to hold on to the basket so they take it home the poor person on the other hand doesn't mind to give the basket it's a it's a willow best that's grad she says the taste of aslam atif says tastes fishy Optive relative Lippmann Heller and his commentary to Mishnah is bicker invaded young mistress gives another reason he says since the fruits of the poor people commonly was a very all gift there was a meager gift because their power of they're poor so therefore we obligate them to give not only the fruits but also the basket to give a complete gift to the Kohen the wealthy people whose independent gift of fruits is extravagant need not give the basket because the fruits themselves constitute a significant gift to the calling but the poor people whose gift of fruits is small and not very significant so we say give the basket as well the sages said give the basket as well and this would then constitute a valuable gift to the Kohen the fruits together with the basket and then there is a third explanation yet a deeper explanation which as it seems this is the perspective of the Rambam anil has become although he doesn't clearly state this explanation but it seems that this is how he understands this ilaha and this has to do with the concept known as Bittle nullification when object b is serving object a and its entire purpose in this constant context is only to serve object a how logically legally from a legal point of view we look at object a as an extension as that we look at object B as an extension and a continuum of object a since its sole purpose an exclusive function is to serve object a and we have this in various hollowface and various laws concerning for example health is Shabbos if somebody carries out to the street food contained with contained in a vessel but the food is part is my cashier which means the food is smaller than the amount which makes you liable and guilty of desecrating the Shabbos so you're exempt even for the vessel monisha a ceilidh face the Mishna says in Shaba summits near because the Kayle the vessel is subservient to the food in this case then we see the vessel as completely subservient to the fruit since the sole function and purpose of the container the que leave at the end the basket is to serve object a the fruits it surrenders its own identity so to speak and is considered as an extension of the fruits it doesn't have an identity outside of the fruit just like when you give the priests of fruits you also give the priests the shells of the fruits you don't peel the husk because the shell is part of the fruit although he may not eat the shell he's going to eat the fruit but you give him the shell as well because it's part of it similarly from a legal point of view the basket is considered nullified to the fruit itself to the fruits themselves and therefore the baskets become part of the bhikkhu room they become part and parcel of the fruit since their whole purpose is to serve the fruits to carry the fruits to the base of making this however you can only say when the baskets are made of cheap quality but if the baskets are made of silver and gold the investment in the baskets and the material they're made of and they're expensive quality doesn't allow them to become nullified to the fruits inside they're totally at a different level simply from a monetary point of view they are significantly far more expensive than the fruits how much does a grape cost how much does a pomegranate cost how much does a fig cost it does not cost as much as gold and silver nevermind a whole elaborate beautiful basket of gold and silver you can't even compare it so the vessel retains an autonomous identity the baskin retains an independent identity completely and does not get nullified to the fruit where the basket is very cheap so in value it's like the fruit here it becomes nullified to the fruit and it's just part of the gift and thus the baskets of the poor people go to the Kohen the baskets of the rich people go back to the owner at first glance from an external point of view this just seems to reinforce as the Talmud says poverty pursues the poor and we can add wealth pursues the rich perhaps in these times of recession so a bit different but generally speaking the rich become richer the poor become poorer but let us now study this very same law from a spiritual point of view we have discussed numerous times the famous foundational axiom articulated in Zohar and a fundamental idea in cabbalistic and Hasidic literature namely every law every Mitzvah every episode every aspect in Torah contains both a body and a soul the body captures its concrete physical component the soul represents its spiritual or metaphysical transcendental counterpart you can never appreciate Torah fully when you don't appreciate both dimensions the soul of it as well as the body of it this law is no different the fruits the baskets the difference between the rich and the poor have their legal concrete physical dimension articulated a few moments ago but they also capture a spiritual and psychological truth which we want to explore this evening and which can also confer tremendous healing and comfort on those of us who are poverty-stricken and I don't mean only financially but also when it comes to the world of the Spirit and the world of emotions and the world of inner growth let us begin exploring this dimension Jewish mysticism explains that bickerin the first delicious choicest ripe fruits brought to Jerusalem to the Holy Temple and given as a gift to the priests actually is metaphoric it represents it's symbolic of the human soul of the Jewish soul we each have a body we have a physical dimension our concrete physical life and everything contained in the body but we also have a soul and going into your field and choosing the most beautiful delicious fruits in the Holy Land from the seven species with which the Holy Land was praised represents zooming in to the choicest most delicious most sacred part of the human identity than a sum of the soul bringing it to the base--emitter Sh presenting it to the Cohen representing God in the Holy Temple in other words it's the spiritual work of building a relationship between our soul and God this is the reason by the way for a fascinating Meldrick source number four quotes the meddra schtum Homa and parshas kiss of a right in the beginning of this week's partial suffer Moshe Shapiro's Hakodesh Rajab a Semitic sausage lahardee baba Karima sid only passing almighty his kingly associa miss fowl and slash apartment bahadur masha robbed a new moses saw that one day the temple will be destroyed and therefore the bickering will cease because the mitzvah of bringing the new fruits only exists in the holy land when there's a temple when there's a base--emitter dish so in lieu of the beaker emotion remain who stood up any instituted for the Jewish people to pray three times a day what is the connection between bickerman prayer according to the above the connection is very clear prayer is not just about asking God for things we need of course that's also prayer prayer is also about expressing gratitude to God for the life he gave us and deeper on a deeper level prayer is about establishing your own personal relationship with God it's about realigning your self with your soul and your soul with its own essence with its own core with Asha be Kareem then and prayer shear this property because Bikram represents identifying your soul and bringing it close to God to its essence to its source and that's what prayer is a daily battle for transcendence the daily struggle to realign ourselves with our soul to get in touch with our soul and to allow our soul to become one with its source with its Father in heaven now comes the Torah and says you can't just bring the bickering you can't just take the fruits and bring them to the temple the fruits need a Kaylee I'd be quorum to Annan Kaylee as the Rambam puts it the fruits need a container a basket for Santa Bettina which means to bring our soul closer to God the soul is placed in a vessel in a container it has a body every spiritual experience must have a basket a container and the container always comes together with that which is contained within the container in this world there's no such a thing as an exclusive spiritual experience totally free from the body an exclusive soul experience without the body there is always a container for the fruits it's a package deal it comes together sometimes it's frustrating sometimes it's very annoying there have been attempted throughout history of people who try to liberate themselves from any physical experience to just fly high and become intoxicated on the spirit including an homage not even our view is the most famous example the two children of iron but the truth is the Torah comes and says with some tiburtina you must create synchronization between the energy and the vessel between the light and the container between the passion and the structure the big Korea must be placed in a vessel so the human soul journeys to God in a vessel in a container through a basket and here is the great difference between the wealthy individual and the poor individual and we talk about wealth and poverty not so much in economical or financial terms but in terms of the spirits the rich person brings a basket made of silver made of gold the basket is beautiful the basket is royal the basket is rich and the basket is used as the medium the instrument through which the soul through which the fruits are delivered to the temple but the basket itself does not become part of the gift it has not become part of the bickerin it goes back to the rich person it remains his own and then there is the poor individual the poverty-stricken individual whose basket is made of pilled peeled twigs peeled willow twigs it's a little basket and i rove a basket this represents a basket a container which is impoverished and yet paradoxically it's this basket it's this container which joins the soul joins the fruits in the gift to the high priest in the temple why there is a beautiful story or metaphor presented by the baal shem tov on a verse into hilum source number five quotes the first verse of tehilim Cuvier's chapter 102 fil Allah initiative the leaf may Hashem you specify this is the prayer of the poor man when he reaches out when he beseeches God before he got before God the issues forth he pours out his words and the baal shem tov asks the question is this only the prayer of a poor man a rich individual also speaks to God when he prays or she prays we also issue forth our words to God and the baal shem tov answered this with a story there was once a king who notified all of his subjects the today is a special day and anybody can come and name their wish and he will fulfill their wish whatever it is you want this is your day people came and asked the king for whatever they wanted their dreams their requests their needs one person asked the king to be elevated in status from the janitor of the company he wanted to become the CEO over the company and one person wanted to become a minister and one would erisa wanted to have more power and a soldier wanted to become a general and each person asked for what they wanted and dreamt of one person wanted economic help he needs help in paying the mortgage every month and one person asked the king to help him take revenge of his enemies and one person asked the king to help him fix his house and marry off his children and paid tuition for his family and then the baal shem tov says there was one individual who was very very poor he was so poor he was beyond and he came to the king as well and when the king asked him what is your request he says i have but one request i want to ask the king to grant me permission to come to you each day and speak to you this says the Baal Shem Tov is the meaning of the verse in Tooele Tefila lani fiat if the prayer of the poor man is active it wraps around all the other prayers and encompasses all the other prayers you know why because he doesn't ask for something individual lift may Hashem you specify the meaning is what he asks ashram is that I want to speak to God you see everyone learns the pause' caliph nasheim you see so he prays and speaks to God the Baal Shem Tov says no that is the prayer what is he asking for he's asking for lift may Hashem you specifically I want the opportunity to be able to talk to God that's the gift I'm asking for I want you to allow me to speak to you to communicate to you every day and the King gives him that permission says the boss summit of this prayer is yatta if it already encompasses all the prayers because if you have that per tunity to speak to God every day so all the other things will already come you can ask for them as well let us understand what is behind this metaphor of the Baal Shem Tov logically I would think it should be the other way around the rich person who basically has most of his needs filmed should come to the king and say Your Majesty I want a relationship with you I want to speak to you every day I want to be able to meet you every day I want to have coffee with you on a daily basis the poor individual who was deprived of so many basic necessities was truly poor he should come to the king and say I need clothes and I need money and I need food then I need a home and I need a livelihood and I need a job he should be the one asking for sustenance and furthermore if we assume that he is referring here also to the rich person and poor person and spirit as the Gomorra says ain't any Alaba das poverty is in the mall and wealth is in the mind it's a state of consciousness there are people who are very wealthy physically but they're poor people they're impoverished people they're self-conscious they're egotistical or arrogant they're false they're dishonest kind of a relationship but they're miserable they're bitter they're jealous and then there are people who are unfortunately poor they're rich money's helpful money is important because it allows a person to live normally and not be stressed out from basic necessities but the Talmud understood very well that wealth and poverty have a lot to do with the state of mind with a state of heart if so the question becomes even stronger the person who's rich in spirit he should ask the King for a relationship with the king and yet the baal shem tov says feel AMA uneasy at if it's only the only only the poor man who live near Shemesh Pacifica and the answer to this we have to understand and internalize what the Baal Shem Tov is explaining is this a wealthy person spiritually is somebody who looks at himself or herself and sees a spiritually evolved identity he spiritually evolved presence and therefore this is a person who searches and yearns for yet deeper perfection more Shlomo's more enhancement self enhancement spiritual self enhancement the greatness of this person rich in spirit is also his or her floor because what he or she is looking for ultimately as self-actualization on a spiritual level I want to be able to maximize my potentials and I have what to search for I feel a sense of spiritual greatness I feel a sense of psychological expansiveness I feel a sense of emotional broadness and I want to enhance it I wanted to grow I want to achieve more I want to accomplish more I want to feel more I want to understand more the Omni the poor person the baal shem tov is addressing is the person who feels that he has nothing he feels that he's nothing he doesn't feel any sense of spiritual inspiration of emotional aristocracy of psychological expansiveness he feels that he has nothing so why is he coming to the king what is he asking for he's not asking because of himself he doesn't even feel worthy of asking for that he's asking because the king wants him to ask but because the king wants people to ask so therefore what does he ask for he doesn't ask for anything that's connected to himself he asks that I should be with the king I should have a relationship with the king this is a world of difference the vessel of the rich person his glitter is is beautiful it's impressive it's rich in spiritual terms his service of God comes with a very rich context his art is presented with a beautiful frame his fruits is neshama comes in a basket of gold and silver he feels elevation she feels inspiration they feel empowered these are spiritually sensitive people who are very high up there from an emotional point of view and therefore because of that he serves God with his soul but ultimately there is a context of self here a beautiful self glittering self impressive self myself a spiritual ego a spiritual sense of identity of fulfillment and then there's a person who feels that I have nothing so why am i serving God because God wants me to serve it's not about me his service of God doesn't have a context it doesn't have a sense of self fulfillment and self-expression and self actualization and self identity the king wants me to be close to him so what do I ask for I ask for I want to be with you not because I want to be with you if it would be about I want to be with you that rich people should ask they all felt their own void they were all searching for their own enhancement for their own self actualization so everybody asked for what they wanted one person asked for success financially another person asked for success in in the arts or in other areas of life but the poor person wasn't thinking about a success he wasn't even thinking about himself because this is a person who is completely nullified the king wants me to peace be speak to him so I come to the king and I said I want to be with you he's the only one who asked something not for himself but he wants to be with the king it's a natural it's a natural request coming from this person take an example for this in the realm of relationships sometimes you'll be in a relationship with somebody whether it's a good friend or a spouse and you feel the closeness and you feel in your identity an appreciation for this other person and when you want to give a gift to this person or when you want to do a favor to this person or this person asks you for something yourself is deeply involved because you feel fulfilled as a result of doing them this favor so when your wife asks you to go do her some do something for her when you're in a relationship will you really appreciate her well you really appreciate the other person so now you're doing it for her but as much as you're doing it for you also doing it for yourself because you're excited about it you're gaining so much from it so your identity is fully involved and because it's fully involved in a paradoxical way you remain in many ways separate from her because it's about you but now take another example somebody asks you to do something and you're really not in the mood of it you're totally not there you're totally uninterested this is not is this no self that's involved in this act so why do you do it you do it for the other person not because I want I'm not interested but because you asked me to do it and I know and I understand this is the right thing for me to do I have a desire at least to have a desire to do something for you I'm not excited about it I'm not emotionally stimulated I don't under pre she ate what you want I don't even have an idea of exactly the meaning of it of the symbolism of it so why am i doing it I'm not doing it because of me I'm doing it because of you because I might have a commitment to you in a paradoxical way when I commit that act for you I am much more connected with you than in the first instance cause in the first instance it was about my identity feeling the pleasure and the gratification so yes I'm doing something for you but I'm doing something for myself so I remain very much my own person but in the second case I really transcended myself I wasn't interested in doing it for you there was no self there so why did I do what I did it because you asked me so there's no I so when I do it that I has become one with you sometimes people say to me you know I'm in a marriage and my wife asks me to do things or my husband asked me to do something and I'm really not in the mood of it and I'm frustrated what should I do and the answer is great that's great somebody once came to that some other can he said Reba what should i do I don't have a Haitian to learn I don't have a desire to study Torah what am I supposed to do and it's a Masonic said Russell it's done as a hobby a Haitian what should I do that I do have a desire I should be the mono menteng you're not in the mood great so now you actually have an opportunity to transcend the eye and connect with the other what should I do that I do have a desire this is the story of Bakura the rich person comes with a basket that's glamorous it's beautiful go so whatever they represent this gold is aw silver is love cow ballistically speaking brings the fruits his soul becomes one with God has given to the cone and the bay some English comes the Talmud come to the missionary bickerman says yes but the basket goes back to him the basket ultimately remains his it could never retain the status of the coulomb it could never become part of that special gift that's given to the coin and placed in the temple and the domain of the divine it remains his it carries the soul that's inspired by the soul as part of the soul it's dazzling it's glamorous but it says paradoxically the poor purse comes with what type of s an impoverished of us she Basque made of will made of willows of our of its no glamour to it there's no dazzling beauty to it there's no glittering shine and luminescence to it why because he looks at his body he looks at herself I don't feel inspired I'm not part of this journey I'm getting up to pray we said the career was like prayer some people pray like rich people the basket is silver gold are inspired they're enthusiastic they're passionate the poor purse is for richly I'm not part of this journey my basket is very cheap my body is not uplifted it's not elevated that's the case then paradoxically your basket also becomes bokura because when you do become a basket for the soul when you do commit to the king it actually transcends its own identity it's not about itself and therefore in a funny way you're very lowly body and your lowly state of mind and your lowly consciousness becomes one with God in a deeper way then the basket of the wealthy person have a good night [Music] you