Does money change people?

Rabbi Landau answers that saying money changes people is “a lie, it's a lazy excuse.” Money doesn't change anyone; “it just amplifies who he was before. Money is the permission slip.”

When a person is poor or weak, he explains, society and necessity act as a harness, forcing him to suppress his true nature. “So a genuinely bad person is forced to act civil. A genuinely selfish person is forced to cooperate.” Money removes the harness and gives him allowance to show his true colors.

“If a man becomes cruel when he gets rich, it's not the money's fault. It means he was always cruel.” He just couldn't afford to show it. Money, he says, “is a mirror and amplifier.”

King Shlomo described a rich man's wealth as his fortress city, a towering wall in his own imagination. Wealth “doesn't build a man, it just amplifies him.” So “if you want to know what your character is, look how you behave when no one can stop you.”

Also answered in this teaching

Should I pray to stay poor so I stay a good person?

No. In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau writes: don't be afraid of wealth, and don't pray to stay poor so that you can stay a good person. Work on your inner self, so that when wealth comes it becomes a power for holiness.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

Money doesn't change people; it reveals and amplifies who they already were.

Fear, vulnerability, or tension

Need and society act as a harness. Good behavior under pressure may be the harness, not the person.

What may be behind it

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau asks whether bad traits are only being held down by circumstances or have truly been turned around. Only when the harness comes off does the truth come out.

Deepest human truth

How can I know my real character?

Look at how you behave when no one can stop you. In A Soul at Peace he puts it: the real test is not when you have no choice, but when you do.

More questions from this teaching

• How can I find out what my true character is?