Is it wrong to want more money?

Rabbi Landau teaches that wanting more is not the same as greed. “You don't desire money,” he says. “You desire the version of you that can hold that money. The wealth isn't the goal. You are.”

“Greed is empty, desire is a direction,” he explains. When your soul wants more, you think you want the number in your bank account to grow. But what is really asking to grow is you: your discipline, your focus, your courage, your ambition. Money is just a mirror.

Hashem created a world of abundance, he teaches, but He gives blessing only to a vessel that can hold it. So “He plants desire, not to tease you, but to shape you.” When you follow that desire with faith and work, “you become someone heaven can trust with more.”

He brings the verse “Harchev picha va'amaleihu,” widen your mouth and I will fill it: you expand your desire, and Hashem expands the delivery. Financial desire is not a test, he says. It was given to direct you, and “as much desire you have, that's a part of your mission.”

Also answered in this teaching

What is the difference between greed and desire?

Rabbi Landau says greed is empty, while desire is a direction. In A Soul at Peace he describes greed as wanting the thing itself with no inner direction, and desire as a longing Hashem plants in the heart to shape a person, not to test him.

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

Surface claim

Wanting more money is really wanting to become the person who can hold it. The wealth isn't the goal; you are.

Fear, vulnerability, or tension

Many people worry that a desire for wealth is greed or a spiritual fall. Rabbi Landau answers that greed is empty, but desire is a direction.

Underlying need or longing

What is the soul really asking for when it wants more?

When the soul wants more, it is asking to grow: in discipline, focus, courage and ambition.

What may be behind it

Hashem gives blessing only to vessels that can hold it, so He plants desire to shape the vessel. In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau writes that this vessel is not handed down ready-made; it is built along the way, through work on one's character and trust in Hashem.

Deepest human truth

“Widen your mouth and I will fill it.” Desire is part of a person's mission: you expand the vessel, and Hashem fills it.

More questions from this teaching

• What does “widen your mouth and I will fill it” mean?