Money Is Meant to Move
As King Solomon wrote: “There is a painful evil that I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner, to his own harm.” Opening “Wealth kept by its owner, to his own harm.” Stop at this verse and wonder: does it make sense? Anyone in the world who deals with money will tell you that the whole point of wealth is to keep it. You guard it, you preserve it, and you save it up for a hard day. Keeping is a virtue. It is a success. It is plain common sense. So why should “kept” be the very thing that turns wealth into “harm”? Where is the harm? A Parable: Living Water and Still Water Let us look at this through a simple example that everyone knows. Flowing water from a river, a spring or a stream is “living water.” It is pure. It quenches thirst. It brings life to everything around it. Now take that very same water and stop it from flowing. Dam the river, pour the water into a pit, keep it in one place. What will happen? You will not have to wait long. Soon the water turns into a swamp. It rots and stinks. Once it was a source of life. Now it is a source of disease. The water did not change. The amount did not change. Only the flow stopped. The Lesson: A Coin Is Meant to Move Money works exactly the same way. There is a lovely hint in the name of an ancient coin. Its name comes from a Hebrew word that means “to move,” to travel from place to place. The name reveals what the coin is. Money is not meant to sit still. It is meant to move from hand to hand, from person to person, from one need to the next. When the coin moves, it gives life, it helps, it builds, it connects. When it stops and is “kept,” it becomes a swamp. So let a person who has gathered money ask himself honestly: are these coins really “his”? Not at all. He is only a treasurer. Blessing comes down from above and passes through him into the world. He is nothing more than a channel. A channel is not supposed to hold the water inside. Its job is to pass it on. A channel that blocks itself is no longer a channel. It has become a pit. The Harm in “Keeping” Now we can fully understand the verse. “Wealth kept by its owner” means wealth that is held back, locked up and blocked. It is kept “to his own harm.” The harm does not fall on other people or on the world. It falls on the owner himself. How? Money that does not move stops being a source of joy and becomes a source of worry. At first he guards the money. In the end the money guards him. It locks him up inside fears, stinginess and endless calculations. The channel gets clogged, and when a channel is clogged, the pressure builds up inside. The Talmud speaks of these coins, and the wisdom in their name teaches us something. The verse “wealth kept” is a warning to the people who think that “keeping” money means holding on to it. It does not. Keeping money means moving it and letting it flow. You give some of it to charity, help other people, and invest in holy things. That is exactly when it is truly kept. As King Solomon wrote: “There is one who scatters, and yet gains more.” This logic runs against ordinary logic. But it is the logic of truth.
Putting It into Practice
Listen, young married man, working man with a family: The fear of running short of money is a deep and real human fear. There is nothing to be ashamed of. But ask yourself one thing: are you holding the money, or is the money holding you? The practical step is simple. Take part of the blessing that passes through your hands and pass it on. Give it to charity, to people in need, or to a holy cause your heart is drawn to. Do not do it out of sheer willpower, and do not do it because logic tells you to. Do it out of faith that Hashem is the source, and that an open channel keeps on receiving. When water flows, it stays living water. When the coin moves, it stays true to its name.
Questions and answers
Q: What does King Solomon mean by “wealth kept by its owner, to his own harm”?
Rabbi Landau answers: As King Solomon wrote: “There is a painful evil that I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner, to his own harm.”
Q: If the whole point of wealth is to keep it, where is the harm in keeping it?
Rabbi Landau answers: “Wealth kept by its owner, to his own harm.” Stop at this verse and wonder: does it make sense? Anyone in the world who deals with money will tell you that the whole point of wealth is to keep it. You guard it, you preserve it, and you save it up for a hard day. Keeping is a virtue. It is a success. It is plain common sense. So why should “kept” be the very thing that turns wealth into “harm”? Where is the harm?
Q: What does the name of an ancient coin hint about the purpose of money?
Rabbi Landau answers: Money works exactly the same way. There is a lovely hint in the name of an ancient coin. Its name comes from a Hebrew word that means “to move,” to travel from place to place. The name reveals what the coin is. Money is not meant to sit still. It is meant to move from hand to hand, from person to person, from one need to the next. When the coin moves, it gives life, it helps, it builds, it connects. When it stops and is “kept,” it becomes a swamp. So let a person who has gathered money ask himself honestly: are these coins really “his”? Not at all. He is only a treasurer. Blessing comes down from above and passes through him into the world.
Q: Why does holding back wealth harm the owner himself?
Rabbi Landau answers: Now we can fully understand the verse. “Wealth kept by its owner” means wealth that is held back, locked up and blocked. It is kept “to his own harm.” The harm does not fall on other people or on the world. It falls on the owner himself. How? Money that does not move stops being a source of joy and becomes a source of worry. At first he guards the money. In the end the money guards him. It locks him up inside fears, stinginess and endless calculations. The channel gets clogged, and when a channel is clogged, the pressure builds up inside. The Talmud speaks of these coins, and the wisdom in their name teaches us something.
Q: How can you tell whether you are holding the money or the money is holding you?
Rabbi Landau answers: Listen, young married man, working man with a family: The fear of running short of money is a deep and real human fear. There is nothing to be ashamed of. But ask yourself one thing: are you holding the money, or is the money holding you? The practical step is simple. Take part of the blessing that passes through your hands and pass it on. Give it to charity, to people in need, or to a holy cause your heart is drawn to. Do not do it out of sheer willpower, and do not do it because logic tells you to. Do it out of faith that Hashem is the source, and that an open channel keeps on receiving. When water flows, it stays living water.