The Price of Freedom

King Solomon wrote: “One man acts rich and has nothing; another acts poor and has great wealth.” Opening People like to say, “Time is money.” But many centuries ago the prophet Isaiah asked a sharper question: “Why do you spend money on what is not bread?” In other words, why do you weigh, calculate and pay, and still come home empty-handed? The question is not about the money. The question is about what you are paying with. Two Minds, Two Prices Every young married man who has studied the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, knows that we each have two souls inside us. The first is the animal soul. It asks, “How much does it cost?” It sees the price tag, the amount, the bottom line on the page. That is its whole world. The divine soul asks a completely different question: “How much will this take from me?” How much of my vitality? How much of my calm, clear mind? How much of my free attention to serve Hashem? That is the real price of anything. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, wrote in one of his letters that worry and anxiety are themselves a blow to our trust in Hashem. When a person is sunk in fear about money, he has already paid a heavy price before he spends a single penny. The biggest “expense” does not come out of the wallet. It comes out of the soul. What Is Truly “Expensive”? Listen, my young married friend. Some people buy something “cheap” and pay for it with their lives. An old car that breaks down again and again. A deal that looked like a saving and turned into endless hassle. A small compromise that eats up years of frayed nerves. On the money line, all of these look like “savings.” On the soul line, they are a huge expense. The opposite is also true. An investment that looks “expensive” in money, but buys a person quiet, free attention and a calm, clear mind, is the greatest bargain in the world. King Solomon said: “Better a little with awe of Hashem than a great treasure with turmoil in it.” “Turmoil” means worry, confusion and restlessness. These are what define true poverty. Serving Hashem with Money: The Choice Behind Every Purchase The great principle of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, is that every detail of a Jew’s world is a place to serve Hashem, and that includes his cash box. There is no corner of the “money room” that is left out of the verse “In all your ways, know Him.” Likkutei Torah, a classic book of Hasidic discourses, explains the verse “Hashem’s portion is His people.” This portion of Hashem lives inside every Jewish soul. It has to shine in the world of action too, even inside a person’s material “portion.” So every financial decision can be a complete act of serving Hashem, if we only pay attention. Before any purchase, any investment or any money compromise, the question to ask is not “How much does it cost?” The question is this: Does this widen my soul’s freedom to serve Hashem, or does it shrink it? That is the real question. Everything else is only outside arithmetic. In Closing Our Sages said: “Who is rich? The one who is happy with his portion.” But Hasidic teaching is not satisfied with a passive kind of happiness. Being “happy with your portion” does not only mean accepting what you have and making peace with it. It means knowing how to use your material portion to buy your spiritual portion. The truly rich person is the one whose material portion serves his spiritual portion. The money in his hands buys him freedom of soul, free attention and a calm, clear mind. It buys him the ability to hold fast to the bond the verse describes: “Hashem’s portion is His people.” True poverty is not a lack of money. True poverty is when the money, or whatever is left of it, robs you of your soul as well.