Parshas Truman 5783
I’m sure that the following assessment is so overly simplistic that it will make any capable accountant shudder, but here goes. If you’re young, put money into a Roth IRA, not a traditional IRA. Why? Because though you pay taxes on money contributed to a Roth IRA when it goes in, you don’t pay taxes when it’s pulled out. If you expect to be in a higher tax-bracket later on in life, you’re better off paying taxes now than later. Why do you expect to be in that position? Because when it comes to business and finances, we all intend to grow.
דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִי
שמות כה:ב
Tell the Children of Israel to take funds for Me; from every person whose heart moves him shall funds be taken for Me.
Shemos 25:2
Many commentators are struck by the usage of the word “ויקחו—they shall take” in the above pasuk. As the national fundraising effort begins in order to construct a Mishkan, wouldn’t it be more accurate to command the people to engage in giving rather than taking?
Rav Dovid of Kotzk offers a fascinating interpretation. He suggests that the term ויקחו is used to connote the enterprise of מקח וממכר, literally, buying and selling, but a term used broadly refer to business transactions in general. Our relationship with Hashem should be treated like a business.
Perhaps that sounds like a cheapening of mitzvos. It’s not. There is a certain serious mindedness we develop when it comes to our finances because of the innate drive for all that money can provide, be it material comfort, luxuries, or simply survival. And while we undoubtedly give great consideration to our spiritual pursuits, we can easily let ourselves off the hook. There are not, after all, the same metrics that stare us in the face when it comes to assessing our spiritual position as our financial one.
How do we begin to treat spiritual business like our material business. The first goal should simply be to have goals. The expectation that our finances will be better later on in life than they are now, that we’ll have grown and developed as earners, is axiomatic. Do we maintain the same assumption in the spiritual realm? If so, what are we doing to get there?
I want my business to grow and expand. I have plans for how to increase clientele and bring on additional employees. My business and finances of the future will dwarf their current standing, and I have a strategic plan to get there. But what about my knowledge of Torah? Or my Shemoneh Esrei? Do I envision growth and expansion in these areas as well? Or am I content to discharge the daily obligation but fundamentally be in the same place in decades from now as I am today?
I pay attention to my investments and consider ways to wisely expand my portfolio. What about my middos? Will I be only as good a listener, only as patient a spouse, only as humble and kind when I retire as I am right now? Or do I consider the development of character no less important a business than a material one? If I have goals set and strategy implemented to grow the one, what about the other?
Consider the מקח וממכר—the business management of owning a home. It’s your most valuable asset and you treat as such. There’s thought and consideration given to improvements and upgrades, with an eye towards whether or not the resell value will increase. Do we give the same attention to our spiritual assets? Do we concern ourselves with how to upgrade our mitzvos? Are we bent on ensuring that the way we put on tefillin, light Shabbos candles, or sit in a Sukkah will be fully upgraded in years from now, or are we content with letting our mitzvos simply sit and gather dust? How can we ensure that the way I do a mitzvah in years from now will be fully upgraded from the way I do it today?
When Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Herman (of the “All For The Boss Fame”) would reflect on the number of guests he had the fortune of bringing into his home and seat around his table, he would famously remark, “Business is booming!” There is a certain degree of seriousness, care, and attention that is lent to a business endeavor, whereas religious duty can otherwise slide into a state of perfunctory observance. When it comes to business, we set our sights on growth and move tenaciously towards that goal. Business of the spiritual realm deserves no less.