Mazala Class #1 Karen Berg on spirituality and money

Thank you for joining with us! This lecture is interesting People sometimes feel that in order to be spiritual you have to be poor. Well, I am going to tell you, it is not true! How do we know that? Well, Yakov had many, many different herds of cattle, and places He was not poor. None of the Patriarchs were considered poor. And there were many you know, there is a saying, He said 'He should be as rich as Korach'. Korach was a Levite, if you remember something of the Bible, that he had fought with Moses and he was the one that inspired this revolution about Moses, but his name was Korach, and he was one of the sons of Levi, and he was very wealthy. There are many ways that people with great wealth can also have spiritual roots, of course. The problem we see in our world, as we live it today is that, when we notice people around us, unfortunately for the environment, most of people we see with great wealth also have great desire to receive, meaning, women, wine, song, and what you have. But, remember that some of the greatest places of learning, some of the greatest tools that have ever been given to the people came via the donation, and contribution of wealthy people. And the answer is you can very well combine wealth with spirituality. As a matter of fact, if one reaches the stages that level, that they understand that their money that they were given they were given as a provider. Like some people have provider of phone, provider of this, provider People that become extremely wealthy, is divined by the Diviner, the Creator, to allow them to be the one to provide this wealth. There is one of the stories that I remember that Michael used to tell of a a fellow that was next to a Rabi and this fellow was very, very wealthy. And every time that Rabi had a problem, he would go to the men, and he were given whatever he needed whether it was for a wedding, whether it was for a Bar Mitzvah, whether it was for path families in need, he would give them. Until one day, someone came to him, and asked him for an exorbitant amount of money. And the Rabi said to him, 'I believe that you need to give this money.' and he says 'But it is so much, I do not think really that I should.' and the Rabi said 'Look, when you and I were upstairs, I was to have the wealth, and you would to do my job, but I said I did not want that, I really wanted the ability to be with the people, to teach them, and to study with them, and so, I asked the Creator, let him have this money, and let me be his guide, so that he will do the provisions as I asked him for.' He says, 'Now, if you do not do it, I am going to go back up there and ask Him, if we can switch roles.' What I want to say is that, specially today, if one understands the role that money is a tool by which to bring more benefits to the world, and yes, there can be a balance with spirituality, there can be a balance in being wealthy, and also being spiritual. It is not easy because remember, when one reaches that level in the material world, it often changes your mind to something different. It is easier to be less wealthy, and more spiritual because you do not have the influence of the outside world with the tremendous pressure that you do when you are on that highesty. But the answer to the question is you can have both. As a matter of fact, I have hoped that all of you that are watching this, and listening will have both. And then, all of you will know what to do with it, right? Thank you!