Mazala Class #1 : Karen Berg on spirituality and money

Thank you for joining us This lecture is interesting people sometimes feel that in order to be spiritual, you have to be poor. Well, I'm here to tell you it's not true. How do we know that? Well, Jacob had many many different herds of cattle and places, he wasn't poor. None of the patriarchs were considered poor and you know there's a saying, it says he should be "reach as Korach". Korach was a Levi, if you remember, something from 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 in today, is that when we notice people around us unfortunately for the environment most of the people we see with great wealth also have a great desire to recieve meaning: women, wine, songs and what you have. But remember that some of the greatest places of learning, some of the greatest tools, that had ever been given to the people came via the donation and the 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 stage that level that they understand that the money they were given they were given as a provider. Like some people have a phone provider, or this provider people that become extremely wealthy are given by the creator to allow them to be the one to provide this wealth. One of the stories that I remember that Michael used to tell of a fellow that was next to a Rabbi and this fellow was very very wealthy and every time the Rabbi had a problem he would go to the man and he would give him whatever he needed - whether it was for a wedding, whether it was for a Bar Mitzva whether it was for families in need, and he would give them. Until one day, someone came to him and asked him for an exuberant amount of money and the Rabbi said to him: 'I believe that you need to give this money' And he says 'but it's so much, I don't think really that I should'. And the Rabbi said 'Look, when you and I were upstairs I was to have the wealth, and you were to do my job, but I said I didn't 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 don't do it, I'm going to go back up there, and ask him if we can switch roles'. What I want to say is that especially today, if one understands the role that money is a tool by which to bring more benefits to the world, then yes - there can be a balance in spirituality. There can be a balance in being wealthy and also being spiritual. It's not easy, because remember, when one reaches that level in a material world it often changes your mind to something different. It's easier to be less wealthy, and more spiritual because you don't have the influence of the outside world with the tremendous pressure that you do when you're on that high esteem. But the answer to the question is you can have both. As a matter of fact, I hope that all of you who are watching this and listening will have both. And then all of you will know what to do with it. Right? Thank you!