Mazala Class #1 : Karen Berg on spirituality and money
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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!