Is It a Greater Nisayon to Be Wealthy or to Be Poor?

As we contemplate million- – and even billion- – dollar lottery games, endless ads luring sports enthusiasts to monetize their passion by gambling on games (and win big!), the meltdown of the bitcoin frenzy and the potential bursting of yet another real estate bubble, it seems fair to ask, are we better off wealthy or poor? Is our relentless pursuit of monetary gain benefiting us or hurting us?

The “obvious” answer, or certainly the answer that springs most readily to our lips is, “Of course wealth trumps poverty!” After all, who wants to be poor? Who wants to “suffer” the deprivations, the hardships, the indignity of poverty? While riches and material comfort might seem the clear choice, it is worth exploring what our desire and our pursuit of wealth demands of us.

Soon after crossing the Red Sea, as the Jews began their long trek in the desert, they feared where their next day’s nourishment would come from. The uncertainty filled them with anxiety. They cried out to Moshe and Aaron, exclaiming that they would have rather died in Egypt where they could at least “sit by pots of meat and eat our fill of bread” than wander in the wilderness, afraid and uncertain. They berated Moshe and Aaron for bringing them out to the desert “to kill the entire community by starvation.”

They had only just left the bonds of their slavery and already they bristled and chafed against the “burdens” of their freedom, seeing poverty in it. As He had when they were in Egypt, God heard their cries and answered them, showering them with water, quail and manna, covered with dew, while simultaneously declaring, “Yes, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and collect a certain portion every day, l’maan anasenu – so that I may test them, whether or not they will keep My law.”

Wow! What an amazing gift! No more struggling to make ends meet! Free sustenance and free delivery – without the burden of slavery. Amazon on steroids! Could anything be more perfect? It is more than fair to ask, what kind of nisayon is that? Certainly, there is more to it than that! What does God mean when He says, “So I may test them?”

For God to provide the manna was a chesed not a nisayon, exclaims the Abarbanel. After all, to most it would seem that the deprivation caused by the desert travails was the test; and the manna was the Divine solution, not the other way around. Wealth is the answer, not the problem!

For some, that seems obvious but perhaps it is not so clear that wealth is not a test in and of itself. The Chatam Sofer once spent time as a guest in the home of a member of the Rothschild family. His host was not only a wealthy man, but also a very pious Jew. As the great scholar was about to leave, his host took him aside and asked, “Please tell me if you find any aspect of my household which is not run according to the Torah. If so, I will immediately rectify the situation.”

The Chatam Sofer pondered for a moment and then observed, “Everything that I see within your household is contrary to Torah thought.”

The pious philanthropist was aghast at the response, physically staggered by what he’d been told. But moments later the Chatam Sofer smiled and explained, “The Torah grimly foretells, vayishman yeshurun vayivat – when the Jewish people accrue wealth, they will rebel. Your home, however, is clearly an exception to this prediction. You have passed the test of plenty. May God grant that all who are prosperous follow your noble example.”

From this, we can see that having much presents at least as great a challenge as having little but what about having exactly the right amount? When Reb Mendel of Kotzk was only seven or eight years old, he was reported to have asked his teacher in cheder, “When the Israelites were in the desert, and they each received the exact measure of manna necessary to sustain each member of the household, no more or less, how were they able to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah ?” The teacher is reported to have been stunned speechless. What an unbelievable test – having everything I need, yet not being able to share. Sharing, after all, is what makes one fully human. What a nisayon – what a test!

To have just enough is one kind of test. To have none is another. To have plenty… yet another.

There are mefarshim who view the test of manna as the test of wealth. The possession of plenty affords one the means to develop spiritually, intellectually and religiously. When burdens and anxieties of providing daily bread are removed, the test then becomes what to do with the time, energies and peace of mind now leisurely available. What takes the place of the agony and hardship otherwise spent on one’s daily sustenance?

Rashbam, Ibn Ezra and others, view the test of manna coming from the insecurity and anxieties resulting from daily dependence upon a Higher Being – God. Manna only came down in the quantity required for the day. None was to be left for the following day. Ramban aptly comments in Beha’alotecha, “That even the manna on which we live is not in our possession…but we desire it and are dependent upon it at all times… thus we have nothing at all save our hope for manna.” What a challenging way to live – from hand to mouth. Is it any wonder that Chazal teach, “One cannot compare a person who has bread in his basket with one who does not have bread in his basket?” It takes enormous faith to overcome tests of dependence and anxieties of reliance. Thus, Reb Yehoshua suggests that an individual should go out and work every day and not depend on miracles, just as the Israelites gathered their manna daily, and even on Erev Shabbat worried about the next day’s portion. On the other hand, Reb Eliezer Hamodai considers the very same circumstance and concludes, “Whoever has enough to eat today and says, ‘What will I eat tomorrow?’ such a person is lacking faith.”

Rabbi Yissocher Frand, explored this “test of affluence” as it is found in the parasha. He noted that the commentaries questioned what kind of “test” resulted from having manna delivered to one’s doorstep.

Rashi, following the simple interpretation, suggests the “test” is solely whether the Jews can keep the mitzvot of the manna – only taking so much per person, taking twice the amount on erev Shabbat, etc. The Sforno takes a more complicated lesson from the parasha, one that applies to most of us in America. That is, does wealth weaken faith; would Jews still follow the Torah if they are easily able to find sustenance? When one has a “livelihood without difficulty” he is blessed – and cursed – with affluence and leisure. What then does a man do with this affluence and leisure?

How many people, with the opportunity to have the goose that lays the golden eggs, consider the “downsides”? The Maggid from Mezritch once noted that everyone is pious when they are sick or dying. Like the famous observation about being in the foxhole, everyone has faith when confronted with disease or hardship. They suddenly become regular shulgoers, their prayer changes, the tenor or their Tehilim changes, their giving of Tzedakah takes on urgency.

Troubles enliven their adherence to mitzvot.

A man without troubles, a man with wealth devotes his time to business strategy, tennis lessons, car purchases and investments in material things. To devote time to God in times of plenty is a test in and of itself.

This, Rabbi Frand teaches, is what the Parsha of manna is all about.

“You can’t win if you don’t play.”

“A dollar and a dream.”

Consider our desert experience with the manna the next time you lust for sudden riches and think that wealth will be the end of your troubles! Wealth, poverty, health, sickness, happiness, sadness – each brings its own set of challenges and tests. There are no escapes from nisyonos.

The Magid of Mezritsch said that the nisayon of the manna was meant to test one’s genuine faith in God. How so? Because to have been assured of one’s daily needs without any worries and concerns and still remain ever cognizant of our dependence upon Him, is a much greater nisayon than being poor and having faith in God.

So, is it a greater ordeal to be wealthy or to be poor? Each has challenges; each has the potential for fulfillment and meaning. But, as a spiritual matter, it seems that wealth, and sudden wealth in particular, poses the greatest challenge.

Consider well as you stand in line, waiting to purchase that lottery ticket. Are you sure you really want to win, or is it the dream of winning that is enough?