Masquerade of Wealth – Emor
וְלָקַחְתָּ סֹלֶת וְאָפִיתָ אֹתָהּ שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה חַלּוֹת שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים יִהְיֶה הַחַלָּה הָאֶחָת. וְשַׂמְתָּ אוֹתָם שְׁתַּיִם מַעֲרָכוֹת שֵׁשׁ הַמַּעֲרָכֶת עַל הַשֻּׁלְחָן הַטָּהֹר לִפְנֵי ה'. וְנָתַתָּ עַל הַמַּעֲרֶכֶת לְבֹנָה זַכָּה וְהָיְתָה לַלֶּחֶם לְאַזְכָּרָה אִשֶּׁה לַה'. בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת יַעַרְכֶנּוּ לִפְנֵי ה' תָּמִיד מֵאֵת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרִית עוֹלָם. וְהָיְתָה לְאַהֲרֹן וּלְבָנָיו וַאֲכָלֻהוּ בְּמָקוֹם קָדֹשׁ כִּי קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים הוּא לוֹ מֵאִשֵּׁי ה' חָק עוֹלָם (ויקרא כד, ה-ט).
As you have probably guessed by now, parshat Emor is one of my favorite parshiyot (after my bar mitzva parsha, Tzav), because it is the parsha of … the Lechem HaPanim.
How much can one talk about the Lechem HaPanim already? As it turns out, quite a lot actually, because the Lechem HaPanim is not simply a bread – it is a foundation principle upon which this material world operates. If you understand the Lechem HaPanim, you will understand how to live a fulfilling life in this world.
In this week's shiur I would like to harvest numerous snippets from sefer Meir Panim and bring them all together to complete a picture which perhaps epitomizes the essence of what the Lechem HaPanim is and why it has so captured my imagination.
But first a few short stories.
The first story is about a landsman of mine, Elon Musk. We were both born in South Africa - yours truly in Johannesburg and Elon about an hour's drive away (and 6 years later), in Pretoria. But that is not why I am telling you this story. The reason is because Elon is the wealthiest person in the world today, with assets valued at around 360 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
Musk is regarded as a genius by some, a crackpot by others. He is a self-declared Asperger (high functioning on the spectrum of autism) and a self-declared workaholic, which perhaps explains to some degree (but not fully) his tumultuous personal life - two divorces, numerous breakups with other partners and he is the father of at least 13 children from his different relationships.
The question I would like to ask is "Is Elon Musk happy?" I have absolutely no idea whether Elon Musk is happy or not, he is very close lipped about his personal life. His unquestionable wealth and power obviously enable him to live a life of luxury and satisfaction, but in various interviews (e.g. UK Independent, 27/3/2022) he has admitted that he is sometimes lonely.
Our second story (lehavdil elef havdalot) is about Avraham Avinu.
Avraham is on the way to perform the Akeida. Obviously, Yitzchak is with him, but there are two others, שְׁנֵי נְעָרָיו, who also tag alone – Yishmael and Eliezer (Targum Yonatan, Breishit 22, 3). What are they doing here?
According to Rashi (ibid.) an important man always has to be accompanied by at least two additional companions (in case one has to go to the bathroom, there will be at least one other companion to look after him, so that he will not be alone and in danger). Another perush (Yalkut Shim'oni, ibid.) says that Avraham did not want Sarah to know that he was going to sacrifice Yitzchak, so he concocted a story that he was taking Yitzchak to Hebron to study in Yeshiva. Having Eliezer and Yishmael accompany them was part of this ruse (There is a question on this second perush – Avraham took both Yishmael and Eliezer because he thought he was going to be returning without Yitzchak, so he needed two companions for the return journey. However, if he was trying to fool Sarah, why take both of them? Sarah – who knew the halacha - could ask "Why do you need three companions, aren't two sufficient?" By taking three companions, it could arouse suspicion and the whole ruse could fall apart. Perhaps the answer could be that after leaving Yitzchak in the "Yeshiva", the other two companions were required to return with Avraham).
Another explanation for taking Yishmael and Eliezer (I have not found any sources for this) could be that at first when HKB"H commanded Avraham קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת יִצְחָק, Avraham still had some faint hope that it was not Yitzchak he would have to sacrifice. בִּנְךָ could also mean Yishmael. יְחִידְךָ could also mean Eliezer. So, Avraham took these other two along on the off chance that it might be one of them … and not Yitzchak.
As they approached the designated place, Avraham says to Yishamel and Eliezer "You stay here with the donkey, שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר, while I continue on with Yitzchak".
The question I would like to ask is why Avraham didn't take the donkey? They had to shlep the wood for the sacrifice, which Avraham had gathered before they left. Until now the wood was on the donkey, why unload it from the donkey and make Yitzchak shlep it up the mountain by hand? Why not tell Yishmael and Eliezer to wait behind and take the donkey with the wood together with them to the Akeida?
The third and final story is about Yaakov masquerading as Eisav to get Yitzchak's bracha.
Yaakov knew he was Yitzchak's spiritual heir, that he was unquestionably to be the recipient of the spiritual bracha (which in fact he was – Breishit 28, 4). Chazal (Yalkut Shim'oni, Breishit 25, 22) tell us that Yaakov and Eisav made a pact while still in the womb, that Yaakov would inherit olam haba and Eisav would inherit olam hazeh. Yaakov didn't want Eisav's bracha! Rivka had to force him to dress up as Eisav and trick Yitzchak into giving him the material bracha intended for Eisav. Yaakov could not disobey his mother, so he went along with the ruse, unwillingly.
The question is why didn't Yaakov (and/or Rivka) simply approach Yitzchak directly and say to him "Eisav is evil. Yaakov is your rightful heir and he deserves both brachot!" Why have this whole charade, with Yaakov dressing up in Eisav's clothes בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו הַחֲמֻדֹת? The passuk (Micha 7, 20) says תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם וכו', Yaakov's attribute is truth and Rivka is asking him to deceive his father?
The reason I brought these three, seemingly unconnected, stories is because they all have one common thread, which will soon become apparent.
The Mishna (Avot 4, 16) says הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה דּוֹמֶה לִפְרוֹזְדוֹר בִּפְנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא, הַתְקֵן עַצְמְךָ בַּפְּרוֹזְדוֹר כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּכָּנֵס לַטְּרַקְלִין. Olam hazeh, this material world, is but a "corridor" before olam habah. The purpose of our lives in olam hazeh is to prepare/fix (הַתְקֵן מִלְּשׁוֹן תִּקּוּן) ourselves in order that we may enter olam habah. In other words, olam hazeh is not the ikar, it is a necessity, a means to an end, but not the end in itself. Olam habah is the ikar, the end.
Part of olam hazeh, the materialistic world is … materialism, wealth/parnasa. A person cannot exist in olam hazeh without parnasa. The Gemara (Avodah Zara 5a) says that a poor man is compared to a מֵת, someone who is dead! Obviously, a poor man is still breathing and he has a pulse, so what does it mean he is "dead"? The Gemara is teaching us that someone who is "poor" does not have the means with which to fulfil his purpose in this world. Instead of fulfilling his intended purpose, he is running around begging for money all the time and not fulfilling the reason for which HKB"H put him in this world (we will soon see that it is possible to be poor AND fulfil your purpose in the world).
Therefore, parnasa/wealth is a necessary means to the end – to fulfil our purpose in this world and merit olam habah. This is why Rivka would not allow Yaakov to forgo this bracha from Yitzchak. If Yaakov never received this bracha, he would have forever been knocking on Eisav's door begging for money (Yitzchak mistakenly thought that there could be a Yissachar/Zevulun relationship between Yaakov/Eisav, where the parnasa would have been offered willingly).
Materialism/wealth/parnasa is not intrinsically an evil thing. It all depends on our attitude towards it.
If we regard parnasa as something that HKB"H and only HKB"H provides to us (not that we obtain it by our own devices כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי), then it is a good thing. If we regard whatever parnasa HKB"H provides to us as exactly the right amount that we need at any given point in time, then we will forever consider ourselves to be wealthy אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ.
The converse is also true. If we believe that our parnasa is obtained solely by our own efforts and that HKB"H is not involved in it in any way, then it is an evil thing. If we are never satisfied with what we have and are constantly striving to have more than we have, then we will never be wealthy. In either (or both) of these cases, parnasa becomes an evil thing and a form of avodah zara.
HKB"H intended for mankind to have parnasa the good way – recognizing Who provides it and being satisfied with it. This is the way He created Adam and Chava in Gan Eden. HKB"H gave them a purpose to fulfil לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ. It is not that HKB"H created Adam and Chava to be lazy layabouts, doing absolutely nothing, basking in the luxury of Gan Eden and getting an even suntan, while sipping pina coladas. Adam and Chava both had their work to do, their hishtadlut, each fulfilling their specific purposes. And HKB"H wasn't stingy either chas vechalila, פַּת בַּמֶּלַח תֹּאכֵל וּמַיִם בַּמְּשׂוּרָה תִּשְׁתֶּה וְעַל הָאָרֶץ תִּישָׁן וְחַיֵּי צַעַר תִּחְיֶה. They were in Gan Eden with the best of the best of everything, waited upon by angels.
Their failure was that they mistakenly thought they could improve on HKB"H's parnasa using כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי and not being satisfied with what HKB"H gave them. This was the source of the disconnect that changed the course of history.
The (brief) tikkun for that was at Har Sinai, after HKB"H gave Am Yisrael Mann and the Well of Miriam, parnasa like in Gan Eden – no doubt where the parnasa came from and in exactly the right measure needed. Again … a failure, a disconnect. Am Yisrael failed to recognize the true source of the parnasa and mistakenly thought they needed to improve upon it with כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי in the form of the egel.
When Am Yisrael arrived in Eretz Yisrael, it was exactly what HKB"H promised, אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ.
We have no conception of the physical splendor of Eretz Yisrael in biblical times. What we see now (those who live here and those who visit) is a pale, infinitesimal shadow of what Eretz Yisrael was back then (not that it is not beautiful and miraculous even today – it is). For all you travelers out there who like to travel to see the natural beauty and wonders of the world, what you are seeing (in Switzerland, New Zealand, Niagara Falls, etc.) is actually the beauty of Eretz Yisrael that went into exile when the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. Wherever Am Yisrael were exiled to, the beauty of Eretz Yisrael was exiled with them and was scattered around the globe. The descriptions of the fruit that the 10 spies brought back with them gives us but a faint inkling of that physical bounty and splendor. Eretz Yisrael back then was a veritable Gan Eden, יְפֵה נוֹף מְשׂוֹשׂ כָּל הָאָרֶץ (תהילים מח, ג). It is impossible to fathom the level of material abundance in a land where HKB"H's Shechina is umbilically connected and visibly present via a Beit HaMikdash. If only Am Yisrael back then would have been שָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, we would not be where we are now.
In our world today the disconnect is prevalent. It is not the perfect world that HKB"H intended, where parnasa was meant to be used לְקַדֵּשׁ שֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, to be used for the benefit of mankind, for man to help his fellow man.
Let us examine the countries in the world today that are blessed with wealth and we will see exactly the opposite of what HKB"H intended.
Let's begin with the countries that Yitzchak referred to as מִשְׁמַנֵּי הָאָרֶץ יִהְיֶה מוֹשָׁבֶךָ, the oil rich countries. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Gulf states. Look at the situation in these countries. You have a very rich ruling elite and the masses are in abject poverty. In an isolated case or two, like the UAE, the ruling class "throw a bone" or two to improve the standard of living of the masses, like giving them free cars, free healthcare, free education. However, the discrepancy of the income bracket of the ruling class compared to masses is astronomical. The UAE is the best of them, in Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. the masses are downtrodden and most live in poverty (without even any "bones").
Only a third of the world's oil is produced in the Middle East, another third is produced in Russia and the final third in the USA. Russia can hardly be described as a country that looks out for its citizens. Everyone regards the USA as the "Goldene Medina", the land of freedom and prosperity, but the reality is not exactly that.
You would expect the major oil producing countries to rank high on a "quality of life" index. Let's examine such an index. Out of 89 countries listed, (where #1 is the highest quality of life and #89 is the lowest), Iran ranks #86, Kuwait is #49, Russia is #46, Saudi Arabia is #31, UAE is #37, USA is #22.
What about the countries in the world with the most abundant natural mineral resources (aside from oil). The biggest by far is China (coal, gold, aluminium, mercury, tin, titanium, zinc, etc.). Russia is the largest producer of diamonds, followed by Botswana (in Southern Africa). Kazakhstan has the most uranium, Chile the most copper, Mexico the most silver, South Africa the most platinum, Indonesia the most nickel. Let's check these countries' rankings on the "quality of life" index. China is #26, Russia we said is #46, Kazakhstan is #82, Chile is #53, Mexico is #37, South Africa is #57, Indonesia is #39.
Africa is peppered with countries blessed with minerals – cobalt, bauxite, lithium, graphite, manganese, etc. Most of Africa is 3rd world, living in abject poverty.
Which countries rank on the top of the "quality of life" index? Denmark #1, Sweden #2, Switzerland #3, Norway #4, Canada #5 etc. Notice anything? None of them are blessed with an abundance of natural resources. They are blessed with natural beauty – Switzerland with its mountains and lakes, the Scandinavian countries with the fjords, Canada with Niagara Falls. You would expect the countries with the best quality of life to be "giving" people who help each other, right? In a ranking of "giving" index (out of 89 countries), Denmark is #24, Sweden is #50, Switzerland is #76, Norway is #32, Canada is #8.
The world's leading superpower, the USA, has an interesting distribution of wealth amongst its citizens. 20% of Americans own 80% of the country's wealth.
What does all this data tell us about wealth in the world? It tells us one thing and one thing only – greed and exploitation. The countries with the major natural resources are ruled by minority elites who repress and exploit the people of those countries. The countries with the highest quality of living, the prettiest countries in the world, are way down the list as far as chessed is concerned (except for one – Canada). Remind you of anything? Sdom perhaps?
This is exactly what Rivka was afraid of – Eisav getting the bracha for parnasa. When Eisav holds the power over wealth, instead of using it for good, he uses it to exploit and make himself wealthier. Eisav is יֶשׁ לִי רָב, he already has a lot, but is greedy and always craves more. Yaakov, on the other hand is יֶשׁ לִי כֹל, I have everything! Make no mistake, when Yaakov reunited with Eisav he was exceedingly wealthy – he had so many sheep they needed 600,000 sheep dogs to tend them (Yalkut Shim'oni, Breishit 32,2). That's a lot of sheep! Was he the wealthiest person in the world though? Certainly not. Pharaoh was most probably. Does Yaakov crave to be like Pharaoh? No, יֶשׁ לִי כֹל, I have everything, I am שָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקִי. When Yaakov entered Charan penniless after being stripped of all his belongings by Eliphaz, he was just as שָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹas when he left Charan with multitudes of sheep. Only such a person can be the custodian of wealth. In his hands the wealth will be used for good, to glorify HKB"H's name in the world and help others.
When Am Yisrael had the Beit HaMikdash, all the nations of the world would pay pilgrimage to Eretz Yisrael on Sukkot to give thanks to HKB"H, because by virtue of Am Yisrael, their countries were blessed as well. Arteries of prosperity branched out of the Beit HaMikdash to all corners of the globe, blessing the entire world. Eretz Yisrael has no natural resources, it doesn't need them, because all these nations when they came to Eretz Yisrael on Sukkot, would bring gifts of all their natural resources. There were so many diamonds that the streets of Yerushalayim were paved with them (Midrash, ישעיהו נד, יב). Countries with no natural resources sent gifts of people to serve Am Yisrael as slaves – willingly, not forcibly. They preferred to be Israel's servants rather than celebrities and free men in their own countries, like Pharaoh's daughter Hagar in the time of Avraham.
This was HKB"H's vision of wealth when He created the world. An understanding that wealth is only a means to an end and not an end in itself. Am Yisrael, who have always had their eyes on the ikar, who understand that olam hazeh, the material world, is only a "corridor" before the ikar, olam habah - we are the only people to be trusted with the keys to the Heavenly treasury.
Before the Akeida, Eliezer the servant of Avraham managed Avraham's household, but he was a Canaanite and his understanding of the purpose of wealth did not correlate with that envisioned by HKB"H. Eliezer thought that since he had the keys to the treasury, that entitled him to offer his daughter as a wife to Yitzchak, he was part of the elite and being the elite had its privileges. Yishmael was a highway robber and a murderer, who always wanted to forcibly take more than was his due. Avraham said to Yishmael and Eliezer שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר, you remain behind here – not with the donkey, but with the חוֹמְרִיּוּת. That is what interests you. Only Avraham and Yitzchak proceeded to the Beit HaMikdash, only they understood the true purpose of wealth in the world (Eliezer later did teshuva when he was sent to find a wife for Yitzchak). At the end of Avraham's life, the passuk says וַה' בֵּרַךְ אֶת אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּל, like Yaakov they both shared a philosophy of כֹּל regarding wealth, אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ.
Only such a person, with such a philosophy, is truly wealthy. Having 360 billion dollars does not make you wealthy. Power and billions cannot buy happiness. Ask Elon Musk.
In the Beit HaMikdash, the keys to the "treasury", the Heavenly wealth that is distributed by arteries to the entire world, are located on the northern end of the Heichal – the Shulchan and the Lechem HaPanim. The Lechem HaPanim are the gateway between the Heavenly and earthly wealth, HKB"H's philosophy of wealth.
Where does wealth come from? From HKB"H. We don't give rise to our own wealth – HKB"H does. All we have to do is our minimum hishtadlut לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ. This is what the six days of the week are. We bake the Lechem HaPanim on the 6th day, erev Shabbat. The Lechem HaPanim does not miraculously appear, we have to bake it, we have to do the hishtadlut. That is the first passuk above וְלָקַחְתָּ סֹלֶת וְאָפִיתָ אֹתָהּ שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה חַלּוֹת שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים יִהְיֶה הַחַלָּה הָאֶחָת.
Notice any difference between this passuk and the rest of the psukkim in the paragraph above about the Lechem HaPanim? This is the only passuk in which HKB"H's name does not appear, this is our part, not HKB"H's part. After this it is all in HKB"H's hands. All the remaining psukkim have HKB"H's name in them, because from then on, it is out of our hands and in HKB"H's hands. The Lechem HaPanim leave the material, earthly plane and enter a higher plane, HKB"H's plane, where the laws of nature no longer apply – the breads remain fresh (and warm?) on the Shulchan for an entire week.
HKB"H doesn't miraculously teleport twelve loaves of Lechem HaPanim onto the Shulchan, He wants us to make them, but not just anyone. The people who make the Lechem HaPanim have to be worthy, so that their breads will in fact be the keys to the treasury. These people must have a deep understanding of what the Lechem HaPanim is and what it does, that it is a very powerful "weapon", which basically controls the global economy. You cannot entrust such a secret to anybody. It has to be someone who deeply understands the philosophy of אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ. It has to be entrusted to an Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, who have all have this philosophy בַּכֹּל מִכֹּל כֹּל. It has to be entrusted to the Garmu family, who were of this caliber כֹּל הַנִּקְרָא בִשְׁמִי וְלִכְבוֹדִי בְּרָאתִיו (ישעיהו מג, ז).
You should not divulge this secret chas vechalila, that it might be used by an "Eisav" to exploit, out of greed, like a "Yishmael" to steal – like the world is de facto being run today, as we speak.
The whole story of Beit Garmu (Yoma 38a) was a kind of a "masquerade", dressing up in someone else's clothing, so that you are not sure who is who. Are they the good guys? The bad guys? It was a kind of a Rivka ruse with Yaakov dressing up in Eisav's clothing, until finally – the end result – was that the keys to the treasury remained in the right hands, Avraham's hands, Yitzchak's hands, Yaakov's hands. The Shulchan is bizchut the chessed/hospitality of Avraham. The Levonah burned on the Mizbeach is bizchut Yitzchak's sacrifice. The twelve loaves of Lechem HaPanim are bizchut Yaakov's twelve sons, who he envisioned in the dream of the Sulam, when he entered Charan, twelve loaves arranged in harmony on the Shulchan וְנָתַן לִי לֶחֶם לֶאֱכֹל וּבֶגֶד לִלְבֹּשׁ (בראשית כח, כ), switched and eaten by the Kohanim in bigdei kehuna (Yalkut Shim'oni, ibid.).
In fact, "wealth" itself is a kind of a masquerade. You are not sure if it is the good guy or the bad guy.
It can be like a fly on a window pane, a moth to a flame. They are both drawn to the light. The fly will repeatedly slam against the glass trying to break through and reach the light, to no avail, until it finally dies. A moth will repeatedly be drawn to the flame, until it is finally incinerated. This is wealth in its evil, avodah zara form. It attracts you like a moth to a flame, like the sunlight through a window pane to a fly. The more you try to approach it, the closer you hasten your demise.
Wealth can also exist in its good form and benefit us, as long as we do not continually and repeatedly slam against the window, dive into the flame. If we do not continually pursue it and are שָׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקֵנוּ, then the light does not draw us in the wrong, destructive direction. Instead, it lights our path in the right direction and acts as a means to fulfilling our purpose in life and meriting the ikar - olam habah.
This is the essence of the Lechem HaPanim.
This is the way it once was, in the time of the Beit HaMikdash, when the world was blessed, until the yetzer hara lured us to the window pane, just as he lured Adam and Chava in Gan Eden, Am Yisrael after Har Sinai with egel, and the Tzedokim in the time of Bayit Sheini. This is the way it will be once again in the time of Mashiach and the Geulah, when true, good wealth and prosperity will be restored to the world בבי"א.
