Wealth Through Plague: Bringing Money into Holiness

1“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I will put the plague of tzara'as in a house of the land of your possession.”¹ Rashi writes: “This is good news for them, that the plagues will come upon them. For the Emorites hid treasures of gold in the walls of their houses all the forty years that Israel was in the wilderness, and through the plague the owner tears down the house and finds them.”² But this is difficult. If the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to give Klal Yisrael silver and gold, has He no way to do it except through plagues? He is all-powerful; He could even pour it down on them from heaven, as He did the manna. Why, then, did He need to bring plagues on their houses?

2The Midrash teaches on the verse “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh”:³ “This is like a noblewoman who entered the king's palace. When she saw the strap for flogging hanging there, she was afraid. The king said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; these are for the slaves and maidservants, but you are here to eat, drink and rejoice.’ So too, when Bnei Yisrael heard the passage of nega'im, the plagues of tzara'as, they were afraid. Moshe said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; these are for the nations of the world, but you are to eat, drink and rejoice,’ as it says, ‘Many are the pains of the wicked, but one who trusts in Hashem, kindness will surround him.’”⁴ The commentators, the Etz Yosef on the Midrash and the Vavei HaAmudim, find this difficult.⁵ After all, the whole mitzvah of nega'im was given only to Israel and not to the nations, as the Mishnah states explicitly; the nations were commanded only the seven Noahide mitzvos.⁶

3On the homeowner's words to the kohen, “Something like a plague has appeared to me,” the Baal HaTurim cites the Masorah, the tradition that lists where a phrase recurs in Scripture.⁷ The phrase nir'ah li, “has appeared to me,” recurs in the verse “From afar Hashem appeared to me.”⁸ How are the two verses connected?

4Perhaps we can explain it this way. Elsewhere we have explained Chazal's teaching about “the coin of Avraham Avinu: an old man and an old woman on one side, and a young man and a maiden on the other side.”⁹ With this coin Avraham Avinu was showing a path in avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem. Money can work in two directions: with it one can do good things, and one can also, Heaven forbid, do bad things. A young man stands for warmth and enthusiasm, as people have in their youth. So the coin hints at this: when a person wants to use his money for tzedakah or to support Torah, he must be like a young man with it, acting eagerly and warmly. But when a desire rises in him to spend it on his cravings, or to commit a sin with it, he must be like an old man, heavy and slow.

5Only Bnei Yisrael understand this way of bringing money into holiness; the nations have no grasp of it. Now we can understand why Hashem, in His goodness, chose plagues, of all things, as the way to bestow money: to show that money, Heaven forbid, carries within it the power of plagues. If a person does not use his money as he should, keeping it for holy things alone, he may bring on himself the plagues this passage describes. That is what the Midrash means when Moshe says, “These are for the nations of the world, but you are to eat, drink and rejoice.” Bnei Yisrael can raise physical things to holiness, and they can raise money to holiness too, just like eating and drinking, so the plagues are not needed for them. With the nations of the world it is not so, and for them money is a kind of plague. This also explains Chazal's lesson from this passage that “the Torah has compassion on the money of Israel.”¹⁰ Chazal learned this from the verse requiring the kohen to have the house cleared of its vessels before he declares it impure, so that the vessels will not become impure along with the house.¹¹ Because Israel's money can be turned to holiness, the Torah takes special care of it.

6aThis sheds light on what Chazal relate: as R' Yochanan ben Zakkai was passing away, he said, “Clear out the vessels because of the impurity, and prepare a chair for King Chizkiyahu.”¹² He meant that the vessels should be taken out so that the impurity of his death would not reach them. But this is difficult. In his last moments, could he find nothing to worry about but his vessels, that they not become impure? And why did he ask for a chair to be prepared for King Chizkiyahu in particular? The answer lies in Chazal's teaching: “For tzaddikim, their money is dearer to them than their bodies.”¹³ Tzaddikim rectify their money, freeing it from the pull of greed, and bring it into holiness, so that all their belongings become holy objects. So we find that as Rebbi, R' Yehudah HaNasi, known as Rabbeinu HaKadosh, was passing away, he raised his ten fingers heavenward and said: “Master of the world, it is revealed and known before You that I toiled in Torah with my ten fingers, and I did not take any benefit even with my little finger.”¹⁴ Rabbeinu HaKadosh was very wealthy, yet he devoted everything to holiness, and this is perfection in avodas Hashem. We learn from this that even money can be turned to holiness, with no benefit taken from this world.

6bBefore his passing, R' Yochanan ben Zakkai made a cheshbon hanefesh, a searching account of himself, and saw that he had taken no benefit from this world, whether from money or from anything like it. Then he understood how great the worth of money is, since it can be made holy. So he taught this path to his disciples, saying, “Clear out the vessels because of the impurity,” to show how dear the money of tzaddikim is, and that one must have compassion on their vessels so that they do not become impure. This also lets us explain his words “and prepare a chair for Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah, who is coming.” Chazal said of Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah that he spread Torah in Israel so widely that “they searched from Dan to Be'er Sheva and found no ignorant person; from Gevas to Antipras, and found no boy or girl, man or woman, who was not expert in the laws of impurity and purity.”¹⁵ Why do they mention the laws of impurity and purity in particular? Because Chizkiyahu's own service lay in this same area: he wanted to show Israel what is impure and what is pure, so that Israel's money would not be lost, since impurity can make food and vessels unusable. That is why R' Yochanan ben Zakkai was privileged to greet Chizkiyahu at his passing: he had walked in Chizkiyahu's path.

7With this we can explain why the Masorah links “Something like a plague has appeared to me in the house” with “From afar Hashem appeared to me.” The passage of plagues teaches us that money, contrary to what one might think, does have a place in holy things; money too can be used in the right and complete way, and all of it devoted to holiness. [In the very house where the plague appeared, Hashem appears as well.] So although a person may seem to stand far from Hashem in money matters, it is not so: “From afar Hashem appears to him” even in matters of money, for through it he can draw close to Hashem.

8Along the same lines we can further explain the Baal HaTurim's remark on the verse “and she gives birth to a male,” that zachar, “male,” has the same gematria as berachah, “blessing.”¹⁶ A male stands for the power of eagerness and enthusiasm. Chazal also said, “When a male comes into the world, his loaf comes in his hand,”¹⁷ so a male hints at an abundance of money. Abundance can bring a person, Heaven forbid, to “Yeshurun grew fat and kicked …”¹⁸ But one can also use all of it properly and bring everything into holiness, and then it is a blessing. My holy father and teacher, zt"l, explained the verse “And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them” in a similar way.¹⁹ “His hands” hint at physical things, which Aharon raised up for the honor of the Creator, and through this “he blessed them”: that very act is the blessing.

9May Hashem help us, too, to bring all physical things into holiness, and so to bring the redemption near, as the prophet says: “And it shall be that whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Yerushalayim will be called holy.”²⁰ May we be privileged to see the coming of the righteous Redeemer. Amen.