The Rambling Page

I WANT A WASTE OF MONEY

By Rabbi Yosef Koval

With the turning of the calendar page to 2025, we not only move into a new year, but we close the book on the holiday/shopping season. Since Thanksgiving, and even earlier in many instances, the American public has been consumed with an incessant bombardment of advertisements trying to lure the potential consumer into purchasing one form of goods or another. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and New Year’s deals and a host of others -- you name it -- there is a massive push to advance consumerism among the populace to ridiculous degrees.

When I was younger, advertising circulars and magazines were ubiquitous during the holiday season and would arrive in the mailbox daily. Nowadays most of these are digital and can be found online and in our social media feeds, but there still exists a fair amount of paper advertisements.

In fact, my four-year-old granddaughter, Adina, enjoys perusing the catalogs and selecting toys which she would like her parents to buy. As she fantasized about each toy she would like to own, she would ask her father, “Can you buy me this toy? How about this? OOOHHH I really want this doll! Actually, can you buy me THIS one??? PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAASSEEE!!!”

My son-in-law Dovid had a standard answer to her constant requests. Whenever she asked if he could buy her a particular item which she fancied, he responded, “Oh, that? No, that’s a waste of money.”

After many futile attempts at securing a toy which she wanted, an exasperated Adina finally asked her father, “Tatty (Daddy), can you buy me a Waste of Money?” 

I wonder if we adults don’t share the same perspective. As people of faith, we are taught to pray to our Father in heaven and to ask Him for all our needs. For those who do just that, wonderful! But even so, are we acting properly in our requests? When we ask G-d, “Please give me health! Please give me wealth! Please give me a nice house! Please let me win the lottery! Please let me have good friends and relationships!” why do we want these things? For what purpose?

The Torah teaches us that everything we own should, ideally, be utilized in serving G-d and deepening our connection with Him. Material possessions can be transformed into holy vessels when used properly. Meaning, if someone desires wealth just so that he can indulge and pamper himself in the luxuries of life those items are just a waste of money. Conversely, one who desires money so that he can give more charity or be able to afford better Jewish education for his children or to purchase a pair of tefillin or other mitzvah object, transforms that money into a holy entity. The same holds true with the motives a person has in desiring health or any other blessing in life. If it is for his own self-gratification, it is simply a waste of money/health/relationship etc., but if it is a means towards a closer connection with G-d, it is as holy as a vessel used in the service in the Temple. Praying for wealth just so that we can have a nice car, or a beautiful house, is basically asking our Heavenly Father to please give us a Waste of Money.

Our mission in our lifetime is to accumulate as many mitzvot as we can and to forge a deeper relationship with G-d. Luxuries and frivolities which do not facilitate those objectives are, at best, a waste of money. Throughout history, the great leaders of our nation have exemplified this ideal.

There is a famous incident in which a fellow from America was visiting Russia in the early 1900s and he made a point of stopping in at the home of the saintly Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, better known as the Chofetz Chaim, who was the leader of world Jewry in his day. The visitor, knowing of the renowned reputation of this venerable leader, expected his house to be somewhat distinguished, if not opulent, if only due to the prominent stature with which this leader was held. To his great shock, when he entered the home, he was taken aback by the modesty and sparsely furnished abode. He asked the great rabbi, “Why do you have such simple furniture? Even the dining room table you are sitting at is so rickety and plain! I would expect the leader of the Jewish people to have nicer furniture than this!”

Rabbi Kagan replied, “Where is YOUR dining room table? Why do you not have it with you here? Don’t you want to have a nice table to eat at wherever you are staying?” Puzzled by the strange question, the visitor responded, “I am only visiting from America; I am not going to carry my mahogany table with me wherever I travel! When I am traveling, I am content sitting at whatever table I am at because I am just passing through.”

“I too,” said the rabbi, “am just passing through. I am traveling through this physical world for a finite amount of time. As such, I have no need for nice tables or other furniture as I know it is all only temporary and I don’t want to waste time or money on items that don’t function as vehicles with which to come closer to G-d.”

The more we train ourselves to request things as an instrument to serve G-d, the better our chances of being granted those gifts. Otherwise, don’t be surprised if our own Father’s response is like that of my son in law: “You want that? No, that’s a waste of money.” As Adina can tell you, that’s not the answer you want to hear!

Shabbat shalom, 
Rabbi Yosef Koval