Pesachim 15b - Put your money where your heart is

Said a certain old man to him: They cared about a substantial loss, but they did not care about a slight loss.

It can be expensive to be Jewish and observant.

Kosher food costs more money, you need two sets of dishes, not to mention pesach. Collecting all the various ritual objects one needs for the daily and annual cycles (tallit and tefillin, candles for shabbes, lulav and etrog) can really rack up the bills.

The rabbis were sensitive about this, and developed the principle that the Torah is concerned for the money of Jews, and that the law is concerned that nobody should lose out overly much through their commitment to Jewish practice and observance.

Yet at the same time, this Saba, the certain old man, makes the point that the Rabbis were not concerned about a slight loss.

We do not want anyone to lose too much through their observance, but a slight loss is not only necessary but perhaps even desirable. It is a good thing for people to commit their financial resources to the things that really matter in their lives.

If you are unwilling to spend money on something, how much do you really care about it? And to read it the other way, by encouraging spending money on fulfilling Jewish principles, the rabbis are encouraging you to care more about those ideals. After all, you have invested your own possessions into it.

This creates a problem when you do not have very much disposable income, when the principles of tzedakah, and 'kol yisrael areivim zeh ba zeh' (all Israel are responsible for each other) come into play, but for many of us we have the money, we just may not be choosing to spend it on our ritual lives.

The halachic system should not bankrupt you, it should not cause you to lose out overly much - but it should cost you money, and demand a real investment of your resources.

Because our heart often follows where we put our money, we should put our money where we want our heart to follow.

The pleasure of doing mitzvot - Pesachim 4b

"They asked: What if one rents a house to his neighbour in the presumption of its having been searched, and [the tenant] finds that it has not been searched? Is it as a mistaken agreement or not? — Come and hear! For Abaye said: It is unnecessary of a town, where payment is not made [to others] for searching that a person is pleased to fulfil the mitzvah personally; but even in a town where payment is made for searching [it is okay], because one is pleased to fulfil a precept with his money."
-Pesachim 4b

Abaye divides towns into two types - those who do not pay people to fulfil mitzvot for them, and those who do. One could imagine that this is to say that there are those who love doing God's commandments, and those who find it onerous, or too difficult, and would rather just pay and be done with it.

In fact Abaye is not making this distinction - he assumes that all Jews are excited to fulfil God's word, in this case the commandment to search one's house for chametz, and thus even those who pay for other people to do it for them, are still excited to spend their money in this way.

I like that Abaye does not put a value judgement on paying others to do things for you, but recognises that people live in different socio-economic realities, with different cultural norms about how to fulfil one's obligations. Nevertheless these distinctions don't affect what should be at the heart of every Jewish person - a love of God and God's mitzvot.

While I am among the many people that complain that being Jewish is too expensive (and see my post yesterday about the nature of complaining), I hope that I can live up to Abaye's assumption, and be pleased to use my money for the sake of fulfilling the commandments.

What better use could there be?