What to Do with Great Successes – More on Spirituality and Materialism | Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Beit Midrash

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Parashat Hashavua

Bnei Yisrael’s entry into Eretz Yisrael provided them with great advantages but also quite a few spiritual challenges, for which Moshe provided solutions. We presented last week that choosing life entails not chasing after material pleasures; rather, clinging to Hashem ensures real life. Might we say: "We believe, therefore we live!" In the Torah’s language, "You who cling to Hashem, your G-d, you are all alive today" (Devarim 4:4). This is the goal.
The sin of bowing down to the Golden Calf epitomizes the opposite outlook. Perhaps for this reason, the second Tablets were in an ark made of wood (ibid. 10:1-4), not one whose inside and outside were gold (see Shemot 25:10-22). (We will not get involved here in the question of how many arks there were.)
In the desert, dependence on the material world was limited. It was the entry into Eretz Yisrael and the material success there that raised this as a challenge to relate properly to the physical world. The pasuk about the desert says that Hashem gave the people the manna as opposed to regular food "in order to teach you that man does not live on bread alone" but on that which Hashem speaks (Devarim 8:3). Regarding Eretz Yisrael, the Torah says that the nation was going to a good land of streams, which produces wheat, barley, grapes, …, in which there will be plenty of food and quarries for important metals (ibid. 7-9).
On the one hand, a life of plenty has a spiritual advantage, in that there is much to thank Hashem for when we eat the food of the Land (ibid. 10). On the other hand, the Torah warns that when one is successful in having nice houses, plentiful livestock, and an accumulation of precious metals, his ego may become inflated, and he may think that he alone is responsible for his own success (ibid. 12-18). It is critical for him to remember that it is Hashem who gave him the ability to receive all of those blessings.
The same issue pertains to military activity. Moshe foretold that Hashem would help Bnei Yisrael conquer great cities and powerful giants (ibid. 9:3). On the other hand, the Torah warns not to think that it is out of our righteousness that we succeeded in these conquests, but rather due to Hashem’s promise to us (ibid. 4-6).
After 3,500 years since the original entry into the Land, we have merited to return to Eretz Yisrael and establish an independent state that has registered many successes in the physical world. Our population enjoys a high standard of living and one of the world’s highest life expectancies. We are the epitome of scientific success and technological innovation.
Let us remind ourselves: the main thing is the spirituality, clinging to the Divine Presence. We did not succeed in order to sink into materialism. Our military power is reason to thank Hashem, which should be a goal in and of itself. We would like to be fully deserving of such success, based on our spiritual accomplishments, but the path is still long until we get there. Let us pray that we will succeed in the many important tasks before us.

Parashat Hashavua

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