Likutay Moharan, Volume 1, Torah 68

Likutay Moharan, Volume 1, Torah 68 All Souls Thirst and Desire for Wealth All souls thirst and desire for wealth [Proverbs 14:20] All nefashos (souls) thirst and desire for mamon (wealth). They not only desire and love mamon itself but even the person who possesses mamon, as it is the way of people to be drawn to him and love him because of his mamon, as we see in reality, and as it is written: “And the lovers of the rich are many” [Proverbs 14:20]. This is because the nefesh comes from a supernal place where mamon is drawn and formed. Certainly, the beginning of the place from which mamon is drawn is the aspect of k’dusha (holiness) and holy shefa (abundance). Afterward, it is materialized below, as is the way of the descent, and it is formed as mamon. Therefore, the nefesh thirsts for mamon because the nefesh comes from the place where mamon comes from.

However, one must not desire mamon, as the great vileness of the desire for mamon has been explained many times. Rather, one should desire and love the place from which mamon is drawn, as mentioned above. In this aspect, a rabbi honors the rich, as our Rabbis, may their memory be for blessing, said [Eruvin 86a]: Because they have mamon that comes from a high place. Know that it is fitting for all Israel to have mamon, but there is one attribute that destroys and loses mamon from them. This attribute is evil and contemptible, and it is very difficult to be saved from it, even if one wishes to be saved from it, especially for the sake of the desire for mamon so that it does not destroy his mamon. Nevertheless, this evil attribute overpowers him in his youth and in his smallness, and through this, it destroys the mamon that was fitting for him to have. This evil attribute is the attribute of ka’as (anger), through which he destroys and loses the mamon that was fitting for him. For in the aspect of the root of the descent from which mamon is drawn, it is an aspect that is literally one with ka’as. Therefore, the adversary, when it sees that shefa is drawn and descends to a person that he should have mamon, then it descends and prepares for him ka’as and makes for him from the aspect of the influence and descent that descends to him that he should have mamon, it makes for him ka’as. For ka’as is literally an aspect and matter that is one with mamon in the place of the root of the descent, and there is no difference between them, for both descend from gevuros (divine attributes of judgment) and are drawn from one place literally, in the aspect of: “From the north gold comes” [Job 37:22], and it is written: “From the north evil shall break forth” [Jeremiah 1:14], that is, the aspect of ka’as, as it is written: “And remove anger from your heart and put away evil from your flesh” [Ecclesiastes 11:10]. For mamon and richness are the aspect of a choma (wall), as it is written: “The wealth of the rich is his strong city, and like a high choma” [Proverbs 18:11], and: “A broken-down city without a choma is a man with no restraint over his spirit” [Proverbs 25:28]. When the adversary sees that the descent of shefa of mamon, which is the aspect of a choma, descends to a person, then it makes for him from this descent ka’as, which prepares for him a thing to cause anger, and the aspect of the choma is impaired through ka’as. For ka’as and mamon are an aspect that is one at the root of the descent. Therefore, it easily turns the descent of the shefa of mamon, which is the aspect of a choma, into ka’as, which is the opposite of a choma, and it makes from a חומה (choma, wall) a חמה (chema, wrath [root: ח-מ-ה]), which turns the mamon into ka’as. For the beginning of the root of the descent of mamon is the place where the nefesh comes from, in the aspect of: “And to him he lifts his soul” [Deuteronomy 24:15], said about the mamon of a day laborer, and as it is written: “With our soul we bring our bread” [Lamentations 5:9].

Therefore, the nefesh desires and thirsts for it. Through ka’as, he loses his nefesh, in the aspect of: “He tears his soul in his anger” [Job 18:4], as brought in the Zohar [Tetzaveh 182a]. Know that even if the shefa has already reached him, and mamon has been formed from it, and he already has mamon, which is the aspect of a choma, nevertheless, sometimes the adversary incites him with great ka’as so much that it destroys and loses from him even the mamon that he already has. Even though it was fitting that ka’as could not cause him to lose mamon through ka’as, since it has already been formed from the descent of shefa into mamon, and it can no longer be turned into ka’as, and on the contrary, the mamon that he has, which is the aspect of a choma, should protect him so that it cannot destroy it or prepare for him ka’as, which is the opposite of the aspect of a choma, nevertheless, the adversary has power in its hand to overpower the person with great ka’as so much that it destroys from him even the mamon that he already has. For when mamon descends to a person, it is in the aspect of: “Prey He gave to those who fear Him” [Psalms 111:5], and it is turned into ka’as, and it becomes from this: “He tears his soul in his anger”. May Hashem guard and save us from this contemptible attribute, amen, so may it be His will.