Wealth

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"O You Afflicted, Tossed with Tempest, Not Comforted"
Haftarot: Re'eh
Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein
The haftara focuses on material consolation, previously ignored in chapters offering comfort to the exiled nation. While previous prophecies emphasized that redemption is based on the connection between God and Israel, but never conditioned on Israel's actions, this haftara introduces a new principle - redemption through repentance; when man mends his ways he will be redeemed.
Mizmor 49
"Blessing One's Soul: "The Formula for a Meaningful Life
Rabbi Avi Baumol
The theme of Mizmor 49 is to impart wisdom about the futility of life when it involves only a desperate hunt for honor. When one takes the time and care to bless one’s soul while still in the land of the living, that person will truly be praiseworthy.
Shlomo’s Sins
Rabbi Alex Israel
Three broad approaches exist to explain the jarring discrepancy between the love and dedication that Shlomo displayed towards God and His Mikdash and his love towards foreign women that led to idolatry.

1) The approach adopted by the majority of traditional commentaries posits that Shlomo himself did not partake in idol worship but facilitated his wives’ idolatry and it is therefore attributed to him.

2) A careful read of chapters 9 and 10 points to a wide range of failures, a sense of spiritual disorientation identified by Shlomo's overconfident abrogation of the Torah's restrictions for a king. All these lead in a direct line to the more serious offenses of chapter 11.

3) Shlomo's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter at the very outset of his reign is a competing love to his love for God as is subtly described in the text and more explicitly described in the Midrash. Shlomo is caught ideologically between competing worlds. Bat Pharaoh represents Egypt, the power and trade, the skills and crafts, wealth and international control that appeal to Shlomo's imperial mind. These come along with a religious worldview that is polytheistic and pagan. On the other side is the Torah, the Mikdash, the path of David Ha-Melekh. Shlomo is committed to both. He seeks to balance the two, but he fails.
Yehoshafat, King of Yehuda
Rabbi Alex Israel
The brief description of Yehoshafat in Kings I indicates that his perios was one of enormous prosperity and extensive political hegemony over the region. In Divrei Hayamim, his reign is described in luxurious detail, spanning four extensive chapters. Yehoshafat is determined to actively pursue national unity with the Northern kingdom and the House of Ahav despite prophetic criticism. The results of this questionable policy included one failed military campaign and a broken fleet of ships. Yehoshafat began his monarchy with a passion for spreading Torah, and later , upon receiving the criticism of the prophet he decides to rehabilitate the legal system.

As a king, Yehoshafat is superior even to Shlomo in his positive and responsive interactions with the prophet and in the fact that, despite his association with Ahav, he is insusceptible to idolatry. In the landscape of Sefer Melakhim, Yehoshafat stands as one of the greatest and most impressive kings of Yehuda.
The Best of Times: The Reigns of Yerovam ben Yoash and Uziya
Rabbi Alex Israel
The long and impressive reign of Yerovam ben Yoash sees the Northern Kingdom reaching the summit of its regional power and material prosperity. The prophet Amos who prophesies during this period, reveals a society of enormous wealth, complacency, and security and yet bearing startling inequalities of income, and outrageous exploitation of the poor by the rich.

Uziya's long reign is filled with a long list of impressive accomplishments: Military conquests, extensive fortification of Jerusalem, development of agriculture and a cutting-edge military. However, his successes lead to arrogance and his eventual downfall, plagued till his death with Tzaraat. Yishayahu describes a society in Yehuda similar to what Amos described in the North.

While Sefer Melakhim dwells almost exclusively on the issue of idolatry, Amos and Yishayahu highlight the sins of arrogance and social injustice. Amos warns of an earthquake which shakes the kingdom a mere two years after Amos begins his prophecy. And yet, even with a national disaster of this proportion, Israel and Yehuda fails to harness its peace and wealth towards kindness, justice, and communal support.
Avraham and the King of Sedom: Lifting a Hand to God
Rabbi David Silverberg
Avraham and Lot: Divided by a Pause or a Gaping Chasm?
Rabbi David Silverberg
Avraham's Wealth and Lifestyle Choices
Rabbi David Silverberg
Men Who are Brothers - Avraham and Lot
Rabbi David Silverberg
Accepting Gifts from Pharaoh but not from Sodom - Inconsistency or Insight?
Rabbi David Silverberg
Lot's Quest for Material Objects Turns him into One
Rabbi David Silverberg
What Paradise Means to Lot
Rabbi David Silverberg
Wealth, Power, and "the Man"
Rabbi David Silverberg
The Finances of the Forefathers – Part 1
Rabbi Yaakov Beasley
How Avraham acquires his wealth, and how he disposes of it, provides us with a lesson about how financial success can become a test as well as a blessing.
The Finances of the Forefathers – Part 2
Rabbi Yaakov Beasley
We examine the stories of Avraham and the War of the Kings, as well as his encounter with Avimelekh. Slowly, as Avraham becomes a beacon of justice and righteousness, his physical possessions become a reflection of that reality, and not a source of dividedness and compromise.
The Finances of the Forefathers - Part 3
Rabbi Yaakov Beasley
We have been analyzing the specific role money performs in Avraham’s narrative. This shiur will focus on how that pertains to the last few stories of Avraham's life.

Without wealth, Avraham’s mission to spread his unique moral brand of monotheism in the world would have gone unnoticed. Ultimately, through his wealth and prestige, Avraham is able to not only attract the world’s attention, but also ensure the survival and continuity of his own unique mission.
Amos 3-4 - Matan Al HaPerek
Rabbi David Sabato
In the beginning of Chapter 3, Amos warns the nation that being the chosen people will not prevent them from being punished. In fact, the opposite is true – the choice imposes on them a responsibility which, if ignored, will bring harsh punishment. In the continuaton of the perek there is a series of rhetorical questons with similar structures, emphasizing that the prophet is compelled to prophesy (3-8). Afer the series of questons, Amos begins to give prophecies of rebuke against the upper classes in Samaria, whose wealth is derived from exploitaton of the poor.

Chapter 4 begins with rebuke for the idol worship in Beit El and Gilgal. The naton absorbs blow afer blow, but remains rebellious and does not return to God.

The study guide includes guided questions and an appendix about the Kingdom of Israel.
Why was Yaakov Alone?
Rabbi David Silverberg
Purim Special - The Culture of Shushan
Cultural and Historical Challenges of the Megilla Story
Rabbi Moshe Taragin | 54 minutes
In this shiur, we analyze two layers of the story of Megillat Esther: Events didn't occur in a vacuum, but as part of cultural struggles and historical challenges. As we examine the historical and cultural contexts of the story, we find that there is structure to the megilla supported by the numerous feasts in the story. These parties become an icon for a problematic type of multiculturalism: Shushan lacks a shared ethic or value system, so it unites in valuing and celebrating money and the power of wealth above all else. The overlooked letter-carriers in the Megilla help to highlight the flaws of this misplaced value system.
The Saba of Kelm on the Brothers and Wealth
Rabbi David Silverberg
Why does Mitzvah Sukkot Apply to Everyone?
Rabbi David Silverberg
Alshikh on Tithes, Wealth, and Spiritual Distance
Rabbi David Silverberg