What Would You Do With $500?
Tech Tribe Dispatch #256
💡 Think:
What would you do with $500? If you got money that couldn’t go towards bills or regular living expenses, what would you do with it? That’s the question asked by Tech Tribe friend Sam Sheffer.
And it’s a good one.
Indeed, there’s a chasidic story that helps bring into focus the value of what we do and its best investment.
In 1892, Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch presented his twelve-year-old son, Yosef Yitzchok, with the manuscript of a ma'amar (a discourse of chassidic teachings) and said: "This is a chassidic kiss. In time I will explain."
Four years later, he related the following incident to him:
The year was 1884. Late one night, Rabbi Sholom DovBer was studying with Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bezpolov, the rabbi of Poltava. Rabbi Sholom DovBer's family then lived in two rooms: one served as the bedroom, the other, as Rabbi Sholom DovBer's study. In this room also stood the cot of his only child, the four-year-old Yosef Yitzchok.
Little Yosef Yitzchok was an extremely beautiful child with a delicate and radiant face. Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai, enthralled by the sleeping child, commented that the radiance of the child's countenance must reflect an inner purity of mind.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer was moved by a strong desire to kiss his son. But at that very moment he thought of the gold and silver that were used to beautify the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, transforming physical substances into something holy and spiritual. He decided to direct his overwhelming feelings of love for his son into a more spiritual gift: he would give his son a ma'amar instead of a kiss. He sat down and wrote the discourse.
Instead of giving his son something temporary - a kiss when he was asleep - that would disappear into the night… he gave him something eternal and profound.
So what would I use $500 for?
Obviously some of it would go to charity, but the rest of it, I would get something else.
The other day I got a $25 gift card for filling out a survey.
My plan was to use it to purchase lunch. On my way to get something to eat, I passed a book store and decided to check if they had a certain book that discusses something I was researching (on keeping Shabbat in the extreme polar regions, where the sun never sets during the summer - and thus a corollary to how shabbat could be kept in outer space.)
Indeed, they had it for $25. Instead of getting lunch, I purchased the book...
Everything has become more expensive over the days, with the exception of printing. Today, we have the ability to purchase texts of infinite wisdom and value, in a format that doesn't because obsolete. That lunch at best would have made me feel full for a few hours. The book will keep my mind full for my lifetime... And the wisdom shared from it will in turn fill the minds of those who attend the class(es) that discuss the topic for lifetimes as well.
What would you do with $500? Let us know in the comments!
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I would donate it. ie something similar the JNF for tree's in Israel. Similar to the immediate satisfaction of lunch, the $500 could provide vegetation for a lifetime.