Our line of the day is:
או תימנע ממנו הנאתו בו -Or, G-d will prevent him from enjoying it.
Which means, someone who relies not on G-d but on his own wealth, Hashem will prevent him from enjoying it.
As we’ve already discussed, there are consequences to misplacing your reliance. If you don’t rely on G-d and instead decide to rely on people, then you’re placed in the hands of those people. For example, relying on your lawyer subjects you to his stats.
Or let’s take the Neurosurgeon. Although they are known to have the best success rate of all surgeons, with the least amount of people dying in their operating rooms-they’re not perfect. There’s still that small chance of risk, even with the top 1%. When your put yourself in a person’s hands, know they aren’t perfect. When you put yourself in Hashem’s hands- He is perfect.
Another flaw is relying on your own wealth.
You can rely on your wealth, but as we’ve learned, your money might disappear. Another possible outcome of relying on your on wealth is that, as the pasuk above states, you won’t enjoy it. To illustrate this point we can look to many arrogant people, who seem to have their wealth, and appear to have a total lack of Bitahon- Well, the Hovot HaLevavot says they may have their money but we have no idea of whether they’re actually enjoying it. This is a tremendous eye opener.
A man may be able to go eat in the fanciest restaurant but then might suffer from indigestion. You don’t know what his benefits are. One person can enjoy a simple roll, but another gets sick from the most exotic fruit. Enjoyment, we can’t see.
The Ben Ish Chai tells the following story, which occurred in Bagdad many years ago.
There was a very wealthy yet very frugal and miserly man who would never spend money, even on himself. His worker felt bad for his boss, who had so much money but never seemed to enjoy it. Baklava was his boss’ favorite pastry but he was too miserly to buy it for himself because it was expensive. So the worker had an idea. He decided that although it might not be proper or legal, he would use a little of the company money that he happened to have with him to buy the boss a baklava. So he took a portion of his boss’ money and purchased the baklava. He told his boss it was “on him”. The boss was happy to eat what he thought was a free baklava and took a bite. Suddenly, the boss started to choke. He couldn’t swallow the bite or dislodge it. The worker quickly told a rabbi present what had happened. The Rabbi quickly gave the worker the price of the pastry and told him he’d pay for it. Instantly, the boss was able to swallow. The Ben Ish Chai explains that this man is from the Hovot HaLevavot. As it says in kohelet:
ולא ישליטנו האלקים לאכול ממנו G-d will not allow him to eat from it-
, even though you have the money, because you are not relying on G-d. The boss lacked Bitachon, so he could not enjoy the pastry bought with his own money. Once the rabbi paid for it, this was no longer an issue.
And so, the Hovot HaLevavot tells us, we can’t judge whether people are enjoying their assets. But if you want to enjoy your money, the secret is: rely on Hashem.