There are four levels of attitude that mankind has in terms of sharing their possessions with other people. Number one: a person who says, “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.” This is a moderate attitude. The person is neither a tzadik, righteous, nor a rasha, a wicked person. He doesn’t want to benefit from other people, but he doesn’t want anybody else to benefit from him. He goes to work, makes his money, doesn’t make any demands of other people, and just benefits from his own hard-earned money. He doesn’t have any expectations. So we say this person is doing what he needs to do; he’s taking care of himself, but he doesn’t share with others, so therefore he’s not righteous. But again, he’s not taking from other people, so therefore he isn’t wicked either. But other people disagree, and they say, “No. This is the attitude of the people of Sedom.” A person who gets into the habit of not helping other people and not sharing his property with other individuals may go to the extreme, and he may not even give to other people when he doesn’t lose out—a case of zeh neheneh, vezeh lo chaser, where one person would benefit if he helps them, and he doesn’t even lose out at all by giving. This person may not even do that. This is what the people in Sedom did. They lived in a large region that had very good services. They lived in the soil, but they wouldn’t let anybody else pass through. Even if it didn’t bother them, they didn’t give. They became so focused on themselves that they had the inability to see that they could help others without any major annoyance whatsoever. So a person should avoid this type of path.
Number two. The second type of person is a person who says, “What’s mine is yours, and what yours is mine.” This person is an am ha'aretz (common person). An am ha'aretz is usually something that we look at negatively, a common person. We usually refer to that as somebody who is ignorant and someone who doesn’t do the right thing. But over here, we’re calling the person a man of the land because he cares about the community functioning properly. He gives to others and takes from them. It’s the way society works. A person is willing to help out other people because he knows that they’ll help him in return. So a person here is a man of the land. He is helping with the function and flow of the community. But he’s also an am ha'aretz in that he’s ignorant, because he doesn’t realize that the pasuk (verse) tells us in Mishlei, “soneh matanot yichyeh”: somebody who hates gifts will live. So he still takes from other people. So he is called an am ha'aretz on some level.
Number three. The third category is a person who says, “What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is yours.” We call this person a pious individual. He gives to others. He never accepts from other people. We call him a chasid (pious individual) because he’s going beyond the letter of the law. He’s not just giving because he knows he’s going to get something back in return, but because he honestly believes in helping other people. The person here, of course, is not giving away all of his possessions. He has what he needs to live, to get by, to pay his bills, and to take care of himself. Whatever he has extra, he realizes is a gift from Hashem. And therefore, he gives to charity and helps out other people.
And the last category, number four: a person who says, “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine.” This is a wicked person. He’s looking to just take from others, and he doesn’t want to help anybody. He’s only focused on himself. So we call this person a rasha.