Who is a rich man?
Rabbi
Meir said: He who takes pleasure from his wealth.
Rabbi Tarfon said: He who has one hundred vineyards and one hundred
fields,
and one hundred servants working on them.
Rabbi Akiva said: Anyone who has a wife who is pleasant in her ways.
Rabbi Yossi said: He has a toilet near his table. [1]
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Throughout
the Rabbinic teaching there is found advocated a wise moderation, and both
extremes — of austerity and hedonism
— are censured as harmful. No virtue was attached to poverty as
such; rather the contrary. "Where there is no meal, there is no Torah,"
[2]
it was remarked, by which was intended that the lack of proper sustenance
hinders the acquisition of that knowledge which is essential to the fulfillment
of the Divine will. "Worse is poverty in a man's house than fifty plagues."
[3]
The Rabbis perceived value in such amenities as "a beautiful home, a
beautiful wife, and beautiful furniture as means of putting a man into a cheerful
frame of mind."
[4]
They even declared: "In the Hereafter a man will have to give judgment
and reckoning for all that his eye saw but that he did not eat"
[5]
and their definition of a rich man is: "He who derives pleasure from
his wealth."
[6]
It is related
that because of his criticism of the Roman administration, R. Simeon b. Yochai
had to hide himself to save his life. He and his son concealed themselves
in a cave for twelve years. On hearing that the king was dead and the decree
rescinded, he came out of his hiding-place. He saw men ploughing and sowing,
and exclaimed: "They forsake the life of eternity and busy themselves
with the life that is transitory." Wherever he and his son turned their
eyes, the land was at once consumed by fire. A bat kol issued forth
and said to them: "Have you left your cave to destroy My world? Go back
to it!"[7]
The maintenance of the social order has God's approval; therefore man is entitled
to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
But the other
extreme has likewise to be avoided. To accumulate riches in order to indulge
in luxury is not in accord with His will. "When Solomon erected the Temple,
he said to the Holy One, blessed be He, in his prayer, 'Sovereign of the Universe!
if a man prays to You to give him wealth and You know that he will abuse it,
do not grant it to him; but if You see a man using his riches well, grant
his request; as it is said, 'Render unto every man according to all his ways,
whose heart You know.'"[8]
There is
a wealth of meaning in the definition: "Who is rich? He who rejoices
in his lot; as it is said, 'When you eat the labor of yours hands, you are
happy and it shall be well with you.'"[9]
"You are happy" in this world, "and it shall be well with you"
in the World to Come."[10]
This crystallizes the viewpoint of the Rabbis towards the material world.
