Earning a Living

The “food from Heaven,” known as Manna, was meant to teach a lesson about our attitude about money and earning a living.

Those who had faith that the Manna would come each day, had it delivered to their doorstep. The less faith an individual had, the further he had to go to collect it.

The Alshich wrote that the pursuit of wealth is not a good thing. Each person must remind himself that his livelihood comes from G-d. He is only going through the motions, but success is only from Hashem.

This explains why earning a livelihood for some people comes easy, and for others, it comes with difficulty.

It does give people a sense of security when they are financially stable. And some lose their faith when they struggle to make ends meet.

The Orchot Tzaddikim wrote that money can be a blessing, a curse, or a test. When a person is happy with his lot in life, and he feels that he is blessed with all of his needs, then money is also a blessing.

When one is constantly struggling and worried that he doesn’t have enough, it is a test to see if he can overcome the struggle.

And when a person has an over abundance of wealth, and he still feels that he doesn’t have enough, and he believes that everyone is after his money, it is a curse.

It takes a great deal of spiritual work on ourselves, to develop the right attitude and appreciation for all that we have.

The goal is to see our money as a blessing. And we are to realize that we have the right amount of faith, it will even be delivered to our doorstep.