It takes a strong personality not to deviate from one’s good character traits when showered with a tremendous amount of wealth. There’s an expression, “The money got to his head.” In this great country where there are tremendous opportunities, one can say “Hey look what I accomplished, I’m so smart; look at me!!” “Where is that fun-loving Chaim that we used to go bowling with and then go to Kupta’s convenient store and buy Marino’s ices and hang out”, his old friends would say. Chaim’s moving’ uptown, yeah! He doesn’t need his old buddies anymore.
The Sages say there were two individuals who were the richest that ever lived, one from the Jewish nation, Korach, and one from the other nations, Haman. However, they were not strong enough to withstand the test that comes with the territory. Almost, automatically the ego sets in accompanying the wealth, and the rich man thinks he deserves more than he should, although one should know a rich man’s ego is sometimes stroked by individuals who want some of his money, fueling the ego even higher. Korach felt slighted because he didn’t get the higher position, while Haman felt slighted because Mordechai, the Jew, didn’t bow down to him. Both felt they deserved more honor and were so hurt, to the point of being inconsolable. Apparently, they both got major bad advice from their wives, who orchestrated their demise.
One can ask the question, how can man protect himself from the temptations of money and all its pitfalls?
There is a beautiful story I heard from Rabbi Isaac Olbaum. There was once this very poor shoemaker, Shmuel, who’s mazal drastically changed when his long lost cousin died. (I often ask myself, why don’t I have these long lost cousins?) Shmuel inherited his fortune and within days his friends and family began to treat him differently. They offered him a closer seat to the bima in shul where eventually he became the president. Shmuel moved to a nicer block and a bigger house. People made sure to say hello to him in the street.
There is one thing that Shmuel dreamed of more than anything in the world and that is he wanted his daughter to marry the Rabbi’s son. Shmuel began to use many of his contacts and resources to make that dream possible. One day, one of the matchmakers calls Shmuel and tells him that the Rabbi’s family agreed and are interested in his daughter. It seemed Shmuel was more excited than the girl, waiting anxiously after their dates and asking how it went. One day, the daughter comes home excited and said he proposed!!
At the wedding, Shmuel was gleaming from ear to ear as the chupah started. However, not all the guests were happy for Shmuel. His old shoemaker buddies were jealous. When Shmuel, the kallah’s father, was called to recite one of the sheva brachot, one of his old jealous friends just couldn’t take it anymore. He gets up, takes off his shoe, and screams out “Hey, Shmuel the shoemaker, my shoe tore. Can you fix it?” Everybody in the hall was silent. Shmuel was so embarrassed and humiliated that he fainted. “Quick, someone call Hatzalah!” someone yelled out. Unfortunately, there was nothing anybody could do for poor Shmuel. He had a massive heart attack and died.
One can say, in the heavens, his jealous friend would be accountable for Shmuel’s death. However, there is someone who is more responsible. That is Shmuel himself. One has to realize Shmuel should not have been embarrassed. G-d gave him the money. If he would have faith in G-d, he would realize G-d runs the world. He should have felt fortunate that G-d transformed him from a poor shoemaker to accumulating nice wealth. It wasn’t he who earned it. Once an individual begins to believe I made the money, the inflated ego sets in and he’s bound to get hurt and humiliated and fail the test.
It says in Mesilat Yesharim, G-d either tests us with wealth or poverty, and we have to know how to make the proper adjustments and handle it accordingly.