Poverty Is Akin to Death
A wealthy Jew contributed generously to the needy and also immersed himself in Torah study. He was the embodiment of what Chazal call “Torah and greatness in one.” He married off his children honorably and merited seeing grandchildren. Suddenly, the wheel of fortune turned in his disfavor. He lost all of his riches and became a destitute pauper.
He still had young children at home, whom he supported, as well as grandchildren who looked to him for sustenance.
“Why did this happen to me?” He bewailed his bitter lot. “I was always meticulous about giving tzedakah and doing favors for my fellow man, even above what I took for myself and my family. At the same time, I kept up a steady schedule of learning Torah. Why do I deserve this difficult test?”
I honestly did not know what to answer the man. Do we know Heavenly calculations? But one thing I do know. There was surely a reason why he lost his assets. It was his moral obligation to vindicate Hashem’s desire and accept it with unconditional love. Who knows? Maybe poverty came instead of other more difficult tribulations which had been decreed upon his family. Maybe it came to atone for sins committed in a previous lifetime. Upon pondering the trials of poverty which his children and grandchildren faced, I realized that it was because children are a person’s guarantors.
When a person sins in any area, the Attribute of Justice demands that his children die, for they are a person’s guarantors. But Hashem is all-merciful and therefore spares this anguish. Instead, he takes a person’s property. The children are left penniless and are thereby considered dead. In this manner, they can continue to live while serving as atonement.
