The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 111 - Are You So Poor That All You Have Is Money?
Have you ever wondered if your relationship with money is fundamentally flawed? The Trust Factor podcast explores a profound paradigm shift in how spiritually-centered individuals should approach wealth, offering a direct challenge to modern society's obsession with accumulation.
Money, when properly understood, requires distribution across three domains: your personal needs, the needs of those who depend on you, and the excess that can benefit your broader community. This spiritual framework powerfully contrasts with contemporary attitudes, where hoarding wealth has become normalized despite its emotional and spiritual toll.
The ancient sages approached their work lives with remarkable intentionality—opening their shops only until they earned their daily bread, then dedicating remaining hours to spiritual growth, family, and community. Today, we've completely inverted this wisdom, sacrificing everything meaningful on the altar of endless accumulation. As the podcast pointedly observes, some become "so poor that all they have is money."
Perhaps most revolutionary is the teaching about giving: when you provide for others, you should thank them for the opportunity to fulfill your spiritual obligation, not expect their gratitude. This complete reorientation transforms charity from a self-congratulatory act into a humble recognition of your role as merely a temporary steward of divine resources.
Ready to transform your relationship with wealth and discover the freedom that comes from understanding money's true purpose? Listen now and learn how true abundance comes not from what you accumulate, but from how faithfully you distribute what you've been entrusted with.
Good morning everybody and welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine teachings. We are into a discussion about money, about wealth, about how somebody who has trust in his creator manages their money or views their money, the money that's given to them. We go to work, we make an effort and we are given money in exchange. That's the transaction that money is. We've just said should be split up into three different compartments. One compartment is for your needs, the other compartment is for the needs of those who depend on you. And the third compartment is the excess. It's the savings, it's the investment portfolio, it's the real estate, it's all the excess that you've kept aside, that you've amassed, or that we all try and spend our lives trying to amass. You know, once upon a time, my friends, this idea of amassing wealth was not an idea. It did not exist. What people did was they went to work, and I'm talking about our sages over here, I'm talking about righteous people who are responsible for the Torah that we have today. These people were working people, they had jobs, they were shoemakers and blacksmiths and they did all the same things that we do today. They had to generate an income, but the way they did it was very different than the way we operate today. They knew what their livelihood required of them. They understood how much they needed in terms of a budget. They understood how much they have coming in and how much needs to go out. They knew their expenses for the day and what they would do is they would go in to their shop, they would open up their business and they would conduct business until the very point at which they've made their daily earnings, and that was it. Then they would shut down their store and they would go and they would learn from this Torah. They would grow, invest their time and energy in their personal spiritual growth and well-being of theirs and their family and their community. That's what they did. They focused on themselves and their community. The work was just a means to an end. I know I need to make $200 today to survive. I go to work, I open up my store. God sends me the customer in the morning Wonderful, I'm done with my $200. I close up the store and I leave the rest for my neighbor to make you understand. That's how they functioned. If I needed $300 a day, that's what my limit was and if it didn't come to me in the morning, it came to me in the afternoon. Then that means that I'd have to stay until the afternoon in order to make my daily bread. But that's how they operated. Once their daily amount was acquired, they would lock the store and they would continue to do the things that were a means to an eternity, not a means to an end.
Speaker 0:Today, my friends, we have it exactly 180 degrees the opposite. We do it exactly the opposite of the way that they did it back then. Today, we live to work, we live to amass wealth. We try our best to continue to make more and more and more, and we do it at all the expenses of our growth, our personal and spiritual growth, our family's growth, our community and all the other things that are so much more important than dollars and cents, so much more.
Speaker 0:I once heard an individual say that he had met people who were so poor, so destitute, that all they had was money. Understand, friends, that's where we are today. We understand that you are the wealthiest, you are the most complete. If all you have is money, it's such a backwards way of thinking, my friends. If all you have is money, it's such a backwards way of thinking, my friends, let's continue. He says how do we err, how do we make mistakes? What are the mistakes that we make when it comes to money?
Speaker 0:It says as follows the foolish person thinks that all the money that the Creator has decreed for him to receive, in other words, his entire earnings, is income for his own food and the maintenance of his own body. You understand, we talked about this yesterday, my friends. We said clearly that there are so many people that when you ask them for a dollar, they become evil, they become wicked, they feel like you are attacking them. They go on the defense. That's because they've subscribed to what Rabbeinu Bachia is telling us right here that everything I earn, every single dollar, is for me, and if you think that I'm going to part with it for somebody else or some other cause, you are sorely mistaken. That is the flavor of the day, my friends, and clearly this was the flavor back 900 years ago. So things may not have changed as much as I may think they have. This still continues to persist today.
Speaker 0:Thus it says in his desire to increase his fortune, he hastens to amass more and more money and exerts extra effort for it, and then he hoards it. In truth, however, the extra money he earns may not be earmarked for him at all. You hear this You're working so hard to amass all of this wealth and it may not even be for you. You're not giving it to your spouse, you're not giving it to your children, you're not giving it to your community, you're just hoarding it as much as possible. You want to see that number increase every day. That number goes up and up and up and every day.
Speaker 0:Multiple times a day, you're counting your money. How much do I have? You know the things that are important to us. We count, right? We're always thinking about our children. We're thinking about each and every one of you. You have five kids. You don't just think about one or two, you think about each and every one of those children because they're important to you, right? That's a way of counting them, by thinking about them, by contemplating them. When all you're doing, 12 times a day, is getting onto your banking app, looking on it online and seeing how much is in there, how much went out today? How much came in today? Am I on track to becoming the billionaire that I expect to be? If that's all you're doing, what that's telling you is that's the only thing that matters to you, because you've occupied all of your time with it.
Speaker 0:And what does he say over here? He gets into a pretty extreme example. He says that this might even be for in other words, all the money that you're getting may be for your wife's future husband you hear this the man that she will marry after you're gone. Or for his unforeseen murderer, the guy who's going to come and kill him and take possession of his wealth Unbelievable. Or for his greatest enemy, to whom it may go when he loses it. This person does not realize that all his work is just in vain. You're amassing and amassing and amassing and eventually it's going to be swept out from underneath you. Either it's going to go to somebody that is undeserving in your eyes but deserving in God's eyes, and it's going to go there whether you like it or not, or it may even go, like he says here, worst case scenario to the last person on the planet that you would want it to go like God forbid your murderer, or your wife's future husband. Right, he would be far better off generously sharing his surplus with those who need it so that he would get credit for his kindness.
Speaker 0:How much smarter would it be for you to recognize that when you leave this world, you take nothing with you and you can enjoy the fruits of your labor today and others who rely on you can enjoy this life today. You don't have to hoard it, it's coming to you. If it's coming to you, it's not just for you, it's for those who are around you, it's for your friends, your family, your community. You have to share the wealth. It's not just for you to hoard, and if that's what you think, you're going to be really upset when the time comes for you to recognize and you may even be living. It doesn't have to be when you're dead. It can be swept out from under you while you're still alive. We see that all the time.
Speaker 0:How many times, god forbid, divorces happen and the wives or the husbands end up taking away half of the fortune. The guy works forever and ever and risks and sacrifices his family, time and his community and being a well-rounded individual at the expense of amassing massive amounts of wealth. The wife comes along or the husband comes along later on, after this guy finally says you know what I'm done. I'm retired, I've put in a good 20, 30 years to amass this wealth. It's come at a very high price and then she says bye-bye and she takes half of his wealth. Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars is swept away from the guy or, even worse, he spends untold fortunes and stress and anxiety and depression fighting that very same thing that she should not take what is coming to her.
Speaker 0:You understand, friends, what's it all for. What's it all for? We're breaking our backs, we're making ourselves crazy trying to manage this concept of wealth and we're doing it all wrong. The right way to do it is recognize that it wasn't all given to you for you. You are a steward. You are safeguarding his money for the people who rely on you. That includes friends, family and community. My friends, that is part of the reason equal part of the reason why you are being given any wealth at all. Now let's move forward and see what he says here. Actually, he says something very interesting. Hopefully we'll get into it in a minute.
Speaker 0:He says the following, which is unbelievable the third error that a foolish person in the position of supporting others makes is that, although he is giving the provisions he received to their rightful owners. In other words, I'm given millions of dollars and my job is to support my children, my parents, my spouse, my extended family, my community members, all these different opportunities for me to take the millions of dollars that I've been trusted with to go and make the world better for everybody around me. I'm doing that. I'm doing it. That's what he says. I was given the money and now I'm doing the right thing. I'm giving it to their rightful owners, but he reminds them of the goodness towards them in doing this, as if he were the one who provided them with their provisions and sustains them and was the source of this kindness towards them. He expects them to thank him and praise him profusely for this and to act submissively towards him.
Speaker 0:On this account, he becomes arrogant, his heart becomes proud and conceited and he neglects to fulfill his debt of gratitude to God for granting him this privilege of distributing provisions to others. You understand, when you give money to charity, when you give a poor person a meal, you think you're doing that person a favor. In reality, that person is doing you the favor, that person, by taking the money that you've been given to provide for their own basic necessities. In doing so, that individual allows you the mitzvah, the deed of charity. That person enables you to separate from the money that you've been entrusted with in order to give it to those in need, and he is in need and he's enabling you to do the right thing with that money. You need to say thank you to him. When you give him the money to support his family, you have to say thank you to him.
Speaker 0:Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to support you with the money that God gave me. Who am I? I'm just a guy like you. I got up and I made an effort, and my effort resulted in X, yours resulted in Y. At the end of the day, my job is to make sure that I take care of you, my brothers and sisters. I have an obligation to doing that, and that's what I'm going to do with the money that he gave me. I'm no different than you. I could just as easily have been in your position, but God, in his kindness, gave me this opportunity. I'm acknowledging it. I'm going to say thank you to God and I'm going to say thank you to you for allowing me to be able to do the act of charity. Have an amazing day, my friends. We'll continue tomorrow.
