Why Should We Have More Than We Need?
A question I received: We know that in the past many Kabbalists were rather successful businessmen. What did it mean then to be “successful?”
My Answer: On the outside, Kabbalists always resembled other people. That was a period when they had to live like regular people since it was still forbidden to reveal the science of Kabbalah. Were they successful salesmen and did they keep their profits?
Baal HaSulam wrote that a person who studies how to become similar to the Creator, distributes his extra earnings among everyone, leaving only what was necessary for himself.
There has never been a single person who attained the spiritual and kept more for himself than what he required for a normal existence. On the other hand, it is forbidden to place oneself below the acceptable standard of living for the particular period or place.
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Dear Rav, how do we measure one’s adequate standard of living? Is it by the level of correction of which one resembles with the corrected egoism of oneself?
What is the condition of below the standard of living and existing at the standard of living?