by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman

At the Wall Street Journal they don’t only concern themselves with the giants of Wall Street, calculating the millions and billions won and lost (these days mostly lost) in trading. They can also think small, and are not above offering advice to ordinary non-billionaires (think of it, such people actually do exist!) for their tiny household budgeting. Even if America writ large can’t balance its payments (the national debt has passed the $10 trillion mark), at least America writ small can do so.

The first thing WJS’s Jeff D. Opdyke recommends is getting the right attitude, which, fortunately, doesn’t cost anything. The trick is to replace the word “budget” with “spending plan.” Everybody hates to budget, because it usually means spending less. A “spending plan” sounds like a shopping spree with lists. It’s the kind of language that gives courage to the fiscally challenged.

The key to financial responsibility is organization. Opdyke says you have to “add up all the fixed costs in your life and subtract that sum from your monthly take-home pay. The result is your discretionary income.” Then it’s a matter of estimating what you realistically want and need to spend on, and putting aside for it. It also means coming to grips with the grim reality that you may not have enough money to buy everything you want. You may have to choose between a daily double-tall half-caff mocha latte grandes with sprinkles versus that luxury vacation getaway with all the frills.

Judaism, which concerns itself with the mega-issues of God, creation, prayer, eternity, also sweats the small stuff. There are Jewish financial counseling outfits (Mesila, for example), which offer advice similar to Opdyke’s. They also teach people how to plan their spending, and categorizing expenses is an integral part of it. One category they have on their forms that Opdyke didn’t mention is that of mitzvot, money to be allocated for religious articles and activities, such as the four species for Sukkot, or tefilin for a son’s bar mitzvah, or the kosher food which costs significantly more than its non-kosher equivalents. Budgeting for God.

This is all sound advice, and okay as far as it goes, in normal times. But it does nothing to address the double-tall anxieties of losing your job or your house in the current economic meltdown. As some people already have.

Actually, a great deal of Jewish thought has gone into this type of problem down through the ages. The Sages of the Talmud put it this way: “He who gives life, gives food.” That is, God created life, including the infinitely intricate machinery of the human body. As we all know, if any of the vital organs should cease to function as they should, we are goners. And we know that this could happen at any moment. I need not give examples. Yet, most of the time we don’t think about it. If we did, we would abruptly go into shutdown. On the contrary, the heart, lungs, kidneys, etcetera, go on working day in and day out without any deliberate effort on our part.

And He who gives life, gives food. We are likewise not supposed to worry about the financial future. Sure, we can make our plans according to our best calculations; but then, it’s up to the Master of the Universe to worry about keeping the whole thing going. Just like you aren’t supposed to worry all the time about your heartbeat, even though people die of heart attacks all the time, so too you shouldn’t worry about your financial situation, even though the jobless and foreclosure statistics keep rising.

Of course, it’s easy to say. But how is it possible to stop worrying? To be sure, the right worldview alone is not enough. You need something more. That something more is called Shabbat. One day out of every seven in which working, buying and selling, phone calls, tv, internet, sms, and all the rest, are off limits. Instead of being connected to the world of bankruptcies and stock collapses, of high anxiety and massive dread, you are connected to the world of spirituality, of family and friends, of bread and wine and song and prayer.

It’s good practice in relaxing while God does the worrying. After all, that’s what He’s there for. Let Him sweat the small stuff.

Source: Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm.

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