Let My People Know

"Money is, in many ways, not material"

 

When a person is successful in any way, what does that really mean? 

Usually, it is not a physical reality.

Being successful, being "on top," is not best measured by a physical yardstick. 

It is a spiritual relationship or connection in which the successful person is acknowledged by others as being successful. 

The same is true of power–a powerful person is not necessarily a fellow who can lift three hundred pounds. 

The power of a commander, of a politician, or of a leader is spiritual, not material.

Even something as quantifiable as money is in many ways not material. 

It is not just the physical money that constitutes wealth.

It is also the notion of possession, as well as our agreement that money is a symbol for other things.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From Simple Words, p. 60, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz