אות - קצג

The Rebbe said that one must use the same powers with money as one does with food. (These powers are: acceptance, retention, digestion, distribution and expulsion.)

When you eat, you make use of your power of acceptance. You also make use of your power of retention, holding the food so that it does not immediately leave your body.

Then you use your faculty of digestion and distribution, delivering the food to all parts of the body. The brain receives the choicest parts, with the next best going to the heart. Each part of the body receives what is best for it.

Following this, you make use of your power of expulsion, excreting the unusable portion of the food. All this is well-known.

Money requires these same powers. You must use your power of retention and not spend the money immediately. [Not like those who have a great desire for money and spend their lives acquiring it, only to squander it immediately (see “ His Wisdom ” #281; Tzaddik #547) .]

Then you must make use of your power of distribution, budgeting your income for all your necessities. It is the same as with food. The choicest portion must be given to charity. The rest must be distributed properly, just as in the case of food.

The Baal Shem Tov once explained why he accepted money from the wicked. He said, “I distribute all the money that I receive. That which comes from the righteous is spent on the needs of pious wayfarers who visit me. Other monies are distributed accordingly. But money coming from the wicked is spent for my horses and laborers.” The money might be all mixed together, but it was automatically distributed in such a manner.

The Baal Shem Tov was able to distribute his income automatically. The same was true of his power of expulsion. The unusable portion of his income was expelled and used for common laborers and horses.

The Rebbe said, “The passion for riches comes mainly to one who does not have a vessel to receive.

“The same is true of eating. For certainly, if one knows how to eat ….

“Desire is mainly for that which is not necessary. The same is true of money. I have a vessel ….”