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advantage of the circumstances to legally take possession of all of accumulation of wealth and power that this brings with it has been,
Egypt’s wealth, albeit on Pharaoh’s behalf. That same wealth – and continues to be, a test of the moral and spiritual integrity of
which Joseph managed, and to a large extent had created – was many individuals and communities.
eventually given to the children of Israel when they left Egypt. Thus The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that the numerical value of the word
God’s promise to Abraham was realized:
“sulam” (when the vav is also counted) – the ladder that was set in the
Know with certainty that your descendants will be strangers in earth, but whose top reached the heavens in Jacob’s dream – is 136,
a land not their own, they will serve them and they will oppress the same as the word “mamon,” another Hebrew word for money.
them for four hundred years. But also the nation they will serve, I Just like dreams, which can express peoples’ animalistic drives or
will judge them and afterwards they will leave with great wealth. their more refined levels of the soul, money has the power to either
(Genesis 15:13-14) drive people to the ground, revealing their lowest egotistical drives
and instincts, or it has the power to elevate them and the world
The notion that “the actions of the fathers are a sign to the children”
(Sotah 34a), again comes into play here, as the Joseph paradigm has by allowing them to accomplish great things that reflect eternal,
reoccurred repeatedly throughout Jewish history. Jews have risen spiritual values. Money is intrinsically neutral; its ultimate worth
to the upper echelons of their host countries by accumulating and, depends on how people choose to spend it.
in many cases, by creating great wealth. (See the portion of Shemot
for further discussion of this idea.) Notably, while the patriarchs and
the matriarchs, who preceded Joseph, were also wealthy and highly
respected wherever they went, clearly his success far exceeded theirs;
thus, he becomes the archetypal figure for this paradigm.
The important point, however, is that our forefathers and
foremothers did not accumulate wealth at the expense of their
spiritual achievements. In fact, in many cases their wealth and power
was instrumental in enabling them to achieve certain spiritual goals
for themselves and for society at large. Indeed, Joseph was intent
on reshaping Egyptian society for the better by circumcising the 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 6 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 6 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 6 - A |
Egyptians, thus weaning them away from paganism and corruption.
He also wanted to introduce an entirely new paradigm dictating
how money and power would be used, and, in fact, he succeeded in
creating a centralized government.
Yet we all know the power money has to corrupt when it is not in
the right hands or even when it is in the right hands but is used for
the wrong purposes. One of the Hebrew words for money is “kesef,”
a word sharing the same root with the Hebrew word meaning
“desire.” If handled improperly money feeds humankind’s basest
desires and has the power to drive human beings to the depths of
greed and egotism. The Jewish genius for business and the inevitable

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