How is it, you might ask, a Jewish multi-billionaire, an octogenarian, and a holocaust survivor could seek to dismember the Jewish state of Israel and undermine the yearnings of worldwide Jewry by promoting dissolution of Israel and scorn for the Jewish religion - as is evident by his financial backing of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organizations? How could a successful Jew bring himself to this incredible level of hatred for the Jewish essence?We find an answer to this question in today's weekly portion of Torah (Eschanan). On the verse (Dev. 6, 5),
Wait a minute, you might ask, the Torah just told us to love G-d with all our soul; Then why bother to say, "and with all your money"? If a person loves G-d with all his soul, then surely he'd love G-d with all his money. Why add, "and with all you money" when that's self-evident?
Rashi teaches us about the unusual psyche of some people. Some people, he says, actually value their money more than their own personal being. It's these people the last clause addresses. These people, too, the Torah enjoins to love G-d "with all your might [=money]."
We now gain insight into this strange breed of person, who is willing to smother his heritage and his millennia-old traditions, only to propogate and swell his wealth. For, you can be sure, if he were not getting richer by supporting these leftist organizations, he would never do it.
Puzzle resloved. How can a man who has so much going for him, be a traitor to the very source of goodness he engenders - spitting in G-d's face and into the faces of his brethren? He is a species of person who worships at the idol of money -- to the point of self-sacrifice. Even if he's already got one foot in the grave, concern for his money is paramount. That he won't be able to take his money with him when he goes, let alone the judgements that will befall him on that fateful day, I doubt he takes the time to contemplate.
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