And the children of Israel did according to Moses’ order, and they borrowed from the Egyptians silver objects, golden objects, and garments. (Shemos 12:35)

So, how nervous were you on Wednesday night before the big drawing at 11PM EST. Are you upset that you did not win the $1.6B lottery? Although there probably numerous reasons why one can be sad by not winning (as a friend of mine said, there are 1.6 billion reasons), there are also reasons why you should not be sad.

In this week’s parsha, the Jews become very wealthy from the gold and silver from the Egyptians. Rashi points out something very important though. He says that the later something comes in the verse, the more precious it was for the Jews. It first mentions silver, then gold, and then clothing. How could it be that clothing is more important than silver and gold?

Imagine the following scene. You are driving on a dark, deserted road. Suddenly, your engine dies. You reach for your cell phone and then see that the battery is dead. You open your wallet and see that you have $5,000 in cash. Does your cash do you any good right now though? Absolutely not. You can have $1.6 billion at that point and it won’t help you get out of the situation. You are still stuck in a car not working on a deserted road.

The Jews were going into the desert. What good would gold and silver do them? There were no stores. What they needed was clothing for the journey, so the clothing was more precious.

Sometimes we wish and wish for gold, silver, or winning the lottery, but money does not buy everything. It might be nice to have money to spend on things, but there’s more to life than just have a lot of cash in the bank or your wallet. So, you didn’t win the lottery this week… don’t be sad. Be happy. The winners may be living with a false idea that all of their suffering has disappeared. This is not true at all. Actually, a lot of suffering has just begun because everyone is going to want some of their money now (suddenly there are relatives they didn’t even know about), which was not a problem they had a few days ago.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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