This week we begin the final of the five books of the Torah with Parshas Devarim. It says in this week’s parsha, “It is now forty years that Hashem, your G-d, has been with you and you have lacked nothing.” I saw in Rav Avigdor Miller’s, of blessed memory, commentary on the Torah something to think about. When we were in the desert, we did have all of our needs taken care of, but we still certainly did not have everything. For example, there were no roofs on their houses. And although in some past movies there were tire tracks in the dirt and watches on people’s arms, the Jews in the desert had none of these. Actually, we really did not have very many luxuries at all. The reason is very simple: it is because we did not need these things.

This past week, my boss and I went to visit one of our contractors in company car. On the way back, I got into the driver seat, put on my seat belt, and turned on the engine. A few seconds later, the car started beeping. I was wondering what I did wrong, when my boss said that he needed to put on his seat belt. I was confused. How did the car even know that there was a passenger in the car. My boss then laughed and said that all new cars have sensors under the passenger seat so it knows when a person is in the seat. This way it will beep when the passenger does not put on his seat belt. I could not believe my ears. A few years ago, someone told me that it costs about $10,000 to get all of the luxuries that we find in cars (this is talking about all of these sensors that are for our comfort and are not needed to make the car run – like this sensor to tell when the passenger is not wearing his seat belt or the electronic buttons that make our seats move up and down instead of the small bar we used to pull). For me to see if the person next to me is wearing his seat belt takes me a second to turn my head 90 degrees. But instead of making me waste all of this energy, I can pay large amounts of money for the car to tell me this. Cars are a necessary for most people in our generation (unless you live in a city with an excellent public transportation system), but all of these expensive gadgets that come with the car are not necessary. Before buying them, as with everything, you should think if you really need it. If this is something that will really be beneficial to you and it is within your budget, then get it. If not, though, then forget about it.

A few months ago I was listening to Rav Bentzion Shafier and he said something that changed my financial life. He said to put away the credit card. The reason for this is because people spend more money when they use credit cards than when they use cash – sometimes up to 18% more. If people actually make a budget limit and only have a certain amount of cash on-hand, then they will spend only that amount. When they use a credit card, though, they just keep swiping the plastic card and only find out at the end of the month how much they actually spent. A person paying with cash will only spend on items that are necessary and avoid things that are not needed. After I heard this, I decided to give it a try on a trial basis. So far, I have seen very nice results. This is because my wife and I are being much more careful about what we buy. We buy only what we need.

In the desert, Hashem provided everything the Jews needed. The Jews did not live in mansions with a Lexus in the driveway, but this is because these things were not needed. I will admit that some people need to live in a mansion and drive a Lexus. If that is you and these are within your budget, then by all means buy them. But if it is not you, then you should not buy them. Each person should evaluate for himself or herself what he really needs and make sure to only buy that. No one would pay $10,000 for a toy for his children, so a person should not pay thousands of dollars for a toy for himself either.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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