Recently we have been witness to the collapse of many
businesses and factories due to the difficult economic
conditions in the State of Israel. It's no secret that many
sectors considered stable and sure are struggling for
survival and on the verge of financial ruin.
Almost every household in the country has felt the economic
decrees and the economic straits the country through which
has passed. The deep recession diminished commercial
activity, narrowed its maneuvering ability and damaged its
development, as can be expected in any modern, independent
economy with an extensive network of economic activity.
Often in times of economic crisis and prolonged recession
because people have less money, tax payments decrease and
spending and surplus spending diminish. People rethink the
way they do their shopping, purchase new items, manage their
business affairs and negotiate.
Officially the economy operates as an open, familiar market
where banking, commerce, importing and exporting and all of
the different types of business around the country continue
to operate just like in every Western nation. On the fringes
is a black or gray market where parallel or additional types
of business operate in a very different manner on a different
scale, with different securities and guarantees and different
negotiating methods not found in the conventional business
world.
The difficult state of the economy drove people to make risky
bets they would not make in other times, trying to invest
their money in dubious places a far cry from the level of
dependability typical at banks, haphazardly giving out years
of hard-earned savings into irresponsible or inept hands with
vain hopes of earning quick and easy profits.
According to human nature there are always some people who
want to make quick deals and profit from this situation,
taking advantage of the hard times to rake in capital. Though
they are well aware of the possible repercussions of their
actions, this does not deter them. They fool many people with
empty promises of rewarding interest payments, well above
normal rates, and contrive various stories of how investors
can realize tremendous profits quickly and easily.
Recently we have seen numerous bankruptcies, the financial
collapse of commercial institutions and businessmen who put
their money in risky investments. Relying on doubtful
promises and guarantees, they quickly lost all of their
property and assets and found themselves holding nothing but
tattered, worthless papers in their hands. It tears at the
heartstrings to see how people don't learn from experience
after constantly hearing about investors who went bust and
took others down with them.
Easy come, easy go. Serious commercial figures regard this
innocence and naivete with wonder as they watch people throw
good money away. They are also unable to understand the
borrowers themselves who make promises of extraordinarily
high interest rates that they clearly will never be able to
pay.
No less important is to take personal responsibility and not
dream of selling property or breaking open savings accounts,
etc. to indulge superstitious and irresponsible beliefs of
earning fast and easy money. As experience shows around the
globe, very few succeeded through such means and the vast
majority of those who tried them later lament the
foolhardiness that lured them into futile business deals.
Periodically we hear about individuals from various segments
of the population who rue their bitter fortune after having
lost their homes and all of their property because they
placed blind, innocent faith in people who made grand
promises. Soon they went away broken and forlorn without a
roof over their head or a penny to their name.
*
Someone who wants to put his money into a genuine investment,
in a trustworthy, sure and profitable place based on long
years of experience, can deposit it in one of the well-known,
reputable gemachim maintained in every location around
the country, yielding positive (spiritual) gains for many
years.
Based on long-term observations these free loan societies
meet the repayment schedules and always return depositors'
money upon request. The money also maintains its dollar
value, accumulates merit in Heaven and brings blessings upon
the depositors.
The managers of these gemachim tell stories of people
who saw Hashgochoh protis and great help from Above
upon placing their savings in gemach funds. There are
also accounts of people who removed cash from hiding places
under the flooring or in the boidem—and even
those who made early withdrawals from savings plans after
consulting with their rov—and upon depositing
the money in large, reliable gemachim saw great
brochoh and hatzlochoh and their financial
affairs proceed above and beyond derech hateva.
In Ahavas Chessed the Chofetz Chaim discusses at
length the many merits accrued by those who deposit their
money for tzedokoh purposes and the great prudence
required when depositing money in an interest-earning
arrangement even if a good heter iska has been signed
because nevertheless the depositor has refrained from the
mitzvah of tzedokoh and the mitzvah of im kesef
talveh (parshas Mishpotim), i.e. lending money as an act
of chessed rather than to earn interest (see Chap.
15).
Such a person's sole aim is to contribute toward building a
world of chessed—olom chessed
yiboneh—by doing acts of kindness that last
eternally. Chazal enumerated a great number of mitzvas that
stem from acts of chessed.
Thus these deposits are bound in mitzvas constantly and the
merit of the mitzvas performed with the money guard over the
depositor during hard times, yielding constant blessings and
merits.
