עשו sold the בכורה for a pot of lentils. The question is very obvious: How can יעקב buy “רוחניות “for a pot of soup?! A איד came before the חיים חפץ saying, “I’m so poor. I haven’t got any money. Maybe God can reward me in this world with the reward of wearing תפילין for one day?” The חיים חפץ responded with the following משל :You go into a little shop with a 10,000 ruble banknote (in our currency a £100,000 banknote) to buy a box of matches which costs 30p! Maybe with a ten pound note you might get change. But with a £100,000 you can’t buy a box of matches! Said the חיים חפץ” :ליכא עלמא בהאי מצוה שכר – You can’t receive reward for a מצוה in this world! It’s impossible currency. It’s too big.” Accordingly, how can יעקב buy רוחניות in this world with a pot of lentil soup?!
On the other hand, we see in ,דרך השם : רשעים receive הצלחה in this world to be paid for their few מצוות . Clearly, we see it is possible to receive reward for a מצוה in this world? Do מצוות have a currency in this world or not? A man came to his Rebbe crying, “I haven’t got any money. I need money desperately.” The Rebbe gave the poor fellow a ruble and exclaimed, “The next offer you are offered to buy with a ruble, buy it immediately.” On his way home, he stops over at an inn. He sits down in the bar and in comes three merchants. The three merchants notice the poor man in the corner with his tattered clothes and begin to ridicule him. As the night goes on, they drink more and become more drunk. Then they say to him, “We have real סחורה .Do you want to buy anything from us?! How much have you got?” Embarrassed and shamed, the poor man replies, “1 ruble!” They all snap up in laughter, saying, “We don’t even own anything worth one ruble!” Then, one of them jumps up and remarks, “Actually, I do have something worth 1 ruble which I am wiling to sell you. I will sell you my הבא עולם for 1 ruble.” “Fine,” said the Jew, “I will go ahead with the deal. But I want a שטר .I want it written clearly.”,they write a clear שטר and the other two merchants sign their names. He had succeed with what the Rebbe told him. Half drunk, the merchant goes upstairs and tells his wife about his recent deal he just made with a ruble! Not only was his wife not impressed, she exclaimed, “Listen here. I’m not living with a man has no עולם הבא.Why should I live with a hopeless man?! Go now and buy it back!” He tumbles back down the stairs and asks the Jew to return his הבא עולם .The איד is firm and does not give in so easily, because after all the Rebbe insured him that the next deal worth a ruble will be worthwhile! “I’ll give 10 ruble… 100 ruble’s!!” said the merchant. The איד did not hear of it. A deal is a deal. “How much do you want?” asked the merchant. “1000 ruble’s,” replied the איד. “Are you mad,” screamed the merchant, “I’m not paying such a big amount of money!” The next day they went to the Rov and the Rov פסקנד that the merchant must give 1000 ruble’s if he wants his הבא עולם back. “Rebbe! I don’t understand,” cried the merchant, “last night my הבא עולם was worth 1 ruble and now suddenly it’s worth 1000?!” The Rebbe explained: “When you sold it, you weren’t מחשיב the הבא עולם .רוחניות has a value according to how much you are מחשיב it. You weren’t מחשיב it, so it was taka worth 1 ruble! Later, once you chapped what a fool you were, you began to be מחשיב your עולם הבא;taka, it’s now worth 1000 ruble’s.” Once your wife knocked some sense into you, it’s taka worth a large amount of money. “ויבז עשו את הבכורה– “He disgraced the בכרה .He was מבזה it. He didn’t care. He made it worth nothing. Taka: it was then worth nothing, all it was worth was a pot of lentils! רוחניות is worth according to how you value it.
