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PAYING THE BILL
Though I always look forward to receiving mail from my children in the United States there is always a piece of mail that I find less than thrilling. And that is when my daughter forwards to me my monthly credit card statement with its very sweet pronouncement that “it is due upon receipt.” Now, I have never been subjected to credit card fraud and every expense listed on that statement is legitimate but I nevertheless harbor a feeling of slight resentment at its being due upon receipt.
When I made the purchases listed on the statement I felt very good about charging the items to my credit card. After all, temporarily at least, it was no actual money taken out of my pocket then. But inexorably every month when I get the credit card statement, everything that appears does become money out of my pocket. My trepidation at receiving my credit card bill is alleviated by, thank God, actually paying the bill.
The Talmud correctly and shrewdly notes that there is a deep feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that borders on pleasure in being able to repay one’s loans and debts. And so this mixture of disappointment at receiving my credit card statement and my pleasant relief at having paid it acts itself out regularly on a monthly basis. Far be it from me to pry into your affairs, my dear readers, but I am certain that this experience described above is not unique to me. In our world the monthly credit card statement is ubiquitous - a part of modern life and style.
The Jewish national existence from its earliest moments can be characterized as buying with a credit card. The rabbis of the Talmud already asked; “For how long does the credit balance established by our forefathers last?” Their assessment was that much of it was used up long ago. The Torah teaches us that God collects on our credit charges in His own time and fashion. The sin of the golden calf is being paid back in long-term and long-time installments. Other sins required and require immediate payment – due upon receipt of the statement.
The problem with buying on credit cards is that at the moment of purchase it is not painful to do so. In fact, it may even be enjoyable for it provides a flash of instant gratification. Sinning has the same makeup – it is instantaneously gratifying but eventually costly. Mistakes in life and living are not always immediately recognizable. But eventually they come back to haunt us as the bill must be paid sooner or later. National policies made in haste and with wishful thinking always appear on our monthly statement demanding immediate payment.
The Torah warns us that straying away from its commandments and values, impulsively following ideas and ways that are not Jewish, always lead to heavy payment schedules. That is certainly the clear import of the Jewish story over all the ages. One would think that by now we would have learned that lesson. But alas, the impulse buying spree using our credit card with God and history apparently continues unabated.
There is a field of psychological counseling that deals with credit abuse and obsessive impulse buying. There are also those who claim to be expert in managing debt for their clients. The Jewish people are sorely in need of such expertise and counseling these days. Over the past few centuries our credit card bills have been stretched to the limit. How to pay for communism, socialism, secularism, misguided altruism, pluralism, alternate life styles, etc. is the main problem that we grapple with today. All of the difficulties that we currently encounter are part of the payment schedule.
The payment schedule of previous generations has passed on to later generations. The prophet Yirmiyahu stated: “The fathers ate unripened grapes and the teeth of their children are now on edge.” All bills eventually must be paid in one fashion or another. I have often felt that even anti-Semitism, blatant and hurtful as it is, is also another form of God’s methods, so to speak, of debt payment.
There is no free lunch in this world and that applies to our moral and religious behavior as well. A greater recognition of this fact in our educational system and our social and political behavior will go a long way towards reducing our payment schedule to more manageable proportions. Meanwhile it is clearly apparent that the credit card statement, both personal and national, will continue, nevertheless, to appear monthly..
Shabat shalom.
Berel Wein
