"In God We Trust"

From the Divre Torah of Adam Sabsevari: www.adamstorah.blogspot.com

Hello,

I often write that the D'var Torah will be short, and it ends up being very long. This week, it actually is short. And I know that because I am writing this introduction after I have already completed writing the D'var Torah.
At the very end of this week's parasha, Parashat Yitro, after we have all heard ten commandments, Hashem warns us, once again, not to make any idols or physical statues to serve as gods.

"Do not make for yourselves gods of silver and gods of gold" (Shemot 20:20).
Very simply, do not make statues out of gold and silver. Of course, you cannot make statues made out of anything. But these are two precious metals that idol-worshipers would use when constructing their gods. So the simple understand is: do not make statues out of gold and silver.
I once heard a cute interpretation of this passuk. The subject of this prohibition is not a statue; the subject of this prohibition is gold and silver. Do not make gold and silver your gods. Don't allow gold and silver to be your gods. Before the concept of paper money, people used to use gold and silver as their currency. Therefore, gold and silver refer to the very concept of money. As we all know, everyone loves money. But we cannot let it take over our lives. We cannot allow money to be our gods, allowing it to dictate our every action in life. If we're constantly thinking about how to make money, then we are doing exactly that - being servants to money. If we push aside the important things is life, like family, friends, religion, then which god do we actually believe in? On the US dollar bill, there is a nice quotation: "IN GOD WE TRUST." The question is, what "God" is the dollar bill referring to? Is it referring to Hashem? Or is it referring to itself?

This is something we all know, so there is no need to elaborate. All I can say is, take a second to think and ask yourself, "Am I a servant to the dollar bill?" May we all be blessed to have enough parnassa without letting it take over our lives.

Shabbat Shalom!
Avraham Adam Sabzevari