You Can’t Take It With You: Timeless Jewish Lessons on Wealth, Charity, and What Truly Lasts

"Do not fear when a man grows rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies, he will take nothing; his honor will not descend after him." (Tehillim 49:17–18)

The Sages taught in the Jerusalem Talmud (Shabbat 14): “To what can all people be compared? To a rat. Just as a rat drags and stores food without knowing for whom she stores it, so too people gather and hoard wealth without knowing who will enjoy it after them.”

A rat differs from other animals. Most predators hunt when hungry, carry their prey, and eat it. But the rat tirelessly collects food it doesn’t need, dragging it with great effort across the floor — only for another rodent to come and take it. All that labor, wasted!

The same is true with people. They toil endlessly to earn more money, often far beyond what they need for sustenance. They exhaust their energy and health in pursuit of wealth — yet many never truly enjoy it, leaving it behind for others. As the commentary on Ein Yaakov explains, “He gathers but does not know who will inherit.”

The Madness of Endless Accumulation

Maimonides (Introduction to Seder Zeraim) wrote: “There is no madness in the world like the madness of man.”

He describes a person who labors and risks his life to amass riches, crossing seas and enduring danger, only to spend his days supervising workers who build palaces that will outlast him — though he knows full well his life will end before he can truly dwell in them. “Is there a greater folly than this?” asks the Rambam.

The Midrash HaMaaseh (Bereishit) echoes this thought: “If a person has a permanent dwelling, it is only in his final resting place. In this world, you are a guest; the World to Come is your home.”

No mansion or monument will serve a soul after death. And yet, Divine Providence finds purpose even in the “madness” of human greed, for as Shlomo Hamelech wrote (Kohelet 2:26): “To the sinner He gives the task of gathering and storing up, to hand it over to the one who is good before God.”

The Only Profitable Investment: Charity

There is one type of investment that never loses value. The Prophet Yeshayahu teaches (Yeshayahu 58:7–8): “Share your bread with the hungry, bring the poor that are cast out into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, your healing will spring up speedily, your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will gather you in.”

The Metzudat David explains: “The charity you give will go before you to lead you into Paradise, and the glory of God will receive you among the souls of the righteous.”

The Example of King Munbaz: Saving for Eternity

The Talmud (Bava Batra 11a) tells of King Munbaz, who during a great famine opened his royal treasuries and gave generously to the poor. His family rebuked him: “Your ancestors saved their wealth for generations, and you squander it in a short time?”

He replied: “My ancestors stored their treasures below, I store mine above. They stored where human hands can reach, I store where no hand can touch. They saved for this world, I save for the next. 
They saved for others, but I save for myself.”

In truth, when a person earns 1,000 dollars and donates 100 to charity, he thinks he has 900 left. But spiritually, it is the opposite. The 900 will be spent and vanish. The 100 given away is what truly remains forever.

The True Accounting of Wealth

A remarkable story is told about Don Isaac Abarbanel, the renowned Jewish scholar and finance minister of Spain. The king trusted and admired him, but jealous courtiers accused him of embezzling state funds. To test him, the king demanded a full accounting of his private wealth.

Days later, Abarbanel presented his report. When the king read the modest total, he shouted angrily: “Lies! I know you are worth ten times this amount!”

Abarbanel calmly replied: “Your Majesty, when you opened an inquiry, I knew the accusations would not end easily. If I listed my visible assets, your ministers could seize them or question them endlessly. Instead, I prepared a different report — one of my true wealth. This list shows the money I gave to the poor, to charity, to those in need. That wealth no man can take from me, not even a king. It is the only treasure that belongs to me — forever.”

As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch beautifully wrote in Horeb: “Not the gold and silver you amassed, nor the pleasures you consumed, nor the honors you attained will stand with you before God. Only the coin that fed the hungry, the garment that clothed the naked, the kindness that saved a life — these will be yours for eternity.”

Feeding the Poor — Building One’s Eternal Home

Rabbeinu Bachya, in Shulchan Arba, relates a noble custom from Spain: “We heard that many great men, when they departed this world, would have their dining table — the very one on which they fed the poor, fashioned into their coffin. This served as a reminder that all the wealth a man accumulates under the sun will not accompany him, except the good and charity he performed. As it is written: ‘And your righteousness will go before you.’”

Everything we acquire fades — houses, fame, fortune. The only treasure that endures is what we give. Wealth used to ease another’s pain is the only wealth that truly belongs to us.