When the 2nd Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi DovBer was a child of 7 years old, he asked his father, the Alter Rebbe, the following question:[1]
“Why is it that wealthy people are naturally haughty—it is clear too that this haughtiness is ingrained as if it is natural and not superimposed? What is more, is that if someone suddenly becomes rich, their nature suddenly changes, and they retroactively become haughty ‘from birth?’”
His father, the Rebbe, responded:
“The almighty created that rich people should naturally be aloof. The supernal ‘hall’ of wealth is situated between heaven and hell. This is in line with the verse (Kohelet, 7:14) “G-d has made one corresponding to the other.” This chamber has two doors—one opposite the other. One door opens to heaven and the other to hell.”
“The ‘grandfather’—the Bal Shem Tov—would say, ‘that for one person wealth can be heaven, but for the other a veritable hell.’”
The Rebbe went on to explain:
“An individual who uses his wealth for charity, Torah and Mitzvos, the actual wealth is heaven. However, someone who uses the wealth for himself, on corporeal matters, or he stores it as a treasure—his wealth is literally hell.
[1] Iggrot Kodesh, Vol. 7 Pg. 58-59
