Q:
My rosh yeshiva once told me that I should pick up a penny from the ground because it’s a davar chashuv. Can you explain this?
A:
Now I don’t know what his rosh yeshiva had in mind, but I’ll say as follows. The Gemara (Pesachim 54b) says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu made a special gezeirah על המטבע שיצא, that people should accept coins.
When you see a coin you’re seeing a miracle. Actually it makes no sense. You walk into a store and you want buy a suit. Now a suit is a nes, it’s a a miracle. It’s wool that grew on the back of a sheep. The sheep ate grass, and from the grass the sheep produced wool. It’s a nes! An animal that can make wool out of grass!
And then somebody took that wool and cut it off and dyed it and then spun it into thread. That’s a big job, an umnus. Then they wove it into a garment. Then they sewed it to fit you. And buttons! Buttons are wonderful inventions. Buttons are wonderful inventions! And button holes! A beged is a marvelous thing.
Now the man in the store is giving you a suit. What do you give him in return? You give him a wad of paper; that’s all – green paper.
Meshugeh! What kind of exchange is that? He should say, “Nothing doing. Bring a truckful of potatoes, let’s say two hundred bags of potatoes, and then I’ll give you the suit.” That’s common sense. But green paper? Or even gold? What’s gold? You can’t eat gold. You put gold away in a box. You can’t plant it; it won’t grow into other things. It’s worthless.
So the Gemara says Hakadosh Baruch Hu made a decree. גזר על המטבע שיצא. It’s a nes! A miracle! The whole world agreed to this ‘foolish’ idea – it’s not foolish however; it helps commerce. Otherwise you couldn’t do business. And therefore Hashem made the gezeirah that the whole world accepts that gold is good. It’s a meshugas! What good is gold? But Hashem said the whole world should make an agreement that gold is good and silver is good. That’s a nes.
So when you see a copper coin it’s also a miracle. Just because there is a stamp on it, it has a certain value. So you see a miracle, the Yad Hashem. So it’s a davar chashuv.
So although today, to pick up a penny is maybe not worth the effort today to bend over. But still, just pick it up and marvel at this miracle that the entire world accepts coins. It’s a miracle.
(April 1993)
