How does a person know if he is being stingy or just being careful with money?Q:
A:
If he is in doubt, let him should consult someone, a talmid chochom. Sometimes, he is deceiving himself and he needs someone to point that out to him. Of course, you can’t run to the chochom for every little thing; you have to use your judgment. If a person has a certain amount of ahavas Hashem and he is looking for mitzvos, and at the same time he has a certain amount of chochma, so the chochma and the ahavas Hashem work together and give him an idea what he should do. But just to tell you from here, in a general way, how to control this middah, is not possible. You have to use your judgment based on the knowledge that you have to save your money, and you have to worry about your own family. And yet, you also you have to think about your duties in gemilas chasodim too. You have to come to some sort of compromise. Now, in case it is too difficult, so you consult a chochom to help you come to a decision.
TAPE # E-91 (November 1996)
