Money and Our Children

One Friday afternoon this past summer Shlomo called. Shlomo is a close talmid of mine who I have taught in various classes over the last three years. “Rebbe, you are going to be so proud of me,” Shlomo began. “I just got paid from my first-ever job as a counselor. I took off maaser and then went with my mother to the bank to open a high yield savings account. Also, could you send me the maaser spreadsheet you once told us about, as I want to keep track of my maaser?”

I was so moved that Shlomo called and shared these lessons that he had learned from the finance classes offered in middle school, as well from the maaser discussions we have had. I told him that I was  proud of him for putting into practice the lessons he learned in school.

Money! It’s a subject some people would rather avoid discussing. It’s a subject that involves each area of our lives. Our understanding of money being a means to an end or an end in itself is often blurred. Money is something that we can’t live without, but how we live with it will often dictate the life we lead.

We all know that handling money can be challenging, but if we prepare our children with the basics, won’t they be so much more prepared for that challenge? If we can teach our children to handle money through the lens of Torah, won’t they have that proper view throughout life? The more we instill in them that money is a means to an end and not a goal in itself, the more likely it is that these lessons will bear fruit when these children reach adulthood.

It’s possible that in the last generation this was less necessary as the availability of fancy and high end items was less readily available. Many chose a simple lifestyle and that was just fine. With readily easily attainable gashmius in our circles often the line between needs and wants becomes blurred.

An additional benefit of this is to enhance our General Studies. It is challenging to keep children as interested in General Studies after a whole day of learning. I have found that in all areas – especially finance –  the more interested they are in the subject matter, the easier it is to hold their interest. They enjoy learning about checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, compound interest, insurance, taxes and mortgages, just to name a few topics. They are intrigued about how money works and how it can grow with minimal effort. Over the years, both in Jewish and secular curricula, there has been a great deal of quality material published on these topics. In Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, we have used some of these curricula to provide the boys with a “Basic Personal Finance Course.”There are definitely other Yeshivos and Bais Yaakov, which teach these topics,  but unfortunately it’s not yet commonplace.

These discussions about money also give us the opportunity to teach the children about maaser. When children learn to use  a spreadsheet that could easily track their maaser and begin from a young age to keep track of their maaser, there is a good chance this will become a priority and a life-long mitzvah for them.

There is no easy solution to broaching the broad topic of money, but one thing we must do is properly prepare the next generation with the correct frame of reference for the challenges that they are bound to face. Students today will surely be grateful in the future!

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