<html>
<head>
<style>
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma
}
</style>
</head>
<body class='hmmessage'>
Richard Wolpoe wrote:<BR>
<BR>> And I can tell you ma'asim where rich people are told NOT to perfect<BR>> themselves but to be ba'alei tzedakkah instead in order to support the poor<BR>> of the community....<BR>
> Certainly we all work on middos to a degree but self-perfection is not for the <BR>
> masses. Most of us have jobs to do first....<BR>
<BR>
It depends on what you'd call "self-perfection." To me, that doesn't mean <BR>
abandoning the ways of the world. Rather, when the "rich people" and <BR>
those of us who "have jobs to do first" are indeed perfecting themselves <BR>
if they go about these pursuits in a manner faithful to Torah.<BR>
<BR>
Hashem didn't give us mitzvos about how to farm, how to conduct commerce, <BR>
how to weave, and so on, in the expectation that the perfect individual does <BR>
none of these things.<BR>
<BR>
Elly<BR>
<BR>
<BR><br /><hr />Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. <a href='http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline' target='_new'>Stop by today!</a></body>
</html>