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?
Now, I don’t know what your Rosh Yeshiva had in mind, but I’ll say as follows. The Gemara (Pesachim 54b) says that Hashem made a special gezeirah עַל הַמַּטְבֵּעַ שֶׁיֵּצֵא, 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 to buy a suit. Now, a suit is a neis, 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 neis! 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! And buttonholes! A garment 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 that Hashem made a decree. גָּזַר עַל הַמַּטְבֵּעַ שֶׁיֵּצֵא. It’s a neis! A miracle! The whole world agreed to this “foolish” idea. Except that it’s not foolish at all; it enables commerce. Otherwise, you couldn’t do business. And therefore, Hashem made this gezeirah that the whole world accepts that gold is good. It’s a mishugas! But Hashem said the whole world should agree that gold and silver are good. That’s a neis.
A copper coin is also a miracle. Just because there is a stamp on it, it has a certain value. So you see a miracle, the yad Hashem, that it should be considered a davar chashuv.
So, although picking up a penny today may not be worth the effort of bending over, still, just pick it up and marvel at this miracle that the entire world accepts coins. It’s a miracle!
From Rav Avigdor Miller on Money by Yaakov Astor.
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