GEN1388 A man should take care to be generous according to his means, to be magnanimous where magnanimity is called for, and miserly and withholding where it is not called for, weighing all in the scales of Torah.   He should learn from our father Yaakov, who was unparalleled in his frugality, as it is written [this verse]: “And Yaakov remained alone,” concerning which our Rabbis of blessed memory have said that he had returned for some small jars that he had forgotten, from which we learn that the wealth of the righteous is more precious to them than their bodies, because they do not stretch forth their hands to steal Chullin 91a.   Observe the extreme frugality of a man as rich as our father Yaakov, may peace be upon him, in returning for small jars.   Yet in another place we find that he was unparalleled in his lavishness, as our Rabbis of blessed memory expounded: “In my grave which I have dug [karisi] for myself” Genesis 50:5 – this teaches us that Yaakov took all the silver and gold that he had taken from the house of Lavan, made a pile [keri], and said to Esav: “Take this for your share in the Machpelah cave’” Exodus Rabbah 31:17.   Can anyone be more lavish than this?   Therefore, from this one should learn not to squander even a perutah vainly and needlessly.   And in the event of a mitzvah, such as the giving of charity and other mitzvos involving expenditure, such as the acquisition of a teacher, a friend, and books, one should spend lavishly in order to achieve exalted levels to return one’s soul to its place of purity where it will be bound up in the bond of eternal life, as it is written Samuel 1 25:29: “And the soul of my master will be bound up in the bond of life.”   TZADIK 323