DEUT918 By and large, there are no vows of poverty in Judaism as a means of achieving a Divinely blessed state of affairs. There are no accusing fingers pointed at those engaged in normal economic activities and the earning of material goods. The priests and Levites in biblical times were, it is true, not allowed to have a portion of the Land of Israel like all other tribes, except for the small number of designated towns and villages apportioned to them. According to most of the biblical commentators, however, this was done not in order to produce a priesthood living in a state of poverty and devoting themselves solely to God, but rather to ensure the dispersal of the tribe of Levi throughout the country, so that there would be no area bereft of spiritual leaders. S.R. Hirsch, Commentary on the Bible, on Deut. 18:1-3. The poet- philosopher of twelfth century Spain, Yehuda Halevi, in his presentation of Judaism known as the Kuzari, described the Jewish attitude to economic activity as follows: “Nor is the decreasing of wealth an act of piety if such wealth happens to have been gained in a lawful way and its further acquisition does not prevent him from occupying himself with Torah and righteous deeds, especially for one who has family and dependents and whose desire is to spend his money for the sake of God. .... For you are, as it were, enjoying the Lord's hospitality, being invited to His table, and should thank him for His bounty, both inwardly and outwardly. The Kuzari, part II, 45-50. Mainstream Judaism saw a man's material welfare as a reward from Heaven, a gift of the Deity and therefore as something not intrinsically bad, but rather to be valued and prized. … Yet, despite the legitimacy of economic activity and of man's enjoyment of material goods, Judaism does not allow unlimited accumulation of such goods or unlimited use of them. Thus, the admonition in Ecclesiastes “Go to the ant, you sluggard” is generally regarded as a favorable injunction to industriousness and economic diligence. The rabbis, however, saw the ant’s life as the epitome of foolishness and wasted endeavor. “After all,” they said, the ant eats only two grains of wheat and lives but for one season, yet it labors ceaselessly to amass a fortune.” I.B. Bunim, Ethics from Sinai, chapter 4, mishnah 1 (New York: Feldheim, 1974). [Continued at [[DEUT1673]] Deuteronomy 32:6 endure TAMARI 31-2]