Our Gemara on Amud Aleph speaks of a rabbinic enactment in order to thwart a tendency of wealthy landowners (ba’aley kissim) to use a loophole of gentile ownership to exempt them from tithing.

It’s an interesting psychology that the wealthy people are the ones who are looking to save money. But it is something that we do see sometimes: people with less money are more generous because they don’t feel a need to hold onto it. Rashi does offer an insight as well. He says since they own so much property, the amount that they are giving in tithing is harder to bear, and they’ll be tempted to find a way to avoid it.

Also of note is the idiom used to describe these wealthy people. They are known as “ba’aley kissim,” which literally translates as “masters of the money sack” or “masters of the pocket,” probably something analogous to the English idiom “he has deep pockets.” The idiom kis, or “money bag,” is used as a general term for wealth. For example, the phrase “chesron kis” literally translates as “loss to the moneybag,” but really means financial loss. So the word kis itself becomes a substitute for the word wealth instead of just a place to hold money. It is an interesting way to describe wealth and might just be a figure of speech. However, the words of the Gemara are not taken lightly, and perhaps even this phrase has a meaning.

Sefer Daf al Daf references a Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 22) that explains a play on words regarding possessions:

“That is why they are called nekhasim (possessions); it is because they are concealed [nikhsim] from this one and revealed to that one.”

He quotes the Chiddushei Harim (Vayikra 6:2): it would be more fitting then to call possessions Niglim, “revealed,” because the one who utilizes the money is the one who has it revealed to him. However, it is still called “nekhasim—concealed” because the value comes in it not being accessible to most people. Rarity is what makes it valuable. He goes on to say that this is a truth regarding all things valuable, including spirituality: the more hidden it is, the more valuable it is.

The Chiddushei Harim goes a surprising step further. He says it is even more valuable when it is hidden from oneself. Meaning, even if he achieves great heights in total knowledge or piety, it is best when he does not aggrandize himself for it and pushes that away from his consciousness. Humility brings more knowledge and more greatness because there’s an openness in a realization of what one does not know, instead of pride, which leads to complacency.

The word for wealth is kis, and based on this, Sefer Daf al Daf suggests it also hints at the idea of hiddenness. The value of the money is that it is rare and hidden; therefore the word for wealth is related to the idea of being covered. If so, kis is not only the Hebrew word for pocket or sack but is also related to the Hebrew word “kisuy,” which means covering.

I will add that there seems to be another universal idea about how something of worth becomes more valuable if hidden. Taanis (8b) states:

“The Sages taught: One who enters to measure produce in his granary recites: May it be Your will, Lord our God, that You send a blessing upon the work of our hands. After he has begun to measure, he recites: Blessed is He who sends a blessing upon this pile. If one first measured and afterward recited the blessing, it is a prayer in vain, as a blessing is not found either in an object that is weighed or in an object that is measured or in an object that is counted… Rather, a blessing is found only in an object that is hidden from the eye.”

Why is this true—that greater blessing or value comes from something that is hidden? In order to answer that question, we must first address a question raised by the Kedushas Levi (Pikkudei):

If counting neutralizes or blocks the flow of blessing, why does the Torah repeatedly and carefully count all the contributions to the Mishkan? He answers that when the counting comes from a recognition of the Godly force within it, since God is infinite, it brings blessing. But if the counting is with an evil eye, then it brings contraction.

My understanding of the Kedushas Levi is as follows: Anytime we try to quantify something we are imposing physical limits on it. That action itself reduces access to blessing because we’re shutting down the reception to the unlimited potential that could come from God. Even the act of counting our money and keeping track of it, from that perspective, stops us from being more open psychologically and spiritually to the unlimited that can come from God. What was different about counting the contributions to the Temple was that the people at that time were sufficiently attached to God so that when they counted this material they were not limiting it and saw it all as coming from His abundance.