Jerusalem Day is one of my favorite days of the year, when we celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem. The highlight for me is the flag parade.

While some see this parade as a display of extreme nationalism, I think it’s beautiful. Seeing tens of thousands of our youth celebrating something of substance, in the era of social media and smartphones, is very moving.

After two and a half years of war, it takes on even more emotion, as I can’t help thinking about how many of our heroic soldiers who fell in battle were marching and waving flags in previous parades.

As I’ve written in the past, I’ll leave it to Rabbi Jonathan Sachs to describe the feeling: “On Yom Yerushalayim a few years ago, standing on the streets of the city, I watched youngsters from around the world waving Israeli flags, singing and dancing with a joy that was overwhelming. As I watched the celebrations, I was overcome with emotion because suddenly I had a vision of the 1.5 million children who were killed in the Shoah not because of anything they had done, not because of anything their parents had done, but because their grandparents happened to be Jews.

“I thought how some of the greatest empires the world has ever known – Egypt of the Pharaohs, Assyria, Babylon, the Alexandrian Empire, the Roman Empire, the medieval empires of Christianity and Islam all the way to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union – were the superpowers of their day that bestrode the narrow world like a colossus, seemingly invulnerable in their time. And yet each tried to write the obituary of the Jewish people, and whilst they have been consigned to history, our people can still stand and sing Am Yisrael Chai. What I was seeing on that day in Jerusalem was techiyat hamaytim, a collective people being brought back from death to life.”

Next week we celebrate Shavuot. Unity plays a central part of the festival. I’m not talking about how lasagna, cheesecake, and blintzes can be unified to create a delicious meal. Shavuot celebrates the Jewish people receiving the Torah. The unification of the Jewish people at Sinai allowed for the receiving of the Torah.

“And there Israel camped opposite the mountain” (Exodus 19:1-2). At all their other encampments, the verse says vayachanu (“and they camped,” in the plural); here it says vayichan (“and he camped,” in the singular). For all the other encampments were in argument and dissent, whereas here they camped as one human, with one heart (Mechilta, Rashi).

An extension of unity is the concept of each person’s responsibility to take care of each other. This has many ramifications in Halacha. Rabbi Raphael Katz writes: “The Talmud in Shevuot 39a explains the verse ‘And a man will stumble because of his brother’s iniquity.’ This teaches ‘shekol yisrael areivim zeh bazeh’ – that all Jews are guarantors for one another.

“This principle is called ‘arvut.’ In the Talmud, Rosh Hashana 29a, we find (according to Ritva and others) the ‘positive’ formulation of the concept of arvut. There the Talmud states that one who has already fulfilled his obligation can nevertheless cause others, who have yet to discharge their obligation, to fulfill the mitzvah. For example, one who has already fulfilled the mitzvah of kiddush on Shabbat, can repeat the kiddush on behalf of someone else who has not yet recited it, and the repetition is not considered as having mentioned Hashem’s name unnecessarily. This Halacha is based on the above concept that every Jew is a ‘guarantor’ for his fellow Jew’s observance.”

I want to take this concept of being a guarantor for each other and apply it to finance. Sadly, I see individuals make financial mistake after mistake, and the result is financial hardship. Here are some tips that will enable you to start making smart financial decisions and get on track toward financial independence.

• Budget: Take control over your spending. Track income and expenses, and then you can start a realistic savings plan and start building wealth.

• Get out of debt: Credit-card debt or overdraft is the No. 1 obstacle to getting ahead financially. It’s a lot better to take those interest payments and plow them into savings than to keep paying the credit-card company.

• Emergency Fund: You may need dental work, have a flat tire, or be out of work. By creating an emergency fund, you will be able to handle surprise expenses. Keep three to four months of income in a short-term deposit or something similar to have it liquid and available at a moment’s notice in case you need to draw upon it.

• Invest: There is no shortcut to building wealth. You need to start investing, and with discipline, the wonders of compound interest, and the growth of the stock and/or real-estate market, over time, you will create a comfortable nest egg.

• Maximize your retirement account contributions: Few investments can beat a tax-deferred investment. If living in Israel, make sure you are maximizing contributions to your Keren Hishtalmut and Keren Pensia. Keep the money invested, and you will be surprised at the long-term growth of those accounts.

Rabbi Katz continues: “On the eve of Yom Yerushalayim, it is appropriate to recall that Yerushalayim has the power to evoke this awareness of the essential unity and intermingling of Am Yisrael’s soul. In the words of our Psalmist , King David, ‘Jerusalem built up is like a city joined together’ (Psalms 122; 3), and our Sages commented, ‘It is a city that joins/makes all of Israel into friends and colleagues.’”

The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.

aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il

Aaron Katsman is the author of Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing.