Written from the same old chair · Anno MMXXVI
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The Portion and the Blessing · Instant PDF
Rabbi Asher
The Portion and the Blessing

Everything the old books taught me about keeping, giving, and counting — written down at last.

Sit down with me a while, friend. I am eighty-one years old. I taught Talmud for more than fifty years, and for about thirty of those I also kept a small hardware store with my wife Leah. So I have counted a till at closing, I have been quietly behind on the bills, and I have read the same pages on money that we have been reading for centuries. This is what those pages say, set down plainly: what is not counted out loud, and the three jars we put on the shelf before Shabbat. Eight chapters, and every passage given with its citation so you can go and read it whole.

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Not a book of advice. A book of sources — what the old pages say about keeping, giving, and counting, and where each one is written. Rabbi Asher
I.

The Book

One book. Eight chapters. Keeping, giving, and counting.

What the old pages say about money, set in order — what you have, and why the blessing is said to rest on what is hidden from the eye; what you give, and how quietly; what your neighbour has, and who the sages call rich; and the three jars we set out before Shabbat. Eight chapters, and every passage given with its citation so you can find it and read it whole. This is teaching and reflection, friend — general wisdom, not financial advice.

Illustrated ebook · Eight chapters · Instant PDF

The complete book — keeping, giving, counting, and the three jars before Shabbat.

What you have, and the teaching that the blessing rests on what is hidden from the eye. What you give, and why the sages praise the gift whose giver is not known. What your neighbour has, and the answer in Pirkei Avot to who is rich. The widow with one jar of oil she had never counted. Then the three jars before Shabbat — the coin for giving, the coin that honours the day, and the coin kept in reserve — and how to set them up in a modern household, step by step. Eight chapters, each passage cited, written so you can turn to the one that meets you tonight.

$37 $102 $102 total value — launch price, first 200 copies

What you get for $37:

  • The Portion and the Blessing — the complete ebook, eight chapters in two parts, plainly written $47
  • The Complete Source List — every passage in the book cited exactly, so you can find it and read it whole $19
  • Pages to Write Your Own — printable pages for your own circle, your own quiet giving, and which jar is hardest for you $19
  • Lifetime updates — every future edition, free $17
  • The Three Jars — a free companion book, the Friday practice set up step by step for a modern household, yours at no extra cost FREE
  • Total value $102
  • You pay today $37

Your free bonus is reserved — leaving this page in 6:00:00

The Portion and the Blessing + The Three JarsFREE

Included today — no extra cost

You also get The Three Jars — free.

A companion book — the Friday practice, set up step by step for a modern household. It is yours the moment you get the book today. This free companion will not stay on the page much longer.

Get the Book · $37

Instant PDF · Pay once · Yours forever

II.

The Worth Of It

What this book puts in your hands. And what it quietly takes off the table.

Folks ask me what a book of old sources is really worth. So here it is plainly: on the left, the way money is carried when every sum is counted out loud and measured against the neighbours. On the right, the ordered way of keeping, giving, and setting aside that the sages handed down, each passage named. Nothing here is a promise about your money, friend — it is teaching and reflection, not financial advice.

Counting it all out loud The weight

  • Every sum named out loud at the tableagain & again
  • Measuring the house against the neighbour’snever enough
  • The bill you are quietly behind onrestless
  • Giving announced, or put off and not givenawkward
  • Nothing set aside, and no order to itheavy
  • No older voice to tell you where to lookalone
In the end Restless

The way so much of it gets carried, month after month

What the book puts in your hands For good

  • A sum kept between you and the shelfany day
  • Pirkei Avot’s answer to who is richenough
  • A plain order for what comes insettled
  • The giving the sages praise mostquiet
  • Three jars, filled before Shabbatin order
  • An old teacher’s voice, and the page it came fromnot alone
In the end Settled

Every line has a chapter in the book, with the passage it comes from named

Worth far more than $37 — not in dollars, friend, and not as any promise about your money. In the quiet of a household that has stopped counting out loud. Keep it on the shelf and it will sit with you for many years.

III.

What's Inside

Eight chapters, friend — and every source named.

Each chapter is written plainly: the trouble of it, what the old pages say, and the citation so you can go and read the passage whole. Turn to the one that meets you tonight and sit with it. These are matters of the heart and the household — for your own money, your own taxes, your own affairs, you ask your own rabbi and you see a qualified professional.

The 8 chapters, in two parts

What is not counted out loud, and the three jars set out before Shabbat — with a complete source list and room to write your own at the back.

  • Part One. What Is Not Counted Out Loud
  • What You Have · Ta’anit 8b; Bava Metzia 42a
  • What You Give · Bava Batra 9b; Proverbs 21:14; Maimonides, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10
  • What Your Neighbour Has · Exodus 20; Pirkei Avot 4:1; Shabbat 31a
  • The Jar That Was Never Counted · 2 Kings 4
  • Part Two. The Three Jars Before Shabbat
  • The Coin for Giving · Bava Batra 10a; Psalm 17:15; Ketubot 50a
  • The Coin That Honours Shabbat · Beitzah 16a; Psalm 68
  • The Coin Kept in Reserve · Bava Metzia 42a; Genesis 41; Proverbs 6; Exodus 16
  • Setting the Three Jars Up in a Modern Household, Step by Step
IV.

A Taste Of It

The kind of chapter you’ll find on these pages.

Here are three honest tastes of what is inside — written so you can hear how plain and how close they are. These are the chapters themselves, friend, not promises; every household and every year is its own.

From the old chair · What you have

Ta’anit 8b and Bava Metzia 42a both teach that the blessing rests on what is hidden from the eye — on what has not been counted out. I kept a till and a ledger for thirty years, so I know exactly how the counting feels in the hand. This chapter is about the difference between knowing what you have and announcing it, and what the old pages say happens to the thing you keep naming out loud.

— From Chapter 1, What You Have
From the old chair · The widow’s jar

In 2 Kings 4 a widow tells the prophet she has nothing at all in the house — nothing but one jar of oil. She had never counted it, and so she had never counted on it. Reb Yankel read me that passage once in the back room of his watch shop, with the clocks ticking and the smell of oil on everything, and then asked me what was in my own house that I had stopped seeing. This chapter is that question, asked slowly.

— From Chapter 4, The Jar That Was Never Counted
From the old chair · The third jar

Bava Metzia 42a says to divide your money into three parts. Genesis 41 has Joseph laying up grain against the lean years; Proverbs 6 sends us to watch the ant; Exodus 16 has the double portion gathered on the sixth day. In my late thirties the store nearly went under and I was quietly behind on the bills, and I had none of this in place. This chapter is only about the third jar — what it is for, and why the old pages are so firm that it stays shut.

— From Chapter 7, The Coin Kept in Reserve

Illustrative passages of the chapters in the book. Reflective teaching drawn from the classical sources cited beside each one. General wisdom only, not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice; individual circumstances vary.

V. About the Author

Rabbi Asher.

I am eighty-one, friend. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and I have taught Talmud for more than fifty years. For about thirty of those years I also kept a small hardware store with my wife Leah, whom I have been married to for over fifty. So I have taught the pages on money in the morning and counted a till in the evening, and I can tell you the two do not agree as easily as people imagine.

My teacher was Reb Yankel. He was a watchmaker. He taught Talmud to boys in the back room of his shop after closing — brass on every surface, the smell of clock oil, and a whole wall of things ticking. He is the one who taught me that a passage about money is still a passage, and that you do not get to skip it because it is about money.

In my late thirties the store nearly failed and I was quietly behind on the bills, and nobody at shul knew a thing about it. What I had then was these pages. So I have set them down in order at last: what is not counted out loud, and the three jars we put on the shelf before Shabbat. Eight chapters, every passage cited, nothing invented and nothing promised. Shalom.

It is not a book of advice, friend. It is a book of sources — what the old pages actually say about keeping, giving, and counting, handed to you with the citation, so you can go and read them for yourself.
Rabbi Asher
VI.

Order the Book

$37 once. No subscription. Yours forever.

Instant PDF — in your inbox within a minute of payment. Read it on any phone, tablet, or computer, or print it and keep it on the shelf beside the siddur. 7-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked — if it is not for you, friend, just send a note and the $37 comes right back. And as a gift, a free companion book — The Three Jars — comes included with your order, at no extra cost.

Illustrated ebook · Eight chapters · Instant PDF

The complete book — keeping, giving, counting, and the three jars before Shabbat.

What you have, and the teaching that the blessing rests on what is hidden from the eye. What you give, and why the sages praise the gift whose giver is not known. What your neighbour has, and the answer in Pirkei Avot to who is rich. The widow with one jar of oil she had never counted. Then the three jars before Shabbat — the coin for giving, the coin that honours the day, and the coin kept in reserve — and how to set them up in a modern household, step by step. Eight chapters, each passage cited, written so you can turn to the one that meets you tonight.

$37 $102 $102 total value — launch price, first 200 copies

What you get for $37:

  • The Portion and the Blessing — the complete ebook, eight chapters in two parts, plainly written $47
  • The Complete Source List — every passage in the book cited exactly, so you can find it and read it whole $19
  • Pages to Write Your Own — printable pages for your own circle, your own quiet giving, and which jar is hardest for you $19
  • Lifetime updates — every future edition, free $17
  • The Three Jars — a free companion book, the Friday practice set up step by step for a modern household, yours at no extra cost FREE
  • Total value $102
  • You pay today $37

Your free bonus is reserved — leaving this page in 6:00:00

The Portion and the Blessing + The Three JarsFREE

Included today — no extra cost

You also get The Three Jars — free.

A companion book — the Friday practice, set up step by step for a modern household. It is yours the moment you get the book today. This free companion will not stay on the page much longer.

Get the Book · $37

Instant PDF · Pay once · Yours forever

🔒 Secure Checkout·Visa · Mastercard · Google Pay · Apple Pay·7-day refund

VII.

FAQ

Questions folks ask before they click.

Is this financial advice?

No, friend. Nothing in it is financial, legal, tax, or investment advice, and it does not tell you what to do with your money. It is teaching and reflection on what the classical sources say about keeping, giving, and counting — sit with it, take what serves you, and for your own affairs ask your own rabbi and a qualified professional.

Who is this book really for?

For anyone carrying a household who has felt money get loud — counted out at the table, measured against the neighbours, or quietly behind. If you have wanted to know what the old pages actually say about keeping, giving, and setting aside, rather than what people say they say, this was written for you.

Do I need to know Hebrew, or to have studied before?

No. Everything is given in English, and every passage comes with its citation — Ta’anit 8b, Pirkei Avot 4:1, and so on — so you can look it up and read it whole whenever you like. No background is assumed, and nothing is left for you to take on trust.

How is the book delivered?

Instant PDF — sent to you within a minute of payment. Read it on any phone, tablet, or computer, or print it to keep on the shelf. No app, no subscription. Yours forever.

How many chapters are inside?

Eight, across two parts — four on what is not counted out loud, and four on the three jars before Shabbat, the last of those setting the practice up step by step for a modern household. A complete source list sits at the back, with room to write your own.

Will I get updates later?

Yes. When I add a chapter or make one clearer, you get the new edition at no extra charge. Buy it once and the latest is always yours.

What if it’s not for me?

Seven days, no questions asked. Send a note and you get a full refund, and the book stays yours.

Last call

Keep what the old pages say about keeping, giving, and counting.

$37 once. Instant PDF, eight chapters in two parts. 7-day money-back guarantee. Everything the old books taught me about keeping, giving, and counting — gathered into one book you can keep for good.

Get the Book · $37
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