Welcome to Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day with me, Josh Feigelson.
I’m grateful you’re here, and I hope you benefit from our time together.
That was the great Zero Mostel as Tevye in the original Broadway cast production of Fiddler on the Roof. And while I don’t think we really need an excuse to listen to Fiddler, I wanted to start today’s episode with him. Because today we’re launching a new miniseries on a topic that Judaism and mindfulness practice both have a lot to say about: Money.
Aside from the tune and the quintessential Tevye dance, one of the things that makes “If I Were a Rich Man” such a timeless classic is that so many of us can relate to it. We feel like, if I just had some more money, things would be okay. Work? Don’t need to anymore—so I can do the things I enjoy. Anxiety about not making ends meet? Out the window. If you’re Tevye, money means the possibility of studying Talmud all day. If you’re ABBA, it’s “all the things I could do if I had a little money.” But, unless we’re super wealthy, we’ve all got a little Tevye in us.
And even then, even if we’re super wealthy, we still might have a bit of Tevye inside of us. Because one of the things money can do is cause us to constantly feel like we don’t have enough, like we’re always chasing. Maybe you’ve read about people with hundreds of millions of dollars who feel inadequate around billionaires because their yachts are smaller. To quote Tevye again, “Sounds crazy, no?” [play 0:28-0:30]. And yet, no matter how wealthy or poor we are, we all put our pants on one leg at a time, and we all, it seems, are susceptible to money’s ability to make us feel like we have to keep up with the Rosenbergs.
So as we begin to explore how Jewish tradition can help us have a better relationship with money, I think this is the most important place to start. And there’s no better teaching in our millennia of sources than that of Rabbi Shimon Ben Zoma, who lived nearly 2,000 years ago in the land of Israel. “Who is wealthy?” he asked. Hasameach b’chelko, one who is happy with what they have.
You may have heard a version of this teaching before. Lots of traditions have something like it. This is the Jewish way of saying it. And I think it’s kind of the bedrock. Why? Because Ben Zoma is addressing this fundamental human issue. He could be speaking to Tevye or to Elon Musk, but the message is the same: at the end of the day, money can’t actually buy happiness. That’s not to say money is unimportant, it is. It’s better to be able to provide for ourselves than not. As my grandfather used to say, “Rich or poor, it’s good to have money.” But that’s different than being spiritually wealthy. Spiritual wealth, the deepest kind of human wealth, comes from someplace different than money.
This distinction is crucial, because it can help us to get a little distance between money and our feelings about it. And when we can get that distance, we can get off the treadmill and actually notice some things. Like whether the impulse we’re feeling—that anxiety, that craving, that envy, that feeling that we’re not enough unless we have more money—we can notice whether that’s us talking, or the money working its dark magic on us. When we create a little space for mindfulness, we can bring Ben Zoma to mind and remind ourselves: It really isn’t all about the Benjamins. Money is a tool, a powerful tool—but it’s not an end in itself.
So here’s a practice to help us get started. It’s not a meditation practice, but really a practice of recognizing the wealth that’s all around us.
First, settle in. Take a few good deep breaths. But don’t close your eyes or turn your attention inward. Just get centered.
Now, direct your attention to the environment around you: the room where you’re sitting, or the place you’re walking, or even the car you’re driving in. (Yeah, I know some of you do this while you’re driving. I see you.)
See if you can identify something you own or have access to that brings you some really simple, basic joy, but that you might often overlook or forget about. Maybe a sturdy chair, a coffee mug, a photograph or family heirloom.
For each of these, consider the story of the object. Who made it? How did it find its way to you? Is there a person or memory you associate with it? Note any sensations you might experience as you contemplate these objects: Happiness, gratitude, something else.
And now, try saying thank you to the object. “Thank you, chair, for giving me a comfortable place to sit. Thank you, coffee mug, for being the vessel that helps wake me up in the morning. Thank you, photo, for helping me remember people I love.”
What we’re practicing here is Ben Zoma’s lesson: experiencing genuine happiness with the things we have. Right here, right now, we’re not chasing anything else. We don’t need anything else. We can just be grateful for these blessings.
Try doing this practice once each day this week, and see what you notice.
Blessings for the journey. Know that I’m on it with you.
ENDING
Thank you for joining us for Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day, a production of Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalafer and the Somerset Patriots: The Bridgewater, NJ-based AA Affiliate of the New York Yankees. If you like this show, subscribe, share this episode with a friend, give us five stars on Apple Podcasts. Check out our website, unpacked.media for everything Unpacked-related, and subscribe to our other podcasts, and check out the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Most importantly, be in touch–about what you heard today, what you’d like to hear more about, or to dedicate an episode. Write to me at josh@unpacked.media.
This episode was hosted by me, Rabbi Josh Feigelson. Audio was edited by Rob Pera and we’re produced by Rivky Stern. Thanks for joining us.