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.
Last year I made a fabulous impulse purchase. My son and I are both big Star Wars fans, and somehow the Instagram algorithm knew that (okay, not really somehow—we all know they’re listening). It put an ad in my feed for a black t-shirt with the words ‘music by John Williams’ in the blue Star Wars credits font. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it—and I bought an extra one for my son so we’d match. A perfect gift.
That’s not to say I’m always such a mindful consumer. Put me in the snack aisle at Trader Joe’s and bad things are liable to happen. (I have been known to consume an entire bag of those chocolate covered almonds before leaving the parking lot.) And let’s not talk about the way United Airlines gets me to buy things on my credit card as I chase my mileage status at the end of the year. Not so mindful.
I’m confessing these things to you because this is the second episode in our miniseries on money. Last week we talked about the core Jewish teaching teaching that being spiritually wealthy springs from being happy with what we have. This week I want to drill down on that a little more and explore mindful consumption—and its evil twin, mindless consumption.
It’s really hard to be a mindful consumer today. So much of our economy feels like it’s built on getting us to buy something whether we’re aware of it or not. The world bombards us with ads all the time—on highways, on sidewalks, on TV, and, of course, on our phones. And it does that in order to plant messages in our minds: “you need this laundry detergent,” “You want this candy bar,” “Geico can save you up to 15% on car insurance.” See? It’s everywhere! [Note: No promotional fee was paid by Geico or any of its affiliated companies for that mention—but we’d be happy to take a donation to support our work!]
All those messages have a way of working subconsciously. The effect is that we may not even realize how our mindful awareness is being short-circuited. And sometimes some of us wind up being mindless consumers—buying things because… well, we’re not always really sure why. It’s a lot like in the afternoon when I’ll wind up in front of the refrigerator looking for something to eat even though I’m not hungry. (This may or may not happen to you too.)
The Torah wants us to be mindful consumers. The book of Deuteronomy gives us the mitzvah of bal tashchit: Don’t be wasteful. We shouldn’t buy more stuff than we really need, and we shouldn’t throw away stuff that can still be put to good use.
But more than that, Judaism gives us ways to be mindfully aware of what’s driving us to our mindless consumption in the first place. Most importantly, our tradition helps us to pause and ask ourselves, “Do I really want or need this?”
How? There’s Shabbat, of course, and the idea of Shabbat Mind that we talk about all the time here on the podcast. The mindful pause, whether it’s every seven days or every seven seconds, is available to us all the time. So before we press purchase or swipe our credit card, we can pause and ask, “Am I fully present? Is this what I want to be doing?” If the answer is yes, then great—enjoy your new thing! But if the answer is no, then also great—you became aware of what’s going on!
In the Hasidic tradition, there’s also a big emphasis on a verse from the book of Proverbs in the Bible, which says, b’chol derachecha daehu: In all your ways, know the Holy One. The idea here is that, in whatever we’re doing, whether it’s something quote-unquote religious or not, we should aim to be aware that there’s something sacred and holy that’s present. So we pause—with a blessing before we eat, with a mindful pause before we speak, with a moment of awareness before we buy.
So, here is a simple practice you can try this week. It’s inspired by that Hasidic idea of finding the holy in every action.
Before you make a purchase—whether you’re clicking ‘buy now’ online or standing in a checkout line—try to find a ‘holy pause.’ Take one breath and recite the phrase b’chol derachecha da’ehu—’in all my ways, I can know the Divine.’
Ask yourself: ‘By bringing this item into my life, am I acting with awareness, or am I acting out of habit?’ There’s no right or wrong answer. The goal isn’t to stop yourself from buying; it’s simply to acknowledge the spark of holiness in your choice. If you decide to proceed, do so with the full joy of your ‘yes.’ And if you decide to wait, do so with the peace of your ‘no’.
In this way, even a simple transaction becomes a moment of spiritual connection—and part of the practice of mindfully relating to money.
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.