Here's something I haven't yet cracked emotionally. I mean, I pretty much understand it in my mind, but my heart somehow isn't fully in sync with the realization.
I have a friend who's an optician and owns a glasses store. We talk from time to time because, while he sees well physically and even helps others see well, when it comes to seeing beyond, what we call "seeing with the mind's eye" or perceiving reality, optics don't really help, and you need a good friend to challenge what seems obvious.
So, my friend and I occasionally meet and talk, challenging each other's perspectives. When it comes to having a positive outlook on the world, we've made quite good progress. He and I have gradually learned to see the world in a positive light, and that wasn't easy. It's not easy for someone who's been used to seeing the good as "so-so," just about to end, and the bad as a static catastrophe, to change direction and see the bad as a temporary "so-so" and the good as a stable, amazing, beautiful, and wonderful state.
But then came the next stage, which I still haven't cracked, and that's what people today call a "prosperity mindset." TikToks and Instagrams are full of it, but I tried it a bit earlier—living with a prosperity mindset.
It turns out that, regardless of a person’s bank account, there are those who, even with a million dollars in the bank and a few investment properties on the side, live with a poverty mindset or at least a "so-so" mentality, not with a prosperity mindset. That means they're always feeling like it’s about to end, and everything will blow up eventually, and who knows what tomorrow will bring. Then there are those who have just what they need for today, and they live with a sense of abundance. They do worry in principle, but in their feelings, everything is fine, and it’s going to get even better. Or in my words, their head worries a little, but their heart is truly calm.
Once I understood this and noticed that I belong to the first type, the one who worries and lives with a sense of lack even when they have enough, I started searching for a way to live with a "prosperity mindset."
My optician friend was the perfect match for this, since he’s from the same background as me, received the same education, and, whether he has enough or not, lives with the feeling that it’s about to end, and worry runs his life.
Our success with the positive outlook helped a lot here, and indeed, our lives changed. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said they changed beyond recognition. But still, there's something that hasn't yet been cracked.
This week, we talked after a long time, and right at the beginning, he told me that a woman who works at a store near him said to him: "Du lebst im Bewusstsein der Armut." ("You live in a poverty mindset.") “How can that be? I’ve changed, and I see everything positively. So, what is this mindset?” And don’t get me wrong, we're talking about a cheerful person, smiling, loves people, kind, and generous.
I remembered a Rashi I studied in the daily Torah portion lesson on the verse, “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands; He knows your walking through this great wilderness these forty years; the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” And on this, Rashi, who seems to have come straight from a TED talk, a TikTok video, or a consciousness workshop, says: "For the Lord your God has blessed you"—therefore, don’t deny (lit. don’t cover up) His goodness by pretending to be poor; rather, show yourselves as wealthy."
Wait, what does it mean to "show yourselves as wealthy"? And what if I am poor?
(By the way, is it possible that Rashi wrote this in Worms, Germany? Maybe he also wrote "Bewusstsein der Armut/Reichtums"?)
I asked my friend: When you give your child 100 euros for a treat during the holidays, how hard is that for you? I’m not talking about something you consider a waste, but an expense you understand is unavoidable. When you spend it, what’s the experience like? If the experience is a certain tightening in the heart, then the mindset is still one of poverty. And maybe your neighbor in the business, with her great sensitivity, noticed this vibe that you're giving off.
To you, my friends, I say that I’m not there yet myself. The understanding is there; I believe I understand well what Rashi is saying, meaning what, according to Rashi, God demands of us, which is to live with a prosperity mindset—"for the Lord your God has blessed you...you have lacked nothing." But, as mentioned, my heart isn’t quite there yet.
With blessings for complete redemption, personal and collective.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalman Wishedski