I got a new cell phone. Every so often I get a call from ‘Scam Likely’.
In this week’s Torah portion, we learn how Jacob tricks his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessings. These were blessings for physical abundance. Why the need to scam? Why couldn't Jacob just ask for it? Isaac himself acknowledges the scam to Esau: "Your brother came with cunning and took your blessing" (Genesis 27:35). All around, it was an exposed scam.
Everything written in the Torah is a lesson for us. The Baal Shemtov teaches that everything that we see is a lesson for us.
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Our relationship with material abundance should be one that we are scamming the physicality to make it spiritual.
To the outsider, it looks like we have financial success. We are eating, exercising etc. so we can take care of ourselves. It looks selfish. However, we need to be scammers. We need to fool the material world and have the intention to use it for good.
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I work to have financial success so that I can make the world a better place - I know an organization that can help if needed :).I exercise to have a healthy body to be able to serve G-d.I sleep well so I can productively help the people around me.I eat well so my body can live longer and make a bigger impact on the world.
Jacob did not want to ask for a relationship with the physical for mundane or personal pleasure. Jacob wanted the physical and mundane to be something he has so he can scam it into being spiritual, despite its innate self-interest.
There is a quote in the Hayom Yom, a book of concise thoughts collected by the Lubavitcher Rebbe: “The Alter Rebbe (the first Chabad Rebbe) said: Jewish physical matter is spiritual. G‑d gives us material bounty for us to transform it into something spiritual…”
My phone reminds me that I didn’t get a new phone to indulge in the latest technology. I need to ‘scam likely’, scam the new device to be a tool to make it easier to change the world for good!
May G-d bless all of us with material bounty to transform the world into a better spiritual place.
Good Shabbos
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman
