Thanksgiving is supposed to be a holiday when we celebrate our great abundance and prosperity. However, for many people, the current economic crisis may cause them to feel as if they have little to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. In fact, they may be experiencing so much lack in their lives that they can’t muster up even one serving of gratitude.

I know how they feel. So far, 2008 has been a tough year for my family. My husband lost his job last year just before Thanksgiving and didn’t find full-time employment until April. He was hired to help ready a company for sale, an event that was supposed to happen a year and a half or two later. The current economic crisis, however, has caused the investors to speed up that timeline, and the company will be sold by the end of the year, leaving my husband jobless again by the start of 2009.

Additionally, we have been carrying a large credit card debt for the first time in the 20 years of our marriage. On top of that, my son’s two hospital stays this summer left us with additional debt.

Besides all that, I’m a freelance writer and book editor/coach/consultant. While magazines are still paying for articles, would-be-authors have backed off on hiring editors or looking at self-publishing their books, because they, too, are feeling the financial crunch. The pre-holiday period tends to be slow in general as well. Thus, my workload had decreased to nothing, leaving my family without the additional income it needs to make ends meet.

The last two times I’ve paid bills, I’ve spent more time trying to figure out which bills not to pay rather than actually paying bills. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this endeavor.

As Thanksgiving approaches I know, though, that I’m being given a huge opportunity to change my negativity and worry into positive feelings that can help me change my situation. I’ve been a firm believer in the power of positive thinking and faith for a long time. I know that it can be hard to find faith and belief that good times will roll around again in the not-too-distant future and that we can weather the current economic storm when we are stuck in our negative feelings. Positive feelings, on the other hand, allow us to open back up to our faith and belief.

In my experience, you can always find something for which to be grateful, and during times of financial difficulty it’s all the more important to look for something about which to feel thankful. Faced with an economic crisis, like the one we find our selves in now, people tend to fall into a state of depression and worry. This doesn’t help them look for ways to change their current situation. It only perpetuates their state of lack.

The reason for this is simple: Depression and anxiety tend to make people lethargic and apathetic. Therefore, they don’t try to do things differently. They don’t try to make a change. They just remain stuck and feeling like victims of their circumstances. For me, that may manifest as sitting in front of my computer looking like I’m working but not really turning out any query letters to magazines or doing anything to drum up more editing clients. Or I may simply throw up my hands and say, “There’s nothing I can do about this,” rather than looking at how I can save $30 at the pharmacy on my prescriptions every month and remembering to change my Netflix account to a cheaper one so I save another $10 a month. Every little bit counts.

And then I can be grateful for my little bit of savings. After all, that’s what Thanksgiving is all about – Thanksgiving, which is why I, personally, love this holiday. This year, more than most, I think Thanksgiving actually offers us the antidote to the anxiety and depression caused by personal fallout from the current economic crisis. Simply being grateful and offering thanks for what we each do have, even if it is only a little, changes our whole attitude, and that can lead to other changes.  

What has been called “an attitude of gratitude” won’t suddenly cause a pot of money to manifest on my stove, but it opens me up to the possibilities of creating more abundance and prosperity. When I look around and see the positive things in my life, like my loving husband, or my wonderful children, or the fact that I have $10 in my wallet, am expecting a paycheck this Friday, am healthy, live in a beautiful environment, or have friends who love and support me, I feel better. Everyone can find something, no matter how small, for which to be thankful.

And when I feel better and more positive in general, I am able to find the energy to look for new opportunities to create sources of income. For my husband, this might mean starting his new job hunt, or trying to refinance our house or finding a creative way to pay down our debt. For me it might mean going to a networking meeting or offering a writing class or teleseminar while I’m waiting for a new editing client to give me a call.

Speaking for myself, I know I’ll be more open to finding solutions if I feel good. And I’ll be more likely to take action, because feeling good gives me energy. Feeling depressed and anxious takes my energy away.

Additionally, I’m going to try and giving a little this Thanksgiving. Even if I don’t feel I have enough for myself and my family, I can give a little money, time, energy, used items, or attention to someone who has less than I do. I can offer my professional expertise for free simply as an act of giving. I can invite someone to eat Thanksgiving dinner with me who is feeling the financial crunch more than I am. This gives me, first, the chance to once again feel gratitude. I can be thankful that I have the ability to give and to share. Second, giving opens me to receiving. In the process of giving, not only do I feel good but I allow in good things. Third, when I give I allow myself to get closer to God. God is the ultimate Giver, and by giving, I become a little bit like God. In this process, if I can feel a connection to God even for a moment here and there, I truly have something for which to be thankful. And that connection to the Great Giver will help sustain me during this time of financial crisis and strengthen my faith that not only will my own financial situation improve but so will the global situation as well.

The financial crisis seems to be hitting too close to home these days. Here on my homefront, got debt we can’t seem to get paid off. Each time I get the credit cards a bit lower, I find that I have to charge something else. My son’s hospital stays this summer left us with additional debt. And we’ve got a big mortgage to boot.

My job as a freelance writer and editor remains tenuous at even the best of times. During a recession writers pull in their purse straps like everyone else; they don’t want to hire editors. Luckily, magazines still need articles, but most don’t pay well or quickly enough to pay my bills each month.

Then there’s the fact that my husband’s company is being sold. We knew it would be – he was hired to make it profitable and then get it sold, but the economy caused the company’s market to plummet. Now it has to be sold all the faster- profitable or not. Contracts signed are null and void. New contracts are being drawn up, but we have to wait to see what they hold for us. Only one fact is known: Soon my husband will need a new job. He’ll be out of work. No paycheck will arrive each week to pay any bills.

I paid bills today. Or, I should say, I tried to pay bills today. I paid as many as I could, putting off some until later. Hopefully, more money will come in by then. But taxes are due. The kids activity expenses have to be paid as well. And then there are all the things I need to pay for but simply can’t – tree work, house painting, new windows, a new car…

So, what’s a poor woman to do when the financial crisis hits? Open her hand. I know, instinct would have me close it tightly around the little money I do have. Spiritual wisdom says that with a closed hand I cannot receive anything…not even a penny. I have to open my hand, even if the money in it flies away or drops out for someone else to find.

Better yet, I have to give…a little change to the guy at the red light with the sign that says he’s homeless. There, but for the grace of God, go I. I have to give a dollar at the grocery story checkout to cancer research; a friend just died from the disease, but I, thank God, am healthy. I have to offer to pay even a little for the class I take from a friend who says I can attend for free, because he gives me spiritual sustenance and, I would like to receive the same if it were me offering the class.

And I give in other ways….time, attention, old clothes, a smile, a good deed…

And in the giving I receive some pleasure. And the pleasure opens me up to receiving, because as long as I am stuck in the fear and depression and anxiety of not having enough, I am closed, like my fist, and unable to allow in anything, including abundance and prosperity. But if I feel good, I begin to relax and open, like a hand whose fingers uncurl and make a space for something to rest on the palm. And once open, I can let in the abundance and prosperity.

And I have to be grateful for what I do receive…a penny found on the ground, a check that does arrive in the mail, a new assignment, a call from a friend, a hug from my husband, another week of work, a note from my child, a piece of hot, buttery home-made bread…

Even though it’s hard, when the financial crisis hits, open your hand rather than closing it. You’ll feel better if you do, and you might be surprised at the results.

Judaism is filled with stories of poor people with hardly enough for themselves giving their last morsel of food to strangers who show up at their doors. These strangers inevitably turn out to be Elijah, The Prophet, who then showers them with abundance and prosperity. The message seems clear: Give even when you don’t feel you have enough and you will be rewarded. However, it’s important to note that these people don’t give to get anything. They simply give because it is the right thing to do. And for that they are rewarded. So, don’t get caught in the giving-to-get trap. Find a place within yourself that gives for the right reasons. Try to be a tzaddik, a righteous person. Open your hand to give…and leave it open to receive.

What do Black Monday, the current economic crisis, the Divine Name, giving, and receiving have in common? I found out today while reading and participating in a dialogue on a list serve to which I subscribe. It all began with a post by someone who shared information about a man in Jerusalem who five years ago accurately predicted the present economic crisis and ties it into this weeks Torah portion, Parshat Noah (the Story of Noah found in Genesis 6:9-11:32). I don’t normally discuss Torah portions; I’m not a Torah scholar, although I have my own opinions on some of what the Torah has to say. I’m not big on negative predictions about the future either, and I have some thoughts on that as well.

However, a discussion ensued on the list serve where I read this information, and I did have something to say about the comments posted there. In fact, I offered my thoughts as they related to the subject of giving and receiving, something about which I often write and teach. So, I thought I’d share a bit of both what I read in the other people’s posts in a consolidated form and what I posted as well. It seems pertinent since we begin reading Parshat Noah this Saturday, and because I believe that to create the necessary change in our world, as well as in our economic system, we need to learn how to receive for the sake of giving, or sharing, unconditionally.

(I have not included the names of those who posted to the list serve, or the name of the list serve, since I have not asked permission. Instead, I have paraphrased the information offered freely there.)

According to this first source, in October 1929, the stock market had a big fall on the Friday before Shabbat Parashat Noah, the Saturday, or Sabbath, when the story of Noah is read. The following Monday became known as “Black Monday” when the stock market collapsed.

Fifty-eight years later, in October 1987, the stock market had a big fall on the Friday before Shabbat Parashat Noah. The following Monday also was called Black Monday.

In Hebrew, letters represent numbers. Thus, no actual numbers exist. Therefore, Aleph is 1, Bet is 2, etc. The letter Nun is 50 and het is 8. These two letters make up the name Noah, because Hebrew also does not use vowels. So, Noah is how we write 58.

Not only were there 58 years between those two Black Mondays, on the second one, the Dow Jones fell 508 points; since zero has no value and equates to nothing in Hebrew, this number becomes 58 as well. And both represent Noah, or vice versa.

This Shabbat again is Parashat Noah; however, it comes just 21 years after the last Black Monday. So, what is the significance of this number? Another person on the list serve shared the following:

Twenty-one constitutes the sum of the letters of the Divine Name (Yud Hey Vav Hey) minus the last “hey.”  This last letter represents the actualization of the Divine flow, called shefa, into this world from all the higher worlds.  When this letter is missing, a blockage exists in the “pipeline” that prevents the Divine flow into this world.  You could see the “hey” as the valve that opens and closes the pipe and allows the water to flow.

We need to return that “hey,” or install it like a plumber, to be able to turn the valve to “on” and restore the Divine flow. Someone else pointed out that is our work in the world, “to restore the ‘hey.’”

What does this have to do with the stock market and the current economic condition? Money serves as a major indicator of Divine flow.  When the money supply dries up, this indicates that the pipeline is out of order. The “hey” is missing. The valve is missing or stuck.

(My home is on a well; our well and pump seem to by synchronized with what goes on with our finances. When our finances are drying up, the flow of water in the well tends to do the same or the pump goes on the fritz. Interesting, no?) 

What does this have to do with the Divine name? The final “hey” of the Divine name has a value is 5 and often is equated with the 5 fingers of the hand. The hand literally represents our willingness to give and take.  On the positive side, if the “hey” represents a hand; this indicates our ability to give unconditionally. On the negative side, it indicates greed, a desire to take more than we need and to not be willing to share what we have. This, said the person who posted this information, “seems to be at the core of this crisis and probably the ones before it.”

She also pointed out that the traditional cure for greed is tzedakah, often translated as charity but more accurately unconditional giving or acting in a just manner. In other words, we can right the situation by doing the right thing — giving. The letter tzaddik, which begins the word tzedakah, has a value of 90; mayim, the word for water has the same value. The Jewish mystics, or Kabbalists, believed that two words with the same numerical value must be related in some way.  If we think about the two words, the author of the post concludes, “When the hand is closed and greed rules, the flood comes and wipes everything out (just like in the story of Noah).  When the hand is open and justice for all rules, then the shefa (Divine flow) rains sustenance upon us all.” She suggests we open our hands and give so the Divine waters can flow down in just the right amount and protect us from financial calamity.

I thought about these postings in light of the teaching and writing I do (Check out my booklet, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, How to Mystically Manifest Your Physical and Spiritual Desires.),which are all related to the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag. And I decided to reply to the list serve. Here’s what I posted:

With all the worry about money and getting what we need and want, we (meaning society at large) forget that we were placed here, created, as beings whose purpose it is to receive. God wanted to give and we were created to receive that flow of goodness. We are receivers. God is a Giver. Obviously, when we don’t receive, something has gone awry. The flow of goodness is being blocked; God wouldn’t turn it off. To turn on the “water,”  to allow ourselves to tap into that flow of goodness, we have to try and be a bit more like God — we have to be givers ourselves. By doing so we connect with the Ultimate Giver and achieve some sense of Unity. And that is whey when we give we access the Divine flow of goodness…we restore the “hey,” open the tap, so goodness can flow into the world and into our lives. 

Someone then challenged what I said, by replying:

Good as far as it goes.  The whole point of Rabbi Ashlag’s teaching is that we should aim to move from receiving for ourselves alone, through the stage of giving in order to receive (where most of us are holding), to receiving in order to give, a level that can only be reached through God’s mercy.

To which I responded:

I agree with you wholeheartedly. That is my understanding, too, although I believe that we have to at least begin to give to move in that direction. I don’t advocate giving in order to get, but sometimes this is the first stage. We just don’t want to get stuck there. We want to give in order to get so we can give some more. That’s the flow…the giving and receiving and giving and receiving. Does it only come with God’s mercy? Of that, I’m not convinced. I think when we learn to receive for the sake of giving we allow the tap to open. Each time we give when we feel like we don’t have enough, we inch the valve open a bit more. We trust that more will flow into our lives. And when it does, if we share it with others, we turn the valve a bit more. Before we know it, the goodness is flowing abundantly. Is that God’s mercy? Maybe. Or is it just the way things are supposed to work if we allow them to? I think so. After all, we were created as receivers. God wanted to give us all the goodness He/She had to give.

So why doesn’t this happen? Why don’t we receive or allow ourselves to receive. That’s the question we began with. We are stuck in the giving to get. We need to return the “hey.” We need to explore the reasons why we don’t fulfill our purpose.

The nice and very knowledgeable man who responded to my posting, who I happen to know, suggested I read a book that happens to be my main source when I write about Rabbi Ashlag and the subject of giving and receiving. I’ll share it with you here: In the Shadow of the Ladder:  Introduction to Kabbalah by Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag, translated from the Hebrew with additional explanatory chapters by Mark Cohen (z”l) and Yedidah Cohen (Nehora Press).

My understanding of Rabbi Ashlag’s teachings is, of course, my own. I encourage you to read the book and form your own opinions. And, by all means, purchase my booklet, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, How to Mystically Manifest Your Physical and Spiritual Desires. I’ve said a lot on the topic there, and I’d love your feedback, if you want to offer it.

In the meantime, may we all do our part to restore the flow of abundant goodness into the world, and may Monday come and be bright and sunny and full of light. And may we continue to create a world full of shefa with our attempts to receive not for the self alone but for the sake of giving unconditionally to others.

I’ve been mulling over how one can seemly go from lack to abundance in one fell swoop. Maybe it’s simply a mindset, though, a change in perspective.

My husband felt the lack of a job so profoundly for the four and a half months he was unemployed. He also felt the lack of any job opportunities. Then he landed a job. What do you think happened the following week? Not only did he receive several calls from head hunters and recruiters about possible job opportunities, but he also received a call from a former boss with a really great opportunity, which he is actually looking into despite the fact that he’s just begun work.

Plus, whereas his dabbling in start up companies so far hasn’t gotten him very far financially, the one he’s gone to work for suddenly has some great deals in the works that might mean a fast sale. The other possible job could mean working for quick turn arounds, which means quick money as well.

There’s abundance every where my husband looks if he opens his eyes to see it. He just needs to figure out how to take personal advantage of the abundance of opportunities and the abundance in general.

As for me, I have an abundance of viable book ideas. Actually, I have an overabundance of viable book ideas. The lack I have comes in the form of time to produce them and a perceived lack that there are no publishers to purchase my books. I say perceived, because some of the ideas have been turned down by large publishing houses and there are only so many small houses that cater to my niche. However, it is perceived…not real.

I need to figure out how to take personal advantage of the abundance of my ideas. I need to figure out how to make an abundance of time as well so I can write the books. I need to find an abundance of publishers, or at least just enough publishers, to buy my books — and to pay me for those books.

In both cases, my husband’s and my own, we need to be open to receiving all this abundance. We need to develop large containers to hold all the wonderful opportunities available to us.

How do we do that? First, (in light of Passover) by freeing ourselves from our perceived restrictions. We have to stop saying “I can’t, I shouldn’t, I won’t, and I’m afraid.” We begin, instead, reciting the words sung by Rabbi Gila Rayzel Raphael last night at the Chadeish Yameinu community seder I attended. We all sang together: “I will, I can, I know I should.”

It is possible to do what we want and to have what we desire. We simply have to want it badly enough and be willing to change the perceptions that we can’t have them, can’t achieve it, aren’t good enough, don’t have the ability, aren’t worthy. We have to want these things badly enough to move forward no matter what.

In my husband’s case, he has to keep moving forward with the interviews despite the fact that he accepted a job, especially since the job culture where we live and in his industry is one of constant flux. And he has to believe he can create a situation in which he can take on situation all the way to fruition and then do the same with the next.

In my case, I have to believe that I can make time to write all my books and find publishers for them all and make money in the process. I have to then set out to do exactly that. I have to actually make the time, write the books and submit them (or have my agent do so). It’s that simple.

Another way to increase the size and strength of our container and to open ourselves to receiving more abundance lies in giving. For me, that’s easy. My writing involves giving to others. For my husband, he has to see that what he does is a way to give not only to employers but to those who use the end product of what the company manufactures. In addition, we can give in other ways, such as through tithing, charity work or anything that constitutes tikkun olam (healing the world).

Abundance is all around us. Lack is mostly in our minds. I’m not negating the fact that some people do, indeed, live in lack; their are people who don’t have enough money to put food on the table or a roof over their head. Yet, the universe itself is abundant. With a little ingenuity and perseverance almost anyone that isn’t too handicapped to take action can find a way to create abundance.

As Rebbe Nachman said, “Remember: Things can go from the very worst to the very best…
in just the blink of an eye.” It’s all in how we see things.