When I was living in Bushwick, NY, my roommate Aaron Wertheimer, an old childhood friend, would always watch Arrested Development. Seeing it in passing, I didn’t fully get the epicness of the show and its humor. When I gave it a real chance, I was hooked. I think it even topped Seinfeld in how beyond brilliant it was. As I write this, so many lines are circling my mind, but one that sticks out is George Bluth, Sr. reassuring his son, Michael Bluth, the main character, that “there’s always money in the banana stand”. When Michael hears this, he interprets it to mean that the banana stand that the family owns will always make money, not realizing why his father kept winking at him while saying this, missing the actual message that there are literally thousands of dollars in cash hidden in the walls of the stand. Michael only realized this after the stand was burned down in a misguided attempt to get insurance reimbursement for it.
Wisdom can come to us in all kinds of ways; even a comedy show can reflect profound teachings. The lesson here is that we have to be careful in assessing where true wealth comes from. We tend to think that money comes to us through cunning. But the Torah comes to teach us that all is in the hands of Hashem (God). All is there for us; it’s just a matter of tapping into this reality and not missing the message or burning it down.
….. If the cash the banana stand brings in from our constant toiling doesn’t add up, we have to remember that beyond our own actions in the stand, is the stand itself, and that is in Hashem’s hands to give and our own hands to truly open our hands in a real and loving way to receive..
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With this article/dvar, titled, “There’s Always Money In The Banana Stand”, I dive into the kabbalah of wealth with the wisdom of the Zohar, The Arizal, Rebbe Nachman, and Reb Natan of Breslov. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, ‘𝙴𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙸𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.’ Get your copy on @Amazon, or read it online @ https://lightofinfinite.com/theres-always-money-in-the-banana-stand/
Thanks for reading/listening!
Much love & Shabbat Shalom!🪬🤍🕊️
– Erez // @erezsafar
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