I assume that you, too, have already bought things on sale because of Black Friday, which screams at us from every ad and commercial. How does a shopping day earn such a negative name? And what's the meaning of the hysteria?
Here's a beautiful idea I heard from Rabbi Lior Lavi: Pay attention to the hidden message that this day transmits to us: panic, anxiety, and fear of missing out. Consumer culture creates a cult: waves of urgent shopping, with excitement, alarm, urgency, a sense of worry and also a sense of meaning that one gets from purchasing. It's not just a sale, it's a deeper emotion.
But our aspiration, writes Rabbi Lior Lavi, is to bring a person to harmony, balance, tranquility, and security. For us, Friday, with all the shopping that accompanies it, is a symbol of joyful preparations for the holy Shabbat, a day on which we don't need to buy anything. A day that elevates us to a new reality of peace, where everything is already prepared and the race stops.
Black Friday? Shabbat Shalom.
