Do You Have Everything?

When Jacob and Esau met up after 22 years, they fell into each other’s arms and kissed. This was a miracle because Esau had intended to kill Jacob upon his return home. Jacob feared his encounter with Esau and sent him a large tribute to appease him. Esau refused the tribute by saying, “I [already] have a lot.” Jacob replied, “[Yes, brother, but] I have everything” (Genesis 33:9–11).

How can someone claim to have everything? Isn’t it a little pompous and presumptuous? Who knows what tomorrow might bring?

The truth is that no one person can have everything. Everything encompasses all the planets, galaxies, the universe, and the myriads of spiritual worlds. A finite human can’t have everything. There is only one everything, and that is G-d. When Jacob said, “I have everything,” he meant G-d.

The Psalmist wrote, “Those who seek G-d don’t lack no good” (Psalms 34:11). The holy Tzemach Tzedek once asked, how can we say that if most people seek assistance from G-d precisely because they lack something good? He explained that the ultimate goodness is G-d. Those who seek G-d don’t lack G-d. They might lack material things, but who pays attention to that when you have G-d? Who worries about a lost pebble when they find a diamond?

They tell a story about a grandmother strolling with her granddaughter on the beach when a wind blew the baby from her hands and dropped her in the water. The grandmother prayed for her baby, and a new wind plucked the baby from the ocean and dropped her in the grandmother’s arms. The grandmother looked up and complained, “She had a hat!”

Who worries about a hat when you have your baby? This is what Jacob meant. Brother, I don’t need the tribute. I have everything. I have G-d. If you have G-d, you don’t worry about anything you might lack.

The Spark in The Thing
A little deeper: If you have one piece of bread but need two, you lack one. That is simple math. But that is only if you are focused on the bread. If you are focused on the Divine spark that creates the bread, you lack for nothing. This Divine spark that created one piece of bread is the same Divine power that creates the entire universe. If you have the spark that creates the universe, you have the entire universe. If you have the Divine formula in your hand that created your bread, dollar, car, shirt, and phone, you have the formula for everything. With that, you can easily replenish whatever you might lack.

The Talmud relates that Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa’s daughter was upset because she mistakenly lit her Shabbat candles with vinegar instead of oil. Rabbi Chanina told her not to worry: “He who instructed oil to combust will instruct vinegar to combust” (Talmud, Taanit 25a).

If you think in terms of physics, oil combusts, vinegar doesn’t. If you are thinking about the miraculous power that creates combustion, transferring the combustive miracle from oil to vinegar is simple. Surely, G-d can do this. Why not? So, you don’t have oil, said Rabbi Chanina—no big deal. You have the source of combustion. Pray, and your vinegar will combust.

The same is true for Jacob and every Jew who chooses to plug into this. When we place our faith in G-d and trust that the same G-d who provided one piece of bread will provide two, we will wind up with two. Of course, we will need to go out and work for it, but if we trust in G-d, we will succeed.

Indeed, the Torah tells us that shortly after Jacob said this, he arrived whole in Shechem.  In what way was he whole? He was whole medically despite the injury he suffered from the angel’s blow. He was whole spiritually despite spending decades in Haran. And he was whole financially. G-d made good the funds Jacob spent on the tribute.

It turned out that Jacob had everything because he was not dependent on his money. He was dependent on G-d. When we depend on G-d, we have everything. We have no reason to fear because G-d always provides.

A Matter of Attitude
Those who focus on things focus primarily on what they lack and what they like and want. Those who focus on G-d are happy. And since they trust in G-d, who is and has everything, they are never in a bind. They always have enough and are always able to share.

Jacob never worried that he might end up penniless if he granted Esau an expensive gift. He never thought his wealth was a fluke. He always knew it came from G-d. The same G-d that provided for him when he was poor granted him wealth. That same G-d would provide again if ever ended up being poor.

People who focus on things end up becoming poorer as they earn more. The Midrash famously proclaims, “He who has one hundred, wants two hundred. He who has two hundred wants four hundred” (Kohelet Rabbah 1:13). This means that the more we earn, the poorer we are. If we lacked one hundred before, now that we have earned it, we lack two hundred because we want to double our earnings.

People like this are not in control of their money. On the contrary, they are controlled by their money. They can never rest and be content. They can never feel satisfied. They can never experience the thrill of giving, sharing, and helping because they always tie up their money in the next investment.

If your goal is to make a million dollars by the time you are thirty, you can’t spare even a dime until you earn your first million. You think you will give to charity when you reach your goal? That won’t happen because when you earn a million, you will want two million and once again chase the elusive goal.

This is not a person in control of their money. From the outside, they seem to have everything, but inside, they are terribly and shamefully empty. They have nothing because they are always in pursuit of the next million. Money is like fame. He who pursues fame finds that fame runs from him. He who eschews fame finds himself saddled with it. The same is true of money.

The secret to wealth and success is to place our trust in G-d. Only then do we have everything. You don’t need to be a Jacob to do it. Anyone and everyone can do it. You just need to think like Jacob.

The key, however, is not to think like Jacob occasionally. The key is to think like Jacob every day, especially on days when you feel keenly that you are lacking. That is when it is most important to remember that you lack for nothing. That because you have G-d, you have everything.