Celso Cukierkorn

“In the end of the day it matters much more how wise you spent your money than how much of it you have gathered.Because the most important tool to measure your financial maturity is based uniquely on the first part of the question and the ability to keep money is more important than the ability to make money.Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn”

“There is much more to wealth than simply a bank account with many zeros. A well-balanced, whole life is made up of wealth and success that comes from many facets; family, friends, work, faith, it is the complete person who works on each of these areas and creates the whole,”

“Instead of hunting and gathering, instead of farming and harvesting in the area where we live, we are flying God’s fruits and vegetables around the planet, not eating foods designed for our terrain and climate. We are distributing, selling and consuming “fresh foods” (or so the package says) days and weeks after they have been harvested.”

“The only thing operating on me was my God-given renewing body and his miraculous healing foods.”

“In my mind, the function of the bank is to save your money. The bank should not cost you money.”

“The financial game is a team sport. God established a covenant with Noah after the flood, and later he established a covenant with Abraham. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. In order to prosper, you must establish what I call a “carevenant” with your family”

“A: Money is energy. It provides our basic needs and it gives us choices and opportunities. When you have accumulated wealth, you can choose, do I want to work? Or when do I want to work? Do I want to help out this charity in town or the other charity that has a worldwide outreach?”

“Right now, you understand that you are going to have to leave your Egypt of financial debt. I pray that you enjoy your ride through the desert to the Promised Land of prosperity.”

“We Jews created the concept of good luck. Luck in Hebrew is mazel, which is not actually a word. It is an acronym for three words: 1. makom = place2. zman = time3. lamud = work”

“When you sacrifice everything for your family, and you’re committed to changing your lifestyle to secure a better future, it is not an act of greed, but rather an act of faith.”

“In order for you to acquire luck you must be at the right place, in the right time and show the work of your hands, your labor, and your talent. Luck, according to the creator, is not a happenstance or the result of probabilities or numerical factors. I is a function of you creating your own land and being the ruler of your earthly possessions according to a greater purpose.”

“In Biblical times, there were two different kinds of currency. One was shekels, which means weights,. The other coin was a zuz, which comes from the earth’s circular movement and had nothing to do with the value of gold or silver. It had its own inherent value to it. The word “amen” was inscribed in the zuz, which is an acronym in Hebrew for the phrase “El Melech Neeman,” meaning “the sovereign is trustworthy” and is an organizational copy of the statement “In God We Trust” that is found on our U.S. money.”

“What I have just described is the art of gratitude. Every time that we say “thank you” we are not only acknowledging that someone has done something for us, we are also sprinkling a bit of light into this person’s life.”

“The first money memory that many of us have as children is finding a coin on the street, in the park, or while walking to school. Then when we picked up the penny or nickel and showed it to our mother or father, and they immediately told us to go wash our hands saying, “That is dirty!”

“Tzedakah is different than charity. Charity comes from the word charitus, which means heart. Tzedakah comes from the word tzedek, which means justice, so when you are giving tzedakah, you are not just making the world a better place by contributing to hospitals, synagogues, churches, or your favorite cause. You are in a position of bringing justice to the world, becoming as God-like as possible.”

“This is the secret of how the Jewish people have created a hedge against chaos in their partnership with God. Sharing creates room in your life for more blessings to come in. Giving creates an endless circuit. You earn, you give, and then you earn more.”

“Fat cells have memories. They want to go back to their old size. But new muscles have memories too and, once you have created muscles, they work hard to hold your new shape. You are always on a diet. The only question is, a diet for what? Health or obesity? Longevity or illness?”

“Remember, you are not a heavy person trying to slim down. You are a trim, healthy person learning how to reemerge.”

“When we entered the material world, God lent us a body to act as a vessel and encase our souls. Our body is our temple and, miraculously, it is in a state of constant renewal.Fat cells are replaced at the rate of 10% each year. Skin cells are renewed every two to four weeks. Our 9,000 taste buds are renewed every 10-14 days. Our skeleton is renewed every two years. Every day billions of cells replace the ones that came before them. We are in this miracle of creation and renewal every second of our lives… unless we mess up that renewal. God not only gave us a constantly renewing body, but he also provided a profoundly rich, diverse and constantly-renewing food supply.”

“Three Miracles of weight loss and health gainFirst, you were given a constantly-renewing body. Second, all the foods you need have been provided. And third, you have a brain that is operating to coordinate your body and life according to your instructions.”

“I recently read that 99% of dieters fail to maintain their weight loss and, given my past experience, that statistic feels true to me!”

“You probably never realized this, but God wants to partner with us so that we can establish his kingdom here on earth. Have you heard of the universal principal of receiving? This principal is simply that in order to receive, you have to share. According to the Jewish tradition, an act of charity has the ability to change even a negative heavenly decree. Charity is not just meant to improve the world and those around you. It may surprise you to learn that it mostly serves to improve ourselves.”

“In the English language, we have one word for love, which translates into our sexual drive. The ancient Greeks had more than one word for it, including the word agape. It means to compromise or sacrifice, and it’s a kind of love I’ve seen in all couples who have gotten married and stayed married. It is my opinion that this kind of love determines the entire success of your married life, and to an extent, it’s a good part of your financial life too. Reaching a financial goal always takes a little bit of sacrifice, and would be impossible to do on your own. Once you and your spouse realize that mutual sacrifice is a healthy part of your marriage, you are well on your way to achieving harmony in planning for your finances together.”

“As a rabbi, I’ve spent long hours counseling people I’ve married, and in each case I like to talk with the couple about not only compatibility and love, but also their relationship with money. If you and your partner are not in the same financial mind-frame, then chances are your marriage won’t work. You can’t be an army of one when you are married. Financial problems are the number one cause of divorce.”

“When I counsel people who have been following God’s principles and have reached a point at which they can afford to drive any car that they want, they often ask me, “Rabbi, since my budget is not the problem, how do I know if I have bought too much car?” My answer is that if, when you buy the car, the picture that comes to your mind is other people seeing you in the car, you are buying too much car.”

“One of the great differences that set Jews apart from other cultural groups is that we see our wealth as a means to partner with God, as a way to bring God’s kingdom into this earth, a concept that we call tikkun olam – perfecting the world. We perfect the world by using our God- given wealth to further God’s realm on this planet. So what you see is that the Jewish people’s pursuit of wealth is often paired with the pursuit of charitable works, not only for selfish purposes.”

“There are less than 14 million Jews in the world, compared to the almost two billion Muslims who own most of the oil and natural resources. Yet if you visit any major city in the world, you will find that the best hospitals are named Mt. Sinai, Cedars Sinai, or Albert Einstein because they are hospitals built by donations from Jews for the good of the people. If you go to any major university, you will see how many of the major donors and scholarship providers are Jews. The Jewish people are more likely to give as much they can to charities, and at the same time will be the most value-conscious consumers.”

“I’m not against real estate investments, but I’m against investing the bank’s money.”

“Some people say that leverage is the secret of the rich, but I believe it’s actually the secret of the bankrupt.”

“We make our house a home, but the sooner the mortgage is paid off, the sooner it truly turns into our own home.”

“There are only a few absolute truths in finances, like the fact that if you spend less than you make and have no debt, you’re creating wealth. Another is that the housing market is cyclical.”

“When I was a small boy, I used to play with toy cars and dream about the day I could own a real one. Many people still play with their cars today. They are in their 20s, 40s, maybe even 70s, but they still behave like little children when it comes to purchasing an automobile.There is a simple law at work in the universe: if it has a motor, it’s going down in value.”

“Negotiation is a give-and-take process, but being in control of the process is the only way to be successful at it.”

“My grandfather created a fortune that allowed him to live in luxury. He also went on to build the first industrial building in an area of San Paulo that eventually became one of the largest wholesale neighborhoods in the world. When my grandfather passed away, he left millions of dollars to my family as an inheritance. That inheritance, however, would have been worthless if he had not also given us his legacy of personal responsibility and work ethic. My grandfather refused to be defined by others, therefore setting not only the value of his product, but also of himself and his family.”

“After the Jews crossed the sea and the desert, they reached the Promised Land. Scouts were sent to look at the land before settling. When the scouts came back, they reported that the people in the land were giants. “We looked at them and they looked at us as if we were grasshoppers,” they said. Sometimes when we make a decision to make a change in our lives, we feel just like those scouts. However, if you pay attention to the words of the Bible, it was not the giants living in the land of Israel who believed that the Jews looked like grasshoppers. It was the Jews’ own perception. When they looked at the giants, they believed they were the grasshoppers.”

“A very interesting scene appears in the Bible right after the ten plagues. The Egyptians had enslaved the Jews and mistreated them, then they were punished severely, having their economy devastated and life as they had known it taken away from them by the effects of the ten plagues. But as the Jews were about to leave Egypt, the Egyptians gave the Jews all of their jewelry. Remember, these were people who had just lost their first born children. This was an amazing gesture of blessing from the ones who had cursed you. It would have been very easy for the Egyptians to have fallen into the “victim mode”. Instead it was much more empowering for the Egyptians to take this as an experience never to be repeated.”

“God sent the Egyptians ten plagues that became increasingly harder, one after the other, starting with blood, and ending with the death of the first born. Similarly, debt sometimes starts with charging just a couple of extra dollars to our credit cards when we want something we can’t afford to pay cash for. Before long, it might turn into a second mortgage on our house. Debt can kill our future and take our house with it.”

“Shalom is understood to mean peace, but peace is only one part of the word’s real meaning. The root shalem means completeness.”

“The system that God has given us is a holistic system. This is why the Torah is concerned with how we treat others, what we eat, how we behave, and how we produce, keep and share our wealth. The word shalom reminds us that we cannot live in peace until we completely take care of all other aspects of our lives.”

“In today’s world, people are born into different circumstances, but unlike the pagans, each of us has an opportunity to change our circumstances based on our actions. Some who are born into families who are at the lowest end of the economic spectrum, but manage to create enormous wealth and prosperity for themselves and their families. Others are given tremendous wealth and opportunities, but squander them by making poor choices. Many of them let their inner Beast gain control, and they end up with nothing.”

“In the Bible, when God made a covenant with Abraham, He removed Abraham from the pagan world. The pagan system was such that if you were born poor, you were poor all of your life, and if you were born rich, you were rich all of your life. However, in their covenant, God said to Abraham, “You are going to increase and prosper.” This became the blessing, the rare and dramatic change that took place in Abraham’s lifetime, making Abraham different from the pagans. The pagans did not understand prosperity. They lived from hand to mouth and knew no other way of life.”

“As we understand it, everything is in the Bible for one reason – to teach us a lesson. Thus, in the beginning of the Bible, we see how God budgets His time for labor, and He saves the seventh day for rest, or retirement. The concept of budgeting was created by God to give us a life of prosperity in the world He created for us, so we should learn to budget as a way to emulate God in our financial life.”

“Until now, your money has told you what to do and how much to work. Now we’re going to turn that around. You’ll learn to tell your money what to do and how much to work for you.”

“By learning these eternal truths, not only will you prepare your family for a better future and change your family history forever, you will also gain all of the self-confidence you need. You’ll wake up every day excited about being alive that day, and know that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be even better than today. You will be linked to the chain of prosperity.”

“By investing in their families and in their communities, not only did they have a better life, they were also able to do what they were meant to do – become their better selves.”

“This self-destructive behavior is becoming more and more mainstream in our society today, because we like to keep up with the Joneses. We don’t consider the fact that the Joneses’ kids are not going to the university, and they will not be able to retire in comfort. Life should be better than that.”

“Americans are following a stampede to the financial slaughterhouse. Let us stop following them and go in the other direction.”

“In describing the creation of man, the Torah says, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew into him the breath of life.” It’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for formed, which is vayiezer, was misspelled in the Bible, having used the Hebrew letter iud twice. The word vayiezer can also mean inclinations, and from what we understand, when man was formed, he had inside of him two completely different inclinations.”

“Through the ages, many different groups have called themselves victims. Some came through wars and massacres. Some were slaves or minorities. But the Jews, who have always been victimized throughout history, don’t see themselves as victims. We see ourselves as survivors. The difference between survivors and victims is that survivors go on with their lives after a tragedy, whereas victims continue to wallow in self-pity.”

“Remember, buying something is not the problem. The problem comes when we believe, for that moment, that the object we’re buying is going to make us happy.”