Enoughness

I read an astounding fact this week. The U.S. National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will have returned $849.9 billion worth of merchandise in 2025, including 19.3% of all online purchases. That is just the returns! We are no longer a society that acquires far too much; since returning has been made almost effortless, we send back goods almost as fast as we buy them. And then, I suppose, buy some more.

A recent survey found that:

• 49% of people who owned home fitness equipment said they used it only irregularly.

• 13% said it was never used at all.

• Another 5% reported that they had effectively converted it into a clothes/laundry rack.

I wrote about the spiritual issue of acquisitiveness in The Shabbat Effect in the chapter on “enoughness,” in Hebrew histapkut. Because all forms of acquiring and building are avoided on Shabbat, the day of rest gives us the opportunity to step off the merry-go-round of buying, returning and ultimately acquiring (whether we need it or not; whether we use it or not). It is a core Shabbat practice to lead ourselves into the space of being content with what we already have. That is a remarkably countercultural idea and practice.

Whether you are after goods, food, art, ideas or experiences, we are now able to get more, faster and easier than ever before. And yet it is well proven that acquiring more does not satisfy us nor make us happy. There is a hint of the problem in the name of the Chinese version of Amazon that launched in Europe this spring: it is called “Joybuy.” The message is that they are selling not just products but a joyful commercial experience as well. From their perspective, the person who is content with what they have is a poor consumer: they have no need to try to buy joy.

Wendell Berry, the American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic and farmer writing recently in Harper’s magazine commented on this issue:

To have some is to need more, and after that, more and more. To have more and more than you need is now a form of common sense, and so we have developed a sort of vogue of billionaires, when the model of citizenship is set by such people as Elon Musk and Donald Trump. To be successful now is to achieve the satisfaction of one’s greed, which of course is enlarged by every additional prospect of satisfaction.

Progress forbids us to stop when we are satisfied. We must go on, adopting the changes of technology, whatever the cost may be to ourselves and our children. But to know how much is enough, and to be satisfied with enough, makes possible an economy and a society properly suited to the world and to our place in this world. It is to be civilized. The idea of enough is alien to capitalism, which respects no limit.

The notion of enough may be alien to capitalism but it is fundamental to Jewish spirituality. It gains center stage on Shabbat, when tradition dictates that we step away from anything even remotely related to commerce, but it is more fundamental even than that. Pirkei Avot, that book of first principles compiled almost 2,000 years ago, captures the idea in its answer to the question, “Who is rich?” The answer it gives is: “One who rejoices in their portion” (Pirkei Avot 4:1). Beyond content; rejoices!

It’s a small and quiet voice calling out “enough! Be satisfied!” That message is all but drowned out by the bellowing of the people and organizations wanting us to fuel the acquisition machine.

How can the wise whisper contend with the “maxxing” movement, an online subculture that is built around the idea of maximizing or optimizing one particular aspect of your life—tracking your “stats” like your life is a sort of fantasy football or video-game. Whether you sign on for Looksmaxxing (maximizing physical attractiveness: grooming, fitness, clothing, skin care, etc.) or Sleepmaxxing, Moneymaxxing, Statusmaxxing, Socialmaxxing or any other version of this popular phenomenon, we can ask, could any of that possibly make a person happy and fulfilled? Not a chance. When the goal is to be the best at something, and especially something that has no real standards, the outcome is much more likely to be nothing more than perpetual anxiety. And anxiety is the perfect motivator to push us to collude in someone else making money at our expense.

I invite you to join me this Shabbat in buying nothing, returning nothing, acquiring nothing – and not just that, but in rejoicing in what you already have. Let’s be spiritual billionaires together!