Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
March 29-30, 2024 • 20 Adar 2 5784 • Tzav (Lev 6-8).
blog goal of this email is to stimulate some gray matter at the Shabbat table.
If you're a long-time reader (and have a good memory), you may recall that last time I wrote about Daniel Kahneman z"l (who died this week) was five years ago. Never met him, but wish I had.
(Click that link for an interesting and uplifting obituary about his long life.)
Five years ago, the context was attending a public Bingo for the first time in my life.
I get Bingo - there is some (I stress some) skill involved - one has to concentrate and move quickly.
But the lottery tickets they sell there in-between rounds are different. First of all, there were many sets of tickets with different names like "Pot of Gold" or "Money from Heaven," but they all had the same prizes ($1, $2, $5, $20, $200) and same odds. So why did some people buy some tickets and turn up their noses to others?
I heard a lady asked, "Are they paying one or two jackpots?" - meaning, will the $200 go to one winner or be split among two winners?
The answer was the latter. So I asked her, "Was that the answer you wanted?"
"No."
She was only interested in playing for the $200 jackpot, not the $100 - even though it had better odds (let's say 1 in 50 as opposed to 1 in 100).
So this is a perfect Daniel Kahneman question for your table: For a $1 bet, would you rather play for a 50% chance of winning $100 or a 5% chance of winning $1,000?
What if the bet cost $5?
What if it cost $50?
It's obvious that most gamblers think with their gut, not their brain.
And that gut is so stimulated by the temptation of the Jackpot that they are willing to go out night after night and spend their few extra dollars for that tiny chance.
What's less obvious (but has been proven) is that we all do this kind of thinking every day.
In his book (linked above), Dr. Kahaneman shows many examples of how people make choices based on their irrational gut and not on their head.
• Would you rather have 5 minutes of excruciating pain or 5 years of low-level pain?
• When you remember that vacation 10 years ago, when that disaster happened, how much does that disaster loom in your mind versus the pleasant parts of the vacation?
• When you planned your wedding, how much time and money went into each detail? And which of those details do you actually remember today?
• The final word on this - and question for your table - is what matters more, the experience I'm having right now, or the memory it will create?
Most of us live for the future - we are planning and we are motivated because we picture ourselves headed toward some future outcome. Having such a vision can be motivational and satisfying. But an even higher level is living in the present, totally present in this moment.
How do you get there?
Start by finding excuses right and left to simply say, "Thank you."
Thank about it.
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Feeling lucky? Want to click that image?
Five years ago, the context was attending a public Bingo for the first time in my life.
I get Bingo - there is some (I stress some) skill involved - one has to concentrate and move quickly.
But the lottery tickets they sell there in-between rounds are different. First of all, there were many sets of tickets with different names like "Pot of Gold" or "Money from Heaven," but they all had the same prizes ($1, $2, $5, $20, $200) and same odds. So why did some people buy some tickets and turn up their noses to others?
I heard a lady asked, "Are they paying one or two jackpots?" - meaning, will the $200 go to one winner or be split among two winners?
The answer was the latter. So I asked her, "Was that the answer you wanted?"
"No."
She was only interested in playing for the $200 jackpot, not the $100 - even though it had better odds (let's say 1 in 50 as opposed to 1 in 100).
So this is a perfect Daniel Kahneman question for your table: For a $1 bet, would you rather play for a 50% chance of winning $100 or a 5% chance of winning $1,000?
What if the bet cost $5?
What if it cost $50?
It's obvious that most gamblers think with their gut, not their brain.
And that gut is so stimulated by the temptation of the Jackpot that they are willing to go out night after night and spend their few extra dollars for that tiny chance.
What's less obvious (but has been proven) is that we all do this kind of thinking every day.
In his book (linked above), Dr. Kahaneman shows many examples of how people make choices based on their irrational gut and not on their head.
• Would you rather have 5 minutes of excruciating pain or 5 years of low-level pain?
• When you remember that vacation 10 years ago, when that disaster happened, how much does that disaster loom in your mind versus the pleasant parts of the vacation?
• When you planned your wedding, how much time and money went into each detail? And which of those details do you actually remember today?
• The final word on this - and question for your table - is what matters more, the experience I'm having right now, or the memory it will create?
Most of us live for the future - we are planning and we are motivated because we picture ourselves headed toward some future outcome. Having such a vision can be motivational and satisfying. But an even higher level is living in the present, totally present in this moment.
How do you get there?
Start by finding excuses right and left to simply say, "Thank you."
Thank about it.
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Feeling lucky? Want to click that image?
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