This Shabbat:

Friday Candle Lighting: 7:51 PM

Shabbat Ends: 8:52 PM

Torah Message:

Coca-Cola Loses $4 Billion

“Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Take to yourself Yehoshua bin Nun, a man in whom there is spirit…’ ” (27:18)

In his work Nefesh HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner reveals that the stature of man reaches from this the lowest of worlds to the very heights of Heaven. Man’s actions ascend through all the spiritual worlds above and reach the highest place in creation. There, his actions generate an energy that flows back down to this world. So what starts off as a small kindness in this world travels up to highest reaches of existence and rebounds down into this world as, let’s say, bountiful rain in the heart of Africa or sunshine on a cloudy day in Cornwall. And, of course, the more “spirit” there is in a man, the more his actions impact.

It’s difficult for us to imagine these abstract spiritual energies. But something happened a few days ago which offers a parable.

Product placement is a form of advertising in which branded goods and services are featured in a production that targets a large audience. Also known as “embedded marketing” or “embedded advertising,” product placements are typically found in movies, television shows, personal videos, radio, and — less commonly — live performances. In exchange for product placement rights, companies may pay a production company or studio in cash, goods, or services.

On Monday, June 14, Cristiano Ronaldo removed two Coca Cola bottles during a press conference at the European Championship, and the Coca Cola company “tasted the feeling” of its share price falling some 4 billion dollars.

The Portugal captain is a renowned health fanatic and made it clear what he thinks of the carbonated soft drink. The 36 year-old shifted the bottles of Coca Colaaway from him during a press conference in Budapest in the prelude to his country’s Group F game against Hungary.

Ronaldo followed it by holding up a bottle of water, before declaring in Portuguese: “Agua!” as he appeared to be encouraging people to choose that drink instead.

Coca Cola is one of the official sponsors of Euro 2020. The company’s share price dropped from $56.10 to $55.22 almost immediately after Ronaldo’s gesture, a 1.6 percent dip. The market value of Coca Cola went from $242 billion to $238 billion — a drop of $4 billion.

If moving two bottles of Coke can eradicate four billion dollars, how much more can a smile to someone who needs it cause the sun to shine on a damp day in Cornwall!

• Source: Heard in the name of Rabbi Nosson Conick from Rabbi Shmuel Nochum Conick.