“Israel has more companies on the NASDAQ than those from all of Europe, Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, and India combined.”

The above quote is from a book I’ve just finished reading called ‘Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle’ by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

I really enjoyed the book, which gave a lot of insight into why Israel, a small and relatively new country, has been able to grow into the super economic country that it is today. The book explores a number of ideas, one of which I can appreciate.

“Israelis are not afraid to go where others will not,” says the author. “For example, Israelis have been traveling to China long before Americans and Europeans.”

I once read that Israelis are the second-to-most traveled people outside of their own country per capita after the Germans. Americans are the most traveled per capita within their own country. So what does this all mean?

When it comes to global business, having traveled to a country or at least not having any fear of traveling to it will enable positive business opportunities. If an Israeli gets an idea to import or export something to India or South America, he would not need to think twice about hopping on a plane. He may have already spent half a year in either place. But take the American who has perhaps not traveled outside of the US, or maybe they have traveled but only to somewhere in Europe. What if they had an idea to do business with India, perhaps for them and within their circles of friends and family going to India is a crazy idea.

A well known joke about Israeli travelers applies equally well in Nepal, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Peru, Bolivia, or Ecuador. A hotel-keeper sees a guest present an Israeli passport and asks, “By the way, how many are you?” The young Israeli answers, “Seven million,” to which the hotel-keeper says, “And how many are still back in Israel?”

Partially why I travel so much is to explore business opportunities and ideas. When a friend of mine suggested I join him in the Philippines to start a business, I went. When some Slovakian guys I met talked to be about their honey bee farming business in Cambodia, I checked it out.

Being fearless of travel is a definite benefit to growing a business.

Planking on upside down bus

It was over a month ago that I wrote a few posts on planking, including a story about planking. I even went so far as to create a category for planking. For those of you not familiar with what planking is, do a search on my site key word ‘planking’ and you will have a few planking articles.

I wrote about planking because it was a very hot topic after some guy died in Australia and I figured that I could get lots of traffic to my site. It worked. On the first day I got 1,250 views to my planking article and got an interview request.

My thoughts were that the whole planking craze would last no more than a couple of weeks and indeed it has been dying down. However the ‘Planking Australia,’ Facebook page has grown from the first time I looked at it when it had 20,000 people to now having over 500,000 likes! Planking is still making headlines in some places across Europe and the rest of the world. This past week it was on the news here in the US.

Planking started in Australia, and as it dies there, it has slowly come alive in the rest of the world. I find this interesting, because when I lived in Australia for 6 years I noticed that everything started in the US and Europe and then slowly made its way to Australia. Australia seemed to be behind in everything.

But now thinking about it, Australia is a country based on commodities. It exports raw materials: metals, wool, minerals, and so on. And thus it made sense for them to export planking. Planking is like a raw material that can be shaped into something, and therefore it made sense for Australia to export this.

Perhaps we can learn something from all this nonsense?

The Bal Shem Tov said that a person can learn something from anything he sees. Once while walking with his students they saw some Gentiles carving a crucifix from the ice. The students asked what could possibly be learned from this and the Bal Shem Tov was able to extrapolate a lesson from it.

I was thinking what could be learned from seeing someone laying face down in a planking position?  What can be learned from seeing a Facebook page grow to 400,000 followers about something as crazy as planking?

If you were to see someone lying face down on the ground what would your reaction be? Most of us would probably stop and check if the guy was alright and if he needed some help. In essence this is what is going on with planking. Millions of people around the world are laying on the ground saying ‘I need help.’ ‘I need something in my life.’ People are searching for meaning and for some spirituality and they want help.

Planking is way to express this but many express it in other ways. Perhaps we need to reach out to a friend who may not be literally lying face down on the ground but inside they are.  And maybe we can give them a helping hand to get them back on their feet.

Bilam merited to have a donkey talk to him, which is more than I ever merited. It makes me wonder if he's really such a bad guy after all...

Have you ever felt like you just really got the raw end of the deal? Like someone totally misjudged you? That if they’d only known your situation they’d have understood, forgiven, or been more kind? I think we all feel like that sometimes.  I know I certainly have!  And sometimes it’s not even our situation – it’s our culture, our background, the way we were raised, that seems to put us at a disadvantage and cause someone else to judge us poorly. Why? Because we have different customs? Is that fair? Is it right?

You know, it happens all the time in our lives, and even more often in travel.  I remember when I lived in Spain.  I was accustomed to running around the house barefoot – I’d never wear my shoes inside to track in dirt! – and I don’t like socks much (unless they’re those adorable toe socks!).  So when I moved in with a family in Galicia, I followed the same protocol as always: I ran around the house barefoot.  Much to my consternation, this upset my host mother to no end.  She was convinced that this was some horrible thing I was doing to myself and anytime I so much as sniffled, she blamed it on me being barefoot.

Once, my friend Lauren, who was studying abroad in England, came to visit.  When I came home from class for lunch, she sauntered into the kitchen in her bare feet.  “Lauren!” I whispered urgently, “Go put on socks RIGHT NOW!!”  She hurried to comply, but it was too late.  My host mother had seen her and was in hysterics.  “What’s wrong with her?!” She cried in Spanish in absolute anguish, “Doesn’t she know that walking barefoot harms the ovaries?!”  Although I collapsed on the floor laughing, it never did change my host mother’s mind about the dubious character of my friend.

So when I read this week’s parsha, I felt pretty bad for Bilam.  I feel like the poor guy really got the raw end of the deal.  Every commentary I read about him paints him in a negative light: He’s a rasha, he’s evil, he’s cruel.  But I think the sages and great commentators have got it all wrong.  Bilam’s not that bad!  Let’s look at it reasonably: Bilam’s background truthfully isn’t that great.  After all, he was an advisor to Pharaoh who told him not to listen to Moshe.  But in this week’s parsha it seems to me that he’s done some teshuva.  Over and over again, he says, “I can only say what G-d tells me to say.”  He seems to have an awful lot of faith in a G-d he didn’t used to believe in!  And if you look at what he says, he really does only say what G-d tells him to.  So we can’t fault him for any of his parables. (And why would we? He blesses the Jewish people three times!)

Bilam tells Balak to gather 7 bulls and 7 rams to sacrifice on 7 altars to win G-d's favor before cursing the Jewish people according to Balak's wishes. However, when G-d puts words of blessing into Bilam's mouth and Balak is angered, Bilam reminds him that even for all of the king's gold and silver, he still will only do as G-d says, and say what G-d tells him to say. How many of us can honestly say we would stand up to a king and say that?

Not only that, but to me it looks like he must have some major merit on high!  He’s talking directly to G-d, has a talking donkey, and sees angels.  Can any of us claim to have any of those merits? (If you answered yes to this question, please see a qualified psychiatrist!) Furthermore, I heard one commentary criticize him for being greedy when he mentions Balak’s storerooms of gold and silver.  But is he really? What one of us would turn that down, could afford to turn that down? Sure, he seems eager to rush after it – but wait a minute. He maintains throughout that even if he would be given all of that wealth, he still would only do what G-d says.  G-d told him he’s allowed to go, so he went.  He never, not once, went against anything G-d directly told him. So when it comes to Bilam, I think he’s got a lot of good things going for him.

As we go on our travels, we constantly encounter situations where it seems someone is doing something bad, but really it’s good.  Or it’s neutral – just part of a cultural snafu.  Whether we’re wearing shoes in the house (or not), belching after our meals (or not), or eating with our hands (or not), we have to judge others favorably.  Especially if we want Hashem to judge us favorably, too!

SHABBAT SHALOM!

These native village children in Ollantaytambo, Peru are happy and enjoy themselves even though they really don't own anything.

Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine.  She was telling me a story about a coworker who was assigned a certain group of troubled people to counsel.  Her coworker was having a really tough time because it seemed that none of her counseling books or training had given a real solution to their problem.  The problem was that all the clients were depressed – horribly, deeply depressed – yet they all seemed to have fantastic success in their lives: great jobs with high salaries, fancy apartments, new cars, and just about any luxury money could buy.  Yet, they were still terribly depressed.  Why?

At that point I couldn’t help but notice the contrast.  Having just returned to the first world from India and Nepal, I was stunned to see the affluence of the U.S. again… and the misery.  You see, in India and Nepal, I was constantly surrounded by people who have virtually nothing.  People living in the most abject poverty that it would seem to us Westerners virtually impossible to survive.  Yet, these people were happy.  They didn’t have much and their lives were tough, but they were happy.  How could this be?

While traveling through India, Rabbi Ben and I read the autobiographical novel Holy Cow, one of the most popular books on India.  In this book, the author is addressed by a poor man in a village, who tells her that the misery of westerners is because they are always looking at people who have more than them and wishing they could have it (and thus making themselves miserable), while the Indians are always looking at those who have less and are grateful for what they do have.  It’s a poignant point and I think that in a lot of ways, he’s right.

We can learn a lot from children, especially children in third world countries. They have an ability to have fun, play, and enjoy themselves, even if they have nothing. They don't need video games or even any real toys to be happy!

In Judaism we have a similar approach to happiness.  We don’t advocate judging others, so our approach is not based on looking at what others have or don’t have.  Instead, we follow the wise adage of Ben Zoma in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers): “Who is rich? He who is happy with what he has.”  We are taught that the key to happiness is to cultivate gratitude for what you do have, rather than to lament over what you do not have.

I’ve recognized in my own life that I tend to be much happier now that I do not “have” as much as I used to.  Although other people have plenty of things I do not – a car, a house, a boat, etc. – I find that I am rich in the ways that really do count.  I have a loving husband, fantastic friends, constant meaningful life experiences, and plenty of opportunities to improve my middot and grow as a person.  The lesson I learned in India is that we do not need any material item but ourselves to be truly happy.

Lightning from the beach at Bal Harbor in Florida

Hurricane season has started in Florida.

So what’s good about hurricanes? Well for three days in a row last week I was able to make two special berachot in the afternoon as the storms slowly rolled in.

I’d love to go back in time with a camera to ‘Mattan Torah’ (the giving of the Torah). It says that the people saw the thunder. This is because the Torah is higher than time and space and when the Torah came into the world it created conflict in time and space. Thus the Jewish people were able to see the thunder. I’m not sure what thunder would look like but it would be cool to catch it on film…Actually that saying is outdated, now I must say ‘it would be cool to catch it on digital!’

So what are the Berachot to make on thunder and lightening?

On hearing thunder say: Boruch attah ado-nai elo-heinu melech haolam, shekocho u’gevurato malei olam.

[Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Whose strength and might fills the world].

When seeing lightning: Boruch attah ado-nai elo-heinu melech haolam oseh maaseh bereishit.

[Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who makes the Work of Creation].

You only say these blessing if you see the lightning first and then afterwards hear the thunder. If they both come at the same time, you hear thunder and see lightning, you say just one of the berachot whichever one you choose to say.

You can make the blessing once per storm or on the same storm but on the next day. If the clouds were to clear and then come back, you can make the blessings again.