how to eat when you have to

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be running                                                                   African Proverb Dan Woods writes in his Forbes article : Gamification is about achieving goals using an engaging set of metrics-based interactions. It takes something usually seen in hindsight–performance–and breaks it down, looking at its most important component parts. Once performance is measured, participants can begin getting immediate feedback. Gamification can actually become an integral part of process design for a business, moving well be...

Devar Torah for Friday Night - VaYigash Did brothers go to Egypt because there was a famine and they needed food or because it was G-ds plan to make peace between brothers and Josef ? Yes and yes. Did Jews stay in Egypt for 400 years because it made economic sense at the time or because it was G-ds plan and part of his promise to Abraham? Yes and yes. Did Jews become enslaved as a result of assimilation or because it was G-ds plan and a necessary part of Jewish education for generations to come? Yes and yes. But what was the point in the scripture that signified the beginning of enslavement? Our Sages tell us it's "Ve-Yahazu Bah" at the end of this week's Torah Portion. The Jews acquired the choicest  land in Egypt and took hold of it. Did they take hold of the land or did the land take hold of them? Yes and yes. Did we come to US because it made economical sense or because it was part of G-ds plan for our growth and development? Yes and yes. Are we living i...

Scarlett : As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.               “Gone with the wind” (1939) As God is our witness, we did not go hungry again. In 2011, every third American is obese. In 2008 I was obese too. Now, after losing 50 pounds, I want to help others to do what I did. And people do ask all the time: “How did you do it?” And I always answer: “Gradually...” What else can I say? I don’t represent the 50-billion weight loss industry. I have nothing to sell. I have no easy answers.  What I do have is a story. And it starts with Victor Frankl. Victor Frankl was a Holocaust survivor and the founder of Logotherapy , the “ Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy”.  In h...

Dear Wurzweiler Office of Admissions, Please join me on a special ride. We are going to go back in time in search of life experiences. The journey of this kind is nothing new, and the older we get the more often we find time to go back in time. We go back to re-live the experiences and make sense of it all. First Stop: Two weeks ago. Midtown Kollel .             We finished learning the fifth chapter of Talmud tractate “Sanhedrin” that deals with Jewish approach to judging capital cases. I gave a short talk summarizing the most interesting parts of the chapter. What touched me the most was a note about Rabbi Yochanan, who lived 120 years and spent first 40 years “ Be Pragmatia ” - doing commerce, next 40 years - learning and the last 40 years – teaching…  Soon I’ll be 40 too, and it keeps me wondering: how did he pull it off? Can I do the same?            ...

                        Almost no one puts in the work to create or invent                                                                         Seth Godin, “Linchpin” For the last 10 years of my life I was putting myself in the same challenging situation: I would get a Software Developer job and would try to keep it for a while. It’s not very hard for me to get a job, because I interview well. Keeping a job is not hard either, because I’m a fast study and I welcome feedback. But it’s very hard for me to contain m...

A couple of weeks ago we started learning Gemarah "Taanit" with Shalom. I love it. On the third page there is a discussion of 4 seasonal additions to the prayer, that mention Dew, Wind, Clouds and Rain. And it says that one has to beg for rain only, because other three will be there anyways. I thought of a metaphoric way to interpret it: Dew is a metaphor for your daily livelihood, a slow and steady progress you make in your endeavors (the mannah was covered with the layer of dew). Wind is a metaphor for changes, moving and shaking, excitement and unexpectedness. Clouds are a metaphor for the comforts of life. (Ananei ha Kavod , the clouds of glory followed the Jews in the desert and provided the shade. Not a necessity, but very nice-to-have) And Rain is the metaphor for Torah. So here's what I learned: you will get your livelihood, your unexpected changes and your little comforts anyways. Don't worry about them too much. Don't ask for more. ...

This blog is gradually turning into collection of speaking points, speech drafts etc. So be it. This is an overview of a personalized weight loss program for a friend of mine. Mostly speaking points. What do you want? So you think you want to lose weight? Good for you! Because this answers the very first question we are going to ask every week. Have an answer every week. Think hard about what you really want - every week. The answer may change overtime. The answer SHOULD change eventually because eventually you are going to get what you want. And then you should find something else you want as badly as you want to lose weight - now. One week you might want to lose weight, one week you might want to learn to run fast, one week you might want to squat 500lbs, one week you might want to kick and punch like Bruce Lee. It's all good. But whatever you choose, stick with it for a while. All the specific results in a particular sport, all the side effects of weight loss are just a...