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| You know I love to "connect the dots", and all
you had to say was Yom Kippur, fun, and memory. Obviously, it was when Rabbi
Scott asked us to speak before his congregation on Yom Kippur. |
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| Well, I still find it surreal that we were asked
to speak about money on one of the High Holy Days. And that we
titled our presentation, "Oy Vey, You Want To Talk About Money?" |
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| The day is about reflection, making fundamental
changes – or at least adjustments – and trying to become a better person. And, just because it is a spiritual journey,
there is no reason you cannot make learning fun. |
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| True. I remember the time Rabbi Scott put a
piece of aluminum foil in the children's Yom Kippur service program to help
them understand that Yom Kippur's a day for reflection. But even you must admit that making a
congregation laugh about money on a religious holiday is a bit much. |
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| But, memorable. A few years later, I met someone that attended that service, and he said
he's never forgotten it. |
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| For the content or all the food analogies?! I can remember we started by saying how we
just wanted to give everyone some food-for-thought and then saying, "Oops,
since Yom Kippur's a day of fasting, maybe bringing up the subject of food
wasn't such a good idea." |
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| Of course, it did not stop us from doing it,
again and again. |
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| How else could we explain our unexpected journey
into personal finance without mentioning it started at our first speaking
engagement … which was at a Jewish Federation breakfast? |
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| Or, how our detour into criminal justice started
with me meeting with the chaplain at a men's prison? But I knew it was meant to be when she told me
they had the only kosher
kitchen in the Texas prison system. |
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|
And each time we looked at each other and then the audience,
and we all laughed! With each mention of
food, it just got funnier and funnier. But there was no way to avoid it. |
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| I know. How could you tell the story about realizing all the money you were
mindlessly spending at Jamba Juice without mentioning your almost-daily
smoothies? Or, how you went grocery shopping
at Whole Foods because it was convenient but not cost-effective. Anyway, until that day, I never realized how
so many of our stories have to do with food. |
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| I think the highlight was toward the end when I
was explaining how I felt overwhelmed trying to tackle personal finance. That at times, things seemed insurmountable,
and then you told me … it's like eating an elephant, you can do it, just one bite at a time. And everyone started laughing again. |
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| On any other day, I doubt that analogy would
make you think of food. But, on Yom
Kippur, and especially since we were presenting after at least 15 hours of
fasting, everything makes you hungry |
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| I guess it's like being so tired that you get slap happy. But I never thought a day of atonement and reflection could end up becoming a day of
laughter. |
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| On Yom Kippur, we wish people an "easy fast" or a "meaningful fast"
… and if a bit of laughter, even if not intended, helps, what is wrong with
that? |
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| Good point. For that matter, you don't need to be Jewish to take a day, or even just
an hour, to stop, to think, and to improve.
|
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|
No fasting required. |
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