On the flip side...

Doing my best to not study while still getting through the material for Tuesday's exam. Factory layout. If you are a business with manufacturing facilities you have a number of questions I can help you with.

• How many manufacturing plants do you need?
• Where should you put them?
• How should each one be laid out?

Good questions no?

This is 90% R' Cardozo's last lecture for the DCA 2007-08. 5% is my interpretation. I don't know where the other 5% is from.
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The Gemara relates Nachshon BenAminadav to Elimelech & Shalman (father of Boaz). The two are attributed as his descendants. What is the point of comparison for the Gemara?

Chazal clearly attribute a level of heroism to Nachshon. He was willing to trust in God to the point that he saw the miracle even before it happened. He is willing to take a great risk due to his trust in God and out of sensing a need within the nation.

His descendants also take risks. Elimelech takes a great risk by leaving his home and family. This risk is out of self-interest and disdain for his community but it is still a bold move. In a more positive light, Boaz takes an equally great risk by staying and leading the community in hard times. At the peak of the story he is also willing to risk his reputation by paskening the question of "moavi v'lo moaviyah" and by marrying a convert.

Let us also consider what the nation surrounding Nachshon thought of him. Perhaps they thought he was committing suicide out of desperation. Maybe they saw the act that we see as heroic as the hight of cowardice! Consider as well, what would have happened had his gamble gone wrong. He would have drowned and the people would have said "I told you so. I knew he was wrong. He should have surrendered to the Egyptians."

But that didn't happen. His gamble paid off, the sea split and he was hailed as a hero. Other pivotal figures in our history and their gambles: Avraham did not know that his new movement would succeed. R' Yochanan BenZakai did not know that he would not be killed when he asked for an audience with Vespasian.

When presented with questions and risks we want surety. We all want to think through our risks, analyze them, and be sure that we can deal with them before "taking a risk". The challenge of this is that big progress and big reward only comes from big risks. And big risks are risky.

What Jewish risks? What are Jewish gambles? They come in different forms. Sometimes risk is physical like Nachshon's. For some the risks are political like the early Zionists. For us, today's religious Jewish community, what are our risks and who are our Nachshons? Are there new ideas that people could take risks with even if they were willing? Finance people will tell you that when the market is undergoing big changes there are big risks. Today, our "market" of ideas, ideologies & religion is in massive upheaval. Boundaries between countries are increasingly blurred. The Jewish community feels this upheaval. What is our response?

To use the same financial mashal, the really successful finance people will tell you that big risks are also big opportunity for big rewards.

In contrast with segments of the Jewish community who respond by battening down the hatches, we should think big and think creatively. We should have some of the naivety that allowed for Nachshon to take his risks. We should take risks. True, we may go broke. We may be laughed at. Our responsibility is to be among the risk takers. This will open us (and the Jewish nation) up to the possibility of the big rewards.