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Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 27, 2009 / 2 Nisan 5769

What are your defining moments? Here are mine

By Dave Weinbaum


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Obama Bad…Democracy good…Socialism bad…Capitalism good…citizens screwed.


Okay enough about politics this week. As Groucho once allegedly told a mother of 13 on You Bet Your Life , "Lady, I love cigars, but I take them out of my mouth once in a while."


I just finished "Outliers,", a book by Malcolm Gladwell. It was a fascinating read, even if he misused the information to promote Socialism.


Gladwell researched why some people succeeded and others failed. His premise was that it wasn't intelligence or effort as much as good timing, being born in the right era, and 10,000 hours of practice in a field that was in its infancy as the subject reached the prime age of 19-23. Even the right ethnicity could make or break one, depending on the culture. Two of his prime examples are Bill Gates and the Beatles.


The choices we make dictate the life that we lead


One individual can fight through most anything given the chance. What Gladwell got me thinking about are the defining moments of my life, including some warts:


  • Born in post WW2, growth economy to two parents who stayed together for life.

  • Played sports every day…baseball in summer, football in winter, sometimes seven days a week, dawn to dusk, 10,000+ hours worth.

  • Age ten, went on stage to make announcement. I froze in front of whole school. Refused to speak before any group for next 25 years.

  • Went out for football in school of 6,000 under best coach in Illinois high school history, Murney Lazier. I was smallest, slowest and one of the youngest as a freshman, but I had 10,000 hours of practice. Coach didn't cut and I didn't quit. Senior year I went from last to first string halfway through the season.

  • Let a high school baseball coach convince me to quit.

  • Poor grades in high school led to fear of continued failure in college. I achieved a "B" average.

  • Jobs I held during school: Caddy, baseball ump, pizza delivery, mailman, liquor truck helper, clerk at liquor/grocery store, loading trucks outside in Chicago winters at night, hot dog restaurant worker, medical insurance accountant, Chicago Mercantile exchange runner in morning and CME bookkeeper in afternoon.

  • After job as burglar alarm salesman and during job as an insurance agent, father-in-law offered me major opportunity in restaurant management with promise of ownership in his four eateries in St. Louis.

  • After two years, the company offered me a franchise in small town in Missouri at age 25. I'm 60 and still going strong.

  • Elected president of a restaurant advertising co-op during restroom break. Had to decide to defeat my speaking nightmares.

  • Two weeks before my father Mel died, he told me he could have done so much more with his life.

  • One year after father passed on, I began writing original quotes and jokes. After thousands of rejections, publications started to pick them up. I have written 40,000 original quotes and jokes.

  • Authored several hundred op-eds that are in local papers, www.jewishworldreview.com and www.daveweinbaum.com

  • Became a radio talk show host four months ago and now have seven independent sponsors.

  • Nearly went broke in 2001. I survived by getting help. Had tremendous recovery.

  • Became a stand-up comic at age 55.

  • Built a hotel…sold it at a loss ten years later.

  • Published a magazine…shut it down.

  • Back a professional golfer…a work in progress.

  • Bought a quarry and asphalt plant.


As Gladwell points out, if you acquire 10,000 hours of practice you become better than most, and opportunity coincidentally seems to break your way.


What he fails to analyze is the human spirit, the grit that prevents a soul from quitting under adversity.


I learned early that victories often occur when you see no way to succeed, but refuse to give up anyway.


I loved The Outliers, but I think Gladwell's conclusions sell the human spirit short.


As Martin Luther King said, "We SHALL overcome."

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Dave Weinbaum, originally from Chicago, is a businessman, writer and part-time stand-up comic. He resides in a Midwest red state. Comment by clicking here.



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