Dress English, Think Yiddish!

“Dress English, think Yiddish“. I heard this advice during an interview with Dan Peña, a proud, non-politically correct millionaire and business coach known as “The 50 Billion Dollar Man”.

Well, the slogan stuck with me. Besides the reference to the English formal dress code, I was intrigued mainly by his reference to the “Yiddish thinking”,  part of that Jewish wisdom that seems to provide an edge on business and money matters – as discussed in the Money Code article.  He commented on such thinking as “canny, shrewd, real“. Dan Peña received such advice decades ago from Constantine Gratsos: “he had made his fortune as a lifelong associate of shipping icon Aristotle Onassis. He took a liking to me, became my first mentor, and showed me how to swim in the deep, dangerous waters of business”.

You can watch the extract of his interview. 

I admit that such a reference to canny Yiddish thinking intrigued me and gave me more historical reading opportunities. A quick search online immediately clarified that Yiddish is a language used by Jews in central and eastern Europe before the Holocaust. It was originally a German dialect with words from Hebrew (the official Jewish language) and several modern languages. It is now used only by a minority of Jews.

Looking for some books, I came across one written by Howard Ward Charles: “The Money Code: Become a Millionaire With the Ancient Jewish Code“. H. W. Charles studied Biblical Studies and received several academic awards. The title sounded a bit like “pop culture” for my taste, but I tried it. You can read my review in this article: “The Money Code” by H.W. Charles.

I then came across a book by Rabbie Daniel Lapin: “Business Secrets from the Bible“. This second book was a dive with new eyes into the Holy book and further sparked my interest in ancient money management wisdom in ancient books. More recently, I published an investment article inspired by the Parable Of The Talents.

My take on Dan Peña? Dress as it suits you, but make sure to Sweat Your Assets.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

–  Dress British, Think Yiddish, by Eitan Kensy (Jewish Review of Books)

– Dress British, Think Yiddish. How Jews Came to Yale in Ivy League Cloting, by Daniel Horowitz