1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:00,973 . 2 00:00:06,730 --> 00:00:11,300 Welcome to Balancing Life's Issues, the podcast. Uh, my name is Kai, your host, 3 00:00:11,300 --> 00:00:15,380 and I'm here with c e o of b l I, Wendy Wallner. How are you today? Good. 4 00:00:15,380 --> 00:00:18,540 And you forgot baby miles. You've introduced baby Miles. 5 00:00:18,910 --> 00:00:23,500 Miles is with us, uh, for today, uh, because we're moving quick. Yeah. Um, 6 00:00:23,500 --> 00:00:26,900 obviously there is a lot going on in Israel. 7 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,860 And Wendy, I know you have a deep connection there, and I just, we wanted to, 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:33,900 um, shout out, uh, 9 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:37,540 the organization you can support if you don't know what to do. But really, 10 00:00:37,540 --> 00:00:39,540 Wendy, I just wanted to ask you your advice. 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:40,820 You know what's interesting? 12 00:00:40,930 --> 00:00:45,420 I've always thought that companies have such a social responsibility to make the 13 00:00:45,420 --> 00:00:46,740 world better. Um, 14 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,900 and big companies and small companies can all contribute in so many ways. 15 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,940 And my contribution is to help other small businesses, other single mothers, 16 00:00:55,350 --> 00:00:59,940 other dads that are figuring out how to have a baby on their lap. Um, 17 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:05,050 and now these small businesses are in war and they've left their homes 18 00:01:05,230 --> 00:01:06,170 in the middle of the night, 19 00:01:06,460 --> 00:01:09,890 which my family left their homes in the middle of the night and had to start 20 00:01:09,890 --> 00:01:14,770 over. And they need sheets and toothbrushes. The list goes on and on, 21 00:01:15,590 --> 00:01:17,850 and we want to make sure that they get it. 22 00:01:17,950 --> 00:01:21,890 And we also wanna make sure that they are buying supplies from other small 23 00:01:22,130 --> 00:01:26,730 businesses. So I can't control hatred. I wish I could. Um, 24 00:01:27,410 --> 00:01:28,970 I can't control so many different things, 25 00:01:29,030 --> 00:01:32,370 but as a c e o of balancing life's issues and the president of Mata u s a, 26 00:01:32,750 --> 00:01:37,650 we can control sending a dollar over to the small businesses to keep 27 00:01:37,650 --> 00:01:39,970 them going during a war. 28 00:01:40,270 --> 00:01:43,650 Before we listen to, you know, our two guests, like, 29 00:01:44,550 --> 00:01:48,050 I'm feeling desensitized, right? So I think this morning was the first time, 30 00:01:48,290 --> 00:01:51,770 'cause a lot of the images and videos are coming out now that they've taken back 31 00:01:51,770 --> 00:01:56,210 the cities that, um, had been taken over. Um, and I think it, 32 00:01:56,230 --> 00:01:59,570 it hit a little different this morning as I was drinking coffee, 33 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:04,770 holding miles and realized I can't be consuming this while I'm with my baby. 34 00:02:04,910 --> 00:02:08,010 But, you know, as someone who's so far separated, like, 35 00:02:08,010 --> 00:02:10,810 I'm gonna go on a walk later today with Miles and our dog, Elroy, 36 00:02:11,110 --> 00:02:14,010 and I'm not gonna be afraid of something like this happening. 37 00:02:14,070 --> 00:02:18,910 So in addition to donating, how do we even begin to process what's happening. 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,620 Become educated, really learn, you know, 39 00:02:23,630 --> 00:02:26,540 maybe it's not through the media, but reach out to people. 40 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:32,140 Use the positive parts of social media to connect with those so we can show 41 00:02:32,140 --> 00:02:33,700 them our emotional support. 42 00:02:34,420 --> 00:02:38,460 I loved when I was so scared to reach out to Uri. I, it's been a, 43 00:02:38,540 --> 00:02:41,340 a little bit of a time I haven't reached out to him. And I was like, oh, 44 00:02:41,340 --> 00:02:43,500 you know what? I don't wanna upset him. I don't know what to say. 45 00:02:43,690 --> 00:02:48,220 He's in middle of it. He's literally, he's, his home is right there, you know, 46 00:02:48,340 --> 00:02:49,740 where you can see the bombs. 47 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,460 And as scared as I was to send the text, 48 00:02:54,180 --> 00:02:57,060 I remembered the feeling that I had when my father died, 49 00:02:57,060 --> 00:02:58,740 and how many people just ignored me. 50 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,000 Ignored because they were afraid to upset me. 51 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,060 We are not upsetting people when we connect and tell them we care. 52 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,580 And that's such an important message. 53 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,300 One thing to doom scroll news or images and videos, 54 00:03:12,450 --> 00:03:15,980 it's another to reach out to someone who might be affected just to not only hear 55 00:03:15,980 --> 00:03:19,540 their perspective, but what they, what they would get from you in that moment. 56 00:03:19,610 --> 00:03:20,443 Yeah. 57 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,180 And that's why, you know, I, I keep talking about your son, but you know, 58 00:03:24,180 --> 00:03:27,300 you guys can't see him, but I can see him. So let me do a visual picture. 59 00:03:27,730 --> 00:03:32,060 He's an adorable, the chunky little teaks, and he is chunky. And, uh, 60 00:03:32,090 --> 00:03:35,100 I've seen Kai not be a father, and now he is a father, right? And, 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,460 and so we at balancing life's issues, we're a work-life balance company. 62 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,380 So we've got the best thing in the world on this podcast, a brand new baby, 63 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,100 and we have the worst thing on the world in this podcast, which is war 64 00:03:53,220 --> 00:03:56,580 I I really have to say that, you know, where you spend your dollars, 65 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,260 how you spend your dollars buying from small businesses, supporting, 66 00:04:01,310 --> 00:04:05,500 going on Etsy and continuing to support the Israeli business owners. 67 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,980 So you're gonna listen to the president of Mati Israel and to Yuri, 68 00:04:10,310 --> 00:04:14,500 who's one of the students, um, a graduate and a friend. Um, 69 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,740 and, um, we're asking for your dollar, $5, no judgment, 70 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:25,140 any donations. There'll be a, a link on where to donate, um, to Mati U s A. 71 00:04:25,140 --> 00:04:30,100 The money goes directly to Jerusalem and directly to the people that 72 00:04:30,100 --> 00:04:33,580 are being evacuated or to the small businesses. 73 00:04:33,710 --> 00:04:35,860 We'll leave it there and we will, we'll hear from our guests. 74 00:04:36,250 --> 00:04:37,460 Take care everyone. Thanks. 75 00:04:37,460 --> 00:04:39,300 For listening guys, and thanks for donating. 76 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,180 My name is Svia. I was born in Israel, raised in Israel, 77 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,940 did the army in Israel, have two kids married to a Phil and work in Jerusalem. 78 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,420 We are working in Jerusalem. 79 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:01,700 Our main goal is to have the economic in Jerusalem for all the people who 80 00:05:01,700 --> 00:05:05,900 live in the city. Five days ago when I woke up, it was six in the morning, 81 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,780 six and a half something. And I woke to the sounds of the alarm, 82 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,380 and we ran into the safe room as all the country, 83 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:19,340 or a lot of people in the country. But that wasn't the, the worst thing. 84 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,260 It took two hours from there when we found out that all our brothers and sisters 85 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:26,300 are suffering now. 86 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,540 People are being attacked in their houses being shot. 87 00:05:30,810 --> 00:05:35,260 Both of my friends lost their kids. And I'm going from one place to another, 88 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,340 all around me. My friends are sending their boys and girls to the Army. 89 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,900 And what we're trying to do in our non-profit organization called Mati is to 90 00:05:46,060 --> 00:05:50,700 help those people who are coming to the South with their suffer and staying in 91 00:05:50,700 --> 00:05:53,980 Jerusalem. And combined with that, we wanna help them, 92 00:05:54,570 --> 00:05:56,580 them and the people who live in Jerusalem, 93 00:05:57,170 --> 00:06:01,920 those who are have businesses and at the time of war, do not work. So we said, 94 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,640 if we'll raise money to buy the people from the south, the needs, 95 00:06:05,990 --> 00:06:09,800 they need all kinds of stuff for themselves. They don't have beds, 96 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,840 they don't have shits, they don't have clothes, nothing. 97 00:06:13,220 --> 00:06:15,960 So we're raising it for them. And at the same time, 98 00:06:16,060 --> 00:06:19,400 we buy it from people who have businesses in Jerusalem. 99 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:23,240 So we feel that we'll have to both of the things that we wanna do, 100 00:06:23,620 --> 00:06:27,600 our people in Israel and our businesses in Jerusalem. 101 00:06:28,250 --> 00:06:31,920 Thank you. You know, um, my, I'm first generation American mm-hmm. 102 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,920 . Um, and I've often thought a lot about what I would do, 103 00:06:36,540 --> 00:06:39,680 and I watched my mom go through watching this, 104 00:06:40,460 --> 00:06:42,240 and I think we wanna know what we can do. 105 00:06:42,340 --> 00:06:46,480 And so I'm happy to bring and ask to all of us listening. 106 00:06:47,100 --> 00:06:48,440 No donation is too small. 107 00:06:48,730 --> 00:06:51,000 We're gonna have all the information about where to send your money. 108 00:06:51,390 --> 00:06:56,280 Your money is gonna go directly to the residents that have been relocated to the 109 00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:01,200 small businesses and to tis Jerusalem Business Center. And vie, 110 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,280 I know you jumped on here. We're gonna continue this discussion. Um, 111 00:07:05,460 --> 00:07:07,800 our thoughts and our prayers and our dollars are with you. 112 00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:10,000 So thank you for joining us today. Thank you. 113 00:07:10,340 --> 00:07:14,520 And to all the people from America and all over the world are supporting us. 114 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:19,040 We really appreciate it and we need it. It helps us to get through the days. 115 00:07:26,150 --> 00:07:30,000 I've been lucky enough to be friends and colleagues and and coworkers with uri. 116 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,920 And we met ti um, we were lucky enough to be assigned to be friends together, 117 00:07:35,180 --> 00:07:37,600 if I remember correctly. That's how we met, right? That's. 118 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:39,080 Absolutely right. I was blessed. You were my mentor. 119 00:07:39,620 --> 00:07:41,680 Uh, I don't know about that. I think it was vice versa. 120 00:07:41,980 --> 00:07:45,120 But you said something yesterday in my voice message that I'm hoping you'll 121 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,600 share with our listeners. Can you share your, 122 00:07:47,630 --> 00:07:49,800 your voice message that was so powerful? 123 00:07:49,980 --> 00:07:52,160 Um, sure. I mean, I don't remember the exact particulars, 124 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:56,840 but the thrust of it very much was as terrible as it is, and it is, 125 00:07:57,500 --> 00:08:01,880 um, the world is not ending. I get that. The world is not ending. 126 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,200 This is a horrible blow. It's a horrible blow. 127 00:08:06,330 --> 00:08:09,460 Scratch the surface of the people suffering this horrible blow. 128 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:14,180 And I am witness to greatness of human beings. I, I, 129 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,060 I'm not a preacher. I don't talk it. I'm, I'm witness to this stuff. 130 00:08:18,060 --> 00:08:21,700 We're all witness to this, and it is inspiring beyond measure. I'm Jewish. 131 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,780 You know, there's this prayer in the Jewish liturgy, the, 132 00:08:25,780 --> 00:08:27,180 I dunno if you're familiar with any of it. 133 00:08:29,330 --> 00:08:32,900 I'll call it the end of prayer services, the end of morning, afternoon, 134 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:36,780 and evening services. And it appears in the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kira liturgy. 135 00:08:36,780 --> 00:08:39,940 Like this is a big time prayer. And it has two paragraphs. 136 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,860 The first paragraph speaks about the particularity the relationship of the Jews 137 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,180 and God. The second paragraph, 138 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:52,260 the culminating paragraph of prayer has no mention of Jews or Israel whatsoever. 139 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,200 It is about a, a sense of universal monotheism, 140 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,960 which is to say the pursuit of good everyone is part of the symphony. 141 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:06,480 Universality emerges from particularity not at the expense of 142 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,360 particularity. Think of a good relationship. 143 00:09:09,020 --> 00:09:10,720 The best of relationship is when the, 144 00:09:11,180 --> 00:09:15,520 the entities are demarcated and that allows them to integrate 145 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:18,160 and become something greater than ourselves. 146 00:09:18,220 --> 00:09:21,160 The whole is indeed greater than the sum total of its parts. 147 00:09:21,620 --> 00:09:26,120 And so this is devastating. Don't let my energy right now fool you. 148 00:09:26,230 --> 00:09:31,110 It's devastating. And the opportunity to give, 149 00:09:31,410 --> 00:09:34,590 to do something from, do it from, from a smile to somebody else, 150 00:09:35,290 --> 00:09:39,910 to spending $5 to a million things that seem 151 00:09:40,270 --> 00:09:44,190 banal. But it, it reinforces and, 152 00:09:44,250 --> 00:09:48,670 and enables connection, contribution and meaning. Yeah. 153 00:09:48,690 --> 00:09:50,590 And at the end of the day, that's what we pursue. 154 00:09:51,290 --> 00:09:54,550 And you know, it is interesting because it is why I started my company. 155 00:09:54,820 --> 00:09:58,390 Like when I was yes. Like, so down, right? It was like, geez, 156 00:09:58,450 --> 00:10:02,630 if somebody would just greet me with a nicety, it would make me feel better. So, 157 00:10:02,850 --> 00:10:07,790 you know, yeah. I, I do think we've lost sight of how important our control is. 158 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:12,790 We're scared to talk to you. People are really scared. Like, they're like, 159 00:10:12,890 --> 00:10:15,790 how are you? How do you have the nerve to call someone? I'm like, 160 00:10:15,970 --> 00:10:17,630 how do you have the nerve to leave them alone? 161 00:10:18,020 --> 00:10:21,190 Yeah, just you have, when I receive a message, it feels so good. 162 00:10:21,220 --> 00:10:24,430 When someone says hi, just check in. How you doing? Look, I'm a goose, bumpy, 163 00:10:24,430 --> 00:10:28,230 proud American. It's very special to me. Being here in Israel, 164 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:33,230 being part of a community, um, which is not just Jews, by the way. 165 00:10:33,860 --> 00:10:37,630 This is a rich culture here. Um, 166 00:10:38,370 --> 00:10:42,430 the commitment, the bonding, the support, the volunteering. 167 00:10:42,630 --> 00:10:45,430 I wasn't alive in the, you know, during World War ii, 168 00:10:45,530 --> 00:10:48,910 but I would see little pictures of everyone stepping up. 169 00:10:49,790 --> 00:10:51,630 Everyone here is stepping up. Um, 170 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,270 rides in the middle of the night to bring some medicine from the north to the 171 00:10:55,270 --> 00:10:59,030 south. Food places to stay. Baby formula, you name it. 172 00:10:59,150 --> 00:11:01,870 I have a hundred different groups on my WhatsApp right now. 173 00:11:02,330 --> 00:11:07,270 People just wanting to give, contribute and volunteer. Focus on the positive. 174 00:11:07,270 --> 00:11:09,910 The terrible is terrible. Believe me, we all feel it. 175 00:11:09,970 --> 00:11:12,590 I'm just returning from a funeral. But 176 00:11:14,180 --> 00:11:18,950 what this country is focused on, helping people, air, water, 177 00:11:19,220 --> 00:11:21,030 food, technology, you name it, 178 00:11:22,140 --> 00:11:25,430 what we want to do and create an estate, 179 00:11:25,430 --> 00:11:28,190 we want to fashion and we want to be able to share that with the world. 180 00:11:28,340 --> 00:11:32,990 It's as simple as that. Don't let the corniness of it fool you. 181 00:11:33,370 --> 00:11:37,270 It is as simple as that. We want to do good. 182 00:11:37,890 --> 00:11:42,070 We want to, to fashion as a society. That is a mix. It is multicultural. 183 00:11:42,450 --> 00:11:43,830 If you ever knew the meaning of the word. 184 00:11:44,250 --> 00:11:48,230 We are committed to doing something great in this country. 185 00:11:48,340 --> 00:11:51,670 This has been a horrible weekend and there are gonna be some really hard times 186 00:11:51,730 --> 00:11:55,000 in the weeks to come. But the opportunity to support Mati, 187 00:11:55,260 --> 00:11:58,960 to support Mati supporting us, we who moved here and create, 188 00:11:58,980 --> 00:12:02,440 helped us grow and build businesses and, 189 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:07,280 and attract customers and become part of the tapestry of the fabric of the state 190 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,040 of Israel is a blessing with exponentially great outcomes. 191 00:12:11,260 --> 00:12:12,760 And it's a blessing to be here. 192 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,640 Uri. Thank you. I so appreciate I took you off the streets of Jerusalem. 193 00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:19,720 We ran to your apartment to get this done, 194 00:12:20,060 --> 00:12:24,880 to get the message out and to help us really help and be part of 195 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,640 a solution and be positive. So thanks for joining us today. 196 00:12:28,140 --> 00:12:31,240 You're very welcome, Wendy. All good things. Bye. 197 00:12:40,780 --> 00:12:43,840 To donate to Mati Jerusalem's Emergency Campaign, 198 00:12:43,860 --> 00:12:48,120 please go to tiny url.com/three map, 199 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:53,320 P D six X. This link will also be available in the episode description. 200 00:12:53,730 --> 00:12:54,540 Again, 201 00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:58,520 100% of your donation will help a small business in Jerusalem that has been 202 00:12:58,680 --> 00:12:59,800 affected by the ongoing war. 203 00:13:02,390 --> 00:13:05,800 This has been a production of balancing life's issues with your hosts, 204 00:13:05,980 --> 00:13:10,080 Kai Sorenson and Wendy Wallner, produced by me Kai Rate. 205 00:13:10,090 --> 00:13:13,880 Leave a review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen so you can get 206 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:18,040 brand new episodes as they drop. Got an idea for the show. Email me, 207 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,000 k i@balancinglifesissues.com. Anything to add? Miles.