CFO2Grow

This week, a woman stood under a chuppah and said something that stopped me completely.
Aviah Slotki’s husband Yishai was killed on October 7.
He and his brother Noam heard the news in Beersheba. Without hesitation, they put on their uniforms, grabbed their handguns and first-aid kits, and drove toward the Gaza envelope.
Security cameras captured their final moments — charging toward an ambush of heavily armed terrorists to protect their country.
Their father later said:
“Noam was secular and Yishai was religious. The story of them fighting together, defending all citizens regardless of religion or opinion, speaks to a fellowship beyond disagreements — brothers who were never parted.”
Two and a half years later, Aviah remarried.
The day before the wedding, she visited Yishai’s grave with his family. The next day, that same family stood beside her as she walked down the aisle.
At the moment under the chuppah where Jewish tradition mandates we remember the destruction of the Temple, Aviah spoke:
“I experienced the destruction of my own private home when Yishai was killed. And yet, precisely within that deep sadness and ruin — today, I feel a taste of redemption.”
Ta’am shel geulah. A taste of redemption. From within the ruins.
This is Parashat Behar-Bechukotai.
The land lies fallow. Empty. Broken.
And then the Torah promises: Az tirtzeh ha’aretz — the quiet does its work. Life returns. Not despite the emptiness. Through it.
This week Romi Gonen — 471 days in captivity — shared her own journey back to herself:
“In the end, I find the strength to get up again. This reminds me how strong I am.”
Two women. The same Torah. The same ancient promise.
The covenant holds. Life returns. 💙🕍
CFO2Grow MoreThanACFO

THE SHOE WARS JUST ENTERED A NEW ERA ⚡
On Sunday, Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 — the first official sub-two-hour marathon in history. Sawe, second-placed Kejelcha, and women’s world record-breaker Tigist Assefa all crossed the line in the same shoe — the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. One brand. One morning. Sporting history.
But this story starts with Nike.
Nike launched its “Breaking2” moonshot in 2016 — the spark that ignited the entire carbon-fibre supershoe revolution. Kipchoge got there first in 2019. Didn’t count. Adidas played the long game and won the moment.
Then Kipchoge posted this:
“Today is a historical day. Seeing two athletes break the magical 2-hour barrier is proof that we are just at the beginning of what is possible when talent, progress, and unwavering belief in human potential come together.”
Nike’s reply? “The clock has been reset. There is no finish line.”

The business lesson:
One company defined the category. One proved the belief. One won the day.
None of them are done.
First-mover advantage is real. Sustainable advantage goes to those who build better — not just faster.

I love good coffee. ☕
This Shabbat, four stories collided — and they all pointed to the same truth.
Story 1: A baker named Matthew watched mourners lining up outside a funeral home on a freezing December night. He couldn’t take away the grief.
All he could do was make coffee. So he made coffee. 🫶
Years later, a mother who had buried her sixteen-year-old son tracked him down to say thank you.
Story 2: Sahil Bloom’s Black Coffee Theory — focus on what you don’t want, and the universe delivers exactly that. Your thoughts are your order. Choose them wisely. ☕➡️🎯
Story 3: This week — Rory McIlroy won back-to-back Masters titles. 🏆⛳
Down multiple shots in the final round. Instead of crumbling:
“Process over prize. Process over prize. Process over prize.”
Story 4: In northern Israel, a man named Chaim ran a small falafel stand. 🧆
Any soldier in uniform eats for free.
Thousands passed through. The generosity became financial collapse — debt, on the verge of shutdown.
Then one Friday, a reserve unit heard what happened. Dozens of soldiers showed up — not to receive, but to give. Within hours, the stand was sold out.
In the tip jar: tens of thousands of shekels and a note:
“You fed us before battle. Now it’s our turn. With love, the company.” 💙
He sat down and wept.

This week’s parsha teaches the same lesson.
The path back from brokenness isn’t one grand gesture. It’s small steps. Pure process.
“Small things become big things.” — Sahil Bloom
Matthew couldn’t reverse grief. Rory couldn’t undo a collapsed round. Chaim couldn’t stop a war.
But each did the next right thing.
☕ The next coffee. ⛳ The next shot. 🧆 The next falafel.
And the circle closed every time.
Chesed begets chesed. Kindness generates kindness.
You probably can’t fix everything.
But you can do the next right thing.
And sometimes, that’s everything.

The self is not only what it gives. But what it keeps. 🌅
Charlotte Ree moved home to care for her mother through breast cancer treatment. Her days were consumed by medication schedules, hospital appointments, and the emotional labour of holding everything together.
Like so many carers — like so many of us — she stole her personal time late at night. Exhausted. Running on empty.
So she flipped it. 5am. Silent and still. A pilates class. Cold hands around a coffee. A few lines in a journal. Not to optimise. Just to begin the day as herself — before anyone else’s needs arrived.
“Before the day begins negotiating for your attention.”
That line hit me differently this week. 📖
Because this Shabbat during Pesach, three ancient texts say the same thing:
🔹 Moshe stands on a rock before revelation comes — not doing, just present 🔹 Yechezkel stands in a valley of dry bones before national resurrection begins — still, waiting, in the dark 🔹 Shir HaShirim opens not with action, but with longing — presence before transaction
Pesach is the festival of freedom. But we usually think of freedom as freedom from — from Egypt, from Pharaoh, from slavery.
The deeper freedom is freedom for. For presence. For selfhood. For the capacity to wait for something holy to pass before the noise begins.
What’s your thirty minutes this Pesach? 🕯️
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach 🫓
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